Naushad

Naushad Ali (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006) was an Indian composer for Hindi films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is respectfully remembered as "Moseeqar-e-Azam" (The great Musician) in the Hindi film industry. He is particularly known for popularising the use of classical music in films.

His first film as an independent music director was Prem Nagar in 1940. His first musically successful film was Rattan (1944), followed by 35 silver jubilee hits, 12 golden jubilee and 3 diamond jubilee mega successes. Naushad was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Padma Bhushan in 1981 and 1992 respectively for his contribution to the Hindi film industry.

Early life and education Naushad Ali was born and raised in Lucknow,

His friend, lyricist D. N. Madhok, trusted Naushad's unusual talent for composing music and introduced him to various film producers. Chandulal Shah, the owner of Ranjit Studios, offered to sign Naushad for one of his forthcoming films. Naushad composed a thumri for this film, "Bata de koi kaun gali gaye Shyam", but the film never went into production. He was assistant music director for the Punjabi film Mirza Sahib (1939).

He composed for his first independent film Prem Nagar in 1940 that had a story set in Kutch for which he did a lot of research into the folk music of the area.

Naushad had requested the Maharashtra State Government to sanction a plot for an institution for promoting Hindustani music. This was sanctioned during his lifetime and the 'Naushad Academy of Hindustani Sangeet' was formed.

Writer Naushad was also a respected and published poet and formally launched his book of Urdu poetry entitled Aathwaan Sur ("The Eighth Note") and the Navras label's album titled "Aathwan Sur – The Other Side of Naushad" having 8 ghazals as part of Hounslow's book fair and festival "Bookmela" in November 1998. The album has lyrics and composition by Naushad, arranged by Uttam Singh. Naushad was known for his skillful adaptation of the classical musical tradition for movie songs. Among all contemporary singer, Naushad Ali gave numbers of the songs to Mohammad Rafi. Most of Naushad Ali popular songs are sung by Mohammad Rafi. For some movies like Baiju Bawra, he composed all scores in classical raga modes and arranged for the well-known vocalist Amir Khan to be a music consultant for this film. Naushad could easily work with Western instruments, including the clarinet, the mandolin and the accordion. He could incorporate Western musical idioms in his compositions and compose for Western-style orchestras.

Producer Maalik (1958; music director for this film was Ghulam Mohammed) Uran Khatola (1955) Babul (1950) Jeevan Jyoti (1953, co-producer; music director for this film was SD Burman) Gawaiya (1954, co-producer; music director for this film was Ram Ganguly) Yasmin (1955, co-producer; music director for this film was C Ramchandra) Dastan (1950) Jadoo (1951)

Storywriter Palki (1967) Teri Payal Mere Geet (1989)

Awards and recognition

1954: Filmfare Best Music Director Award – Baiju Bawra 1993: Awadh Ratna Award by Government of Uttar Pradesh 1994: Maharashtra Gaurav Puruskar Award 2000: Screen Lifetime Achievement Award 2008: The Carter Road situated at Bandra, was renamed as Sangeet Samrat Naushad Ali Marg in his memory

Positions held President of Cine Music Directors Association Chairman of Indian Performing Rights Society President of Maharashtra State Angling Association President of Alam-E-Urdu Conference (Delhi) The title of Special Executive Magistrate, Mumbai