06 May, 2006

Adieu Naushad

With the passing away of Naushad, Indian cinema has lost a music composer par excellance. He was a doyen of Indian film music, who was a perfectionist to the core. His compositions with few exceptions were simple and based on classical music. I have been a great fan of his, though I am relatively young to like his music! I can recall so many of his compositions now e.g Man tarapat hari darasan, O duniya ke rakhwale, Door koi gaaye (all from Baiju Baawra), Koi sagar dil ko behlata nahin (Dil diya dard diya), Madhuban main Radhika naache (Kohenoor), Prem jogan ban ke and Pyar kiya to darna kya (both from Magnum opus Mughale Azam). His zest for life was legendary. I had a great fortune to listen to him and interact with him in 1996 when he was a guest of honour in my Father's institution. I still recall his words regarding Indian classical music, "When we listen to western music, our body dances, while when we listen to Indian music, it is the soul which dances!" Even though he was rooted in clasical music, he was open to western orchestration also. In fact, Naushad was the first Indian music composer to use a 100 piece orchestra for the music of film "Aan". Salutations to you Naushadji! Your memory and your work shall remain forever in our hearts!