Presenting Naushad : Part 4
Early life in Lucknow......
Naushad had quite a struggling start to his career in Mumbai. He had to spend many days and nights out in the open, sleeping on the footpath. But before traveling to Bombay (Mumbai these days), we must find out his childhood and boyhood. Let us try to divide his early life into some parts.
Naushad was born in Lucknow. Lucknow has been a city of culture, ethos, passion, craft and most importantly, of art. Even today, there is art in the air. The famous lawyer cum author A.P. Sen thrived in his pursuit of art and literature in the city of Lucknow. Like him, many have heaped praises on the beauty and auspicious nature of the city.
Naushad described some glimpses of his childhood in one of his interviews. It would be a house full of friends and relatives flocking every day. His father was a clerk and had good connections in the society - the family was a well-known one. The most beautiful part was the idea of assimilation of different cultures, faiths and religions that he could see around him. Often we talk about great personalities and wonder how they became go great. It is in fact these values, small influences and the environment that the person was growing up that shapes the person. One of my dreams have been to visit Lucknow one day and to sit at the courtyard where he would sit with his parents and relatives and friends would come and visit the family.
Naushad was very lucky to have been influenced by music that was around him. He started to learn music. He became disciple to well known teachers (gurus) in Lucknow area and learned Indian classical music. There was an early impact of thumris, bhajans, kawwalis (different forms of Indian classical music) and he acquired as much as he could.
He was fond of cinema. In those days, India only produced silent cinema. Like the amazing story of Cinema Paradiso (famous Italian movie), Naushad would also be part of film shows in Lucknow. He watched a lot of films. Also, he was asked to be part of composing some background music for many of those films. He came in contact with different instruments. He learned to play some of them. Of course, he could play harmonium (traditional Indian music instrument) exceptionally well.
He formed a group of friends and travelled to different places in India. Like Gandhi, he wanted to understand the real India through travels. He got many inspirations from these travels. In fact, he would carefully study local music, especially the folk music, and develop an understanding of the tempo, flow and beats of folk tunes. He had said time and again that folk music had been an integral part of his life. North and Central India was a rich source of folk music in those days and Naushad had a great exposure there.
What is very interesting is as a young boy Naushad was rather restless and had the temperament of a voyager. He was a seeker. This same person later became a refined, erudite and reserved creative genius as he grew in age and experience. However, despite his near-untouchable status and height in Indian Cinema, he had never lost touch with his roots. Whenever he would talk of Lucknow, he would get emotional.
His family did not quite approve his pursuits in the field of music. Besides, he would leave his house with his friends like a yogi or sadhu (an ascetic person) to search for music much to the dislike of his parents. But the boy had a mission - to accumulate music in his soul. In this regard, he was similar to his peer and friend Sachin Dev Burman, another seminal music composer of Indian films. The latter would also vanish from home to look for inspiration, and to find new source of music.
[To be continued]
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