Naushad, the most popular and outstanding music composers in the cine-world, ranks high amongst those who have displayed rare skill and imagination in the use of western musical instruments for the presentation of Indian tunes in films. In his compositions he had drawn liberally from the treasure of Indian folk music.

Born at Lucknow on 25th December 1919, Naushad was attracted to music even as a child. His first influence of life in music started from a cinema theatre near his house with Laddan Khan, the leader of the band. Thus were aroused, fashioned and chiseled the creative instincts of the future maestro. The period of training under Laddan Khan had been very rewarding. Naushad not only found himself capable of working independently as a music composer, but he also developed the acute sense which enabled him to pick rare musical jewels from the folk tradition of Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Saurashtra during the company's sojourns in those regions At the break up of drama company in 1937, his persistence and immeasurable self-confidence guided him to the city of Bombay, where he decided to use his talents to seek his fortune.   

He was able to get his first employment in new company with music director Jhande Khan who was composing music for the film Sunehri Makri", a mythological story. During the work in this movie Naushad pushed himself in to compose a tune for the song:

"keyon aye dil deewana hai aqal se begana
aankhein na khulien ab tak duniya ko na pehchana"

Background music for the film was given by Walter Kauf. And that was the coming of the Sangeetkaar-e-Azam Naushad.

Music of Premnagar established Naushad's prestige. He then entered Prakash Pictures and composed music for Mala, Darshan and Station Master (his first Silver Jubilee film}. He introduced G. M. Durrani and Suraiya in Station Master . In the meantime he joined A. R. Kardar to compose music for Nai Duniya, followed by Sharda. And hence the Sangeetkaar-e-Azam had arrived. Naushad's other early films with Kardar included Namaste, Qanoon, Sanjog, and Jeevan that were all musical successes. At the same time, Producer Gemini Deewan made Rattan. From the day of film Rattan's release Sangeetkaar-e-Azam Naushad had permanently etched his name in the history of immortal Film Music.  

During the six decades in which he had fortified his position as a bastion of tradition, Naushad had written the musical score for 74 films (64 of them Hindi), all along concentrating on quality rather than numbers. His music graph displays three dubbed films in Tamil and one original score for a Malayalam movie. Naushad, more recently had tried his composing hand at three TV serials: `The Sword of Tipu Sultan,' `Akbar The Great' and `Sargam'. Of his 64 Hindi films as many as three touched the diamond- jubilee mark (`Rattan,' `Baiju Bawra' and `Mughal-e-Azam'). It was a career studded further with seven golden jubilee offerings: `Mela' ,'Andaz,' `Deedar,' `Aan,' `Mother India,' `Ganga Jumuna,' and `Ram Aur Shyam.' There have been no fewer than 25 silver jubilee hits against his name.

During his later years he created music for films Teri Payal Mere Geet, Awaaz De Kahan Hai (a new version of his 1944 Ratan and 1948 Mela story), and Guddu. He also composed music for two historical TV serials, The Sword of Tipu Sultan and Akbar the Great. He also created music for a Doordarshan serirs “Aarohee”. His final film was Taj Mahal – The Eternal Love Story released in 2005. Of the other side of Naushad, a Poet, he released an album “Aathwan Sur” of ghazals written and composed to music by him. ``Aathvan Sur'' was the title of a book written by him.

Sangeetkaar-e-Azam Naushad is a devotee of classical music and says, "Classical sangeet has never been the province of the masses. It was born in sacred temples and flourished in the courts of Rajas and Nawabs. The attempt to make this highly specialized music a part of everyday environment was an artificial imposition. To many millions of Indians it was almost as remote as the music of British string ensembles. The film music, on the other hand, a spontaneous and exuberant growth, emerging from much older folk music traditions and adapting itself to a new era and its influences was the real folk music of modern India".

He was honored with the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1982 and Padma Bhushan in 1992. He was the recipient of the Awadh Ratna award in 1993, putting the stamp on Naushad as a distinguished son of Lucknow, his birthplace. Another award from the Madhya Pradesh government that Naushad treasures was `For Popularising Indian Music Outside India.'

His quest for better music continued. “It is my final wish” said Naushad, “to see that I have some role to play in restoring Indian music to Indian films”. To achieve that he ventured into establishing Naushad Academy of Hindustani Sangeet to open up opportunities for budding vocalists and instrumentalists seeking to perform with a certain fidelity to the Hindustani heritage.

He died on May 5, 2006 at Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai from weak health due to old age.

We are thankful to Naushad Ali for  his interest and providing his personalized photograph.