Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay

HP #30, {``I have nothing against the honorable people who stayed back in their homeland and excelled in different fields some ``inspiration`` was helpful but mostly they were the real people.
People who left without any cause and reason for just the economic gains should be grateful that they were given opportunity by the locals to improve their standards of living.``}

HP,
I have heard that many of those from Urdu-speaking heartland went to Pakistan to help their Muslim ``brethren,`` who had been supposedly suffering under Hindu and Sikh zamindars. There were exaggerated tales of Sindhi Muslims having to keep their girls as ransom for loans with the Hindu nobility. Honestly, this kind of emotional propaganda was used my Muslim League to garner support for partition.

HP #30, {``I have nothing against the Punjabis on the both sides of the borders that left due to life threatening situations. There were no life threats in Jaipur and Jaiselmir or even in Lucknow. These people ought to be grateful like we all are in the US where we have been given opportunities without any discrimination based on ethnicity. ``}

HP,
There you go again. When the stupid act of partition, based solely on religion, made a mockery out of civilized behavior, compassion, and the unity of India, can you really blame people for feeling helpless in Lucknow, Jaipur, and Bombay? First you blabber TNT, piss off the Hindus and Sikhs, kick out the Hindus and Sikhs from Punjab and Sindh, and then expect Muslims in India to continue prospering as if nothing had happened? Either you are far more stupid than I give you credit for, or you are being deliberately too Sindhi. :)

I have nothing against the honorable people who stayed back in their homeland and excelled in different fields some ``inspiration`` was helpful but mostly they were the real people.
People who left without any cause and reason for just the economic gains should be grateful that they were given opportunity by the locals to improve their standards of living.

I have nothing against the Punjabis on the both sides of the borders that left due to life threatening situations. There were no life threats in Jaipur and Jaiselmir or even in Lucknow. These people ought to be grateful like we all are in the US where we have been given opportunities without any discrimination based on ethnicity.

#28: LOL.. HP badmothing Naushad Ali is like a coyote howling at the moon. I guess Sain HP is just trying too hard to prove that UPites and Biharis are less civilized than Sindhis, but he can not come up with any well thought out reasoning.

DOst Muittar Sahib #24: Majrooh was a Kafir? How so?

This is what I found on Majrooh:

``Majrooh Saab was born Asrar Hussain Khan in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, the son of a police constable. After studying Persian in Aligarh, he moved to Bombay. His early and best-known independent poetry was in the ghazal form.

He made his film debut with the K.L.Saigal starrer Shahjehan (1946) which included the latter`s ever popular Jab Dil hi Toot Gaya. But his major breakthrough was Mehboob Khan`s Andaaz (1949) with hit songs like Tu Kahe Agar, Jhoom Jhoom ke Naacho Aaj, Hum Aaj Kahin Dil Kho Baithe, Toote na Dil Toote na and Uthaye Ja Unke Situm.``

DM #25: Yes, Babul`s Shamshad` song was played at every wedding until it was replaced by Mother India`s Shamshad song. Talat`s song was too depressing to be played at the weddings but I heard Aan`s `Hum Aaj aapni Maut Ka saman le chale` quite a few times.

#27, Mannyd,
Manny Bhai,
I just had to reply to HP - the man is really trying to run for dogcatcher. :) My grandfather loved to listen to Shamshad Begum. That lady really sang with her total heart. Of all the music in the world, I find Indian Bollywood music to be timeless and very enjoyable.

Salim Bhai #20: Very well put. Thanks Banjaara Sahib for the article. I was irritated when the TV news quickly brushed over the passing of a titan. Good to see the article and some very knowledgable interactors here.

Freethinker #14: What was the song that Hemant did for Naushad? Was it ` Chandan ka Palnaa?` Hemant Da`s `Naagin`, Chitalkar`s `AnaarKaali`, Shankar JaiKishan`s `Awaara`, SD Burman`s `Shabnam` were competing hard for the cutomer`s money. I guess cometition is good for making widgets or composing music, when people vote with their hard earned money.

#16 Zeemax Bhai: I knew Shamshad was Punjabi, but did not know that she died already and was the Nani Ma of Saira Bano. Thanks EchoBoom Sahib.

Shamshad`s couple of Punjabi hits were `Kachi Kali si Naajuk Dil Mera` and `Meri Lagdi kise na Vekhi, te Tutdi nu Jaag Jaanda`. DR. LokRaj or DullaBhatti would know of others. She was great with OP Nayyar(CID?) and SD Burman (Shabnam) and was the lead singer in Babul and Mela for Naushad.

Shamshad was good looking but Saira was a real stunner in her youth. Saw her recently on TV when Sunil Dutt died. Poor thing had a puffy face, had bad Paan stained teeth ground to stubs with Supari eating. Time has not been kind to her beauty, but then it never is.

HP #22 {``Sorry to join the party this late but I would rather be a party pooper here than an admirer. ...Was Naushad really this good? ...Imo, most of the Indian musicians are at best mediocre``}

HP,
You are getting very good at being a party pooper. Did the fact that Naushad was from Lucknow, UP have anything to do with your obviously stupid remarks? You are entitled to your opinions, but for many of us Indian Bollywood music and Naushad`s unforgettable numbers will be cherished forever. Tujhiki akal kithey aahey.

Another tid-bit:

When I was a kid, a very popular and a must song played by early `DJs` at weddings was ``Chhod babul ka ghar`` from the film, Babul. However, they never played my favourite song which was on the other side of the 78 RPM tava. The reason was the wording of the song on the other side - Talat Mahmood`s `Mera jeevan saathi bichhad gaya vo khatam kahani ho gayee`. I guess it was not considered appropriate for the occasion. :)

Banjara saheb:

It is fitting that chowk`s best representative of the Ganga-Jamni tehzeeb should write the tribute to one of its most enduring presence in the Indian cinema and music. Some tid-bits:

Naushad once said that providing music during early periods was quite difficult - ``jaan-jokhum-ka-kaam`. While recording music outdoors, the tabla and harmonium players had sometimes to climb and hide on a tree so as to be outside the roving camera`s range.

Majrooh Sultanpuri wrote some immortal songs for Naushad in Shahjehan (Gham diye mustaqil, jab dil hee toot gaya - both by Sehgal) and Andaaz (Toote na dil toote na, tu kahe agar jeevan bhar main geet sunaata jaaooN - both by Mukesh). However, the Momin (Naushad) and the Kaafir (Majrooh) could not get along for long and Naushad found a more lasting relationship with the fellow-momin Shakeel.

In Andaaz, Naushad used Mukesh for Dilip`s voice and Rafi for Raj Kapur`s. However, soon Rafi became known as Dilip`s voice (except Suhana Safar in Madhumati) and Mukesh as Raj Kapur`s.

Baiju Bawara is justifiably known for the use of classical Indian music and musicians. It is said, however, that he was criticised for his music in this film by his mentor, Khem Chand Prakash, for using western instrumens in a film about an Indian classical musician of Akbar`s time.

If I have to disagree with you, it is about suggesting that Naushad was the first music director to use classical music in Indian films or the first one to introduce bhajans. As a matter of fact, most of the early music directors, whether Calcutta`s New Theatre, Bombay Talkies or Puna`s Prabhat, all had music directors grounded in classical music and used classical singers like S.K. Dey. One of my all-time favourites from those times is ``Veena madhur madhur kucch bol`` from film, Ram Rajya (perhaps also by Bhatt). But he did introduce qawwaali with that unforgettabe ``Aanhen na bhareeN shikwe na kiye`` in the voices of Nur Jehan and Zorabai Ambalvi in the film, Zeenat.

I think that by the time Mughal-e-Azam was released, Naushad had exhausted his originality and from then on he more or less plagiarised himself.

Thanks again for writing this heartfelt tribute to a man whose songs will be sung for decades, if not centuries, to come.

banjaara

in the last paragraph you mentioned the name of ``Master Ghulam Muhammad`` whose film pakeeza was completed by Naushaad Sb as music director. as per my information it was not Master Ghulam Mohammad it was ``Master Ghulam Haider``. and there is no name like Master Ghulam Mohammad in the list of music directors of indian film history before 1952.

Master Ghulam Haider is the music director of that caliber about whom Naushad sb once said in one of his interview ``gana tu master ghulam haider banatay thay hum tu sirf thoka thaki kartay hain``.

however your article about naushad sb is great. and i feel that you must be feeling the defeciecy of words while exaplaining the zenith of his creation.


haider

Sorry to join the party this late but I would rather be a party pooper here than an admirer.

Was Naushad really this good? Over the years he probably had 500 numbers and out of that abt 100 reached the pinnacle. That gives him a success ratio of abt one out of every 5. Is it really a great ratio when we consider the amount of time he spent as an active music director?

His success was also dependent on good poetry and good singing. It may sound strange to his blind followers here that his numbers w/o some quality poet and quality singers never made it to the top. So he can at best share the credits with some other people for the best efforts.

Music directors in India just don’t compose the music for the lyrics but they also provide background music to the movies. Here I see no mention of any great effort by him in that area. In fact, background music in most Indian movies (especially before the 80s) is horrible and the reason is that the music directors knew how to compose for the songs but did not know how to compose for the story.

Imo, most of the Indian musicians are at best mediocre. A good number of them are plagiarist and “Inspired” by music from the west and now from everywhere including the Turkey, Arabic, and Spanish music. Our Jaipuri turned turkey can provide more stats on that.

Was Naushad at times “inspired” too? Is it possible that his hit numbers were actually inspired numbers too and whenever he tried to be original he bombed?

I know this is a harsh criticism and it will take me time and effort to actually prove what I say but looking at the tradition of plagiarism in the Indian music as well as in the whole Indian movie industry, I would be very skeptical in giving Naushad a clean bill of health.

Most of the Indian subcontinent artists excluding some singers and classical musicians are talent-less hacks. This is a sad fact. You look at the Indian movies and even the top Indian movies show a deep ``inspiration`` from many sources.
Now I cannot give specifics because I think it is waste of time for me to work on that project but the obvious don’t need any proof either.

Sometime ago Pakistani musicians and the movie directors were stealing from the Indian movies that were actually stolen from some other sources but now Indian movies are stealing ideas from the dead Pakistani movies. If that was not enough, many songs have been lifted in entirety without a word of acknowledgement.

Growing up in Pakistan, I never really watched any Indian movie in theatres and there was never enough time to watch Indian movies on the vcr too. But after coming to the US, I decided to invest some time in watching old Indians movies and boy what a horrible experience that was. Forget abt the top billed movies that were horrible, even the songs that I loved were shot in such bad situations that I wondered abt the sanity of the movie directors, musicians, and the story and the screen play writers. It appeared that amateurs ruled the Indian movie Industry then and perhaps now too. I still enjoy some old songs but cannot bear to watch them in movies and videos. That goes for the new songs that are really good but shot in horribly conceived situations in the movies.(it is different for some remixes...they are good especially Kanta lagga.)

Overall, I would say Indian and Pakistani cultural scene is mediocre and now the poor imitation of the West makes it just ridiculous. (It actually sucks!).

Thank you for your comments. Naushad Saheb left a deep impact on ordinary film goers and the impromptu pouring of grief by all and sundry speaks of the greatness of the Titan of Music.

Mr. SWarrier # 1 and #2.
Lata Mangeshkar’s first Playback was in a Marathi film in 1942 - Pahili Mangalagaur (naatli chaitrachi navalai...), she even acted in a few marathi films.

Master Ghulam Haider gave Lata Mangeshkar her first big break in playback singing in Hindi film (Majboor, in 1948, in duets with Geeta Dutt and Mukesh).(There is also a nice Lata solo, ``Dil mera toRa``) However, Master Ghulam Haider migrated to Pakistan immediately after completion of this film and it was Naushad who offered her the break in Andaz:

Uthaaye ja un ke sitam aur jiye ja
yuN hi muskraay ja aanNsoo piye ja

Mahal by Khemchand Prakash was also released about the same time and is perhaps one of the greatest musicals of all times. However, both Ghulam Haider and Khemchand Prakash could not persist with Lata for obvious reasons and it was Naushad who took her under his wings. Her hits under the baton of Naushad are a part of Hindi film history.

Bnjaara Sahib,
Thank you for this excellent article praising a very talented and accomplished man. His work crosses all boundaries of age, race, language, nationality, and religion. I think that of all things our music really unites us in the most beautiful manner. May God bless him and give him heaven for the pleasure and peace he brought us all.

rahul:18

mehl udaas, aur galiaaN sooni
chuup chuup haiN deevaaraiN
dil kyaa ujRRa dunyaa ujrRree
roothh gaeeN haiN bahaaraiN
hUm jeevan kaisay guzaaraiN!

mandir bUntaa phir bUn jaata
dil ko kaun sanmbhhalay

O dunyaa..


You forgot Shakeel!

P.S:they make even Rodger & Hammerstein look like lilliputans.

Re: # 8
Baiju Bawra was probably the pinnacle of brilliance for both Naushad and Rafi.

Zeemax:16

This was 1998.

sorry.

``tujhh sey bhhee dilfareb haiN ghUm roazgaar kay``?

pakistan has produced a very very good obituary-tribute to her in: A tribute to series. Please get it.
..........................................
Shamshad Begum dead

MUMBAI, Aug 14 (PTI) — Grandmother of actress Saira Bano and noted singer of yesteryear, Shamshad Begum, who enthralled listeners of All India Radio for two decades with her melodious voice, is dead.

The virtuoso singer, who was over a hundred years old, passed away at her Pali Hill residence last Monday, family sources said today.

The “queen of music,” as she was known in her prime years, was a disciple of the great sarangi exponent Ustad Hussain Bux.

Shamshad, a dreamer as a child, always reciting and humming her own little innovation of songs in praise of God, lived her life fully and eventfully, seeing her daughter Naseem flourish as an actress.

Her grand-daughter, Saira, scaled great heights of fame in Hindi cinema as its most beautiful and highest paid star of her times