Naushad

Best songs of 1946: Final Wrap Up 4

And the SoY Award for the Best Music Director goes to?

Wishing Merry Christmas to the readers and a tribute to Naushad on his Birth Centenary (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006)

Naushad-Ghulam Haider-Hansraj BahalI need not have put a question mark about the best music director of 1946. Rarely one comes across such a single-horse race. This was the year of Naushad all the way. The SoY regulars would recall from my reviews of 1947, 1948 and 1949 (I am doing the review in the reverse chronological order) that he continued his dominance in these years too, being chosen the best music director in 1947 jointly with C Ramchandra, and unambiguously in 1948 and 1949. He did one better in 1946, by making the competition in all categories – male solos, female solos and duets – a Naushad race.

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Best songs of 1948: Final Wrap Up 4

And the Songs of Yore Award for the Best Music Director goes to?

Naushad_C Ramchandra_Ghulam Haider_Husnlal-BhagatramI start with wishing the readers  Merry Christmas. After the Overview post and the three category-wise wrap ups – Wrap Up 1 for the best male solos, Wrap Up 2 for the best female solos, and Wrap Up 3 for the best duets – we now have a fairly good idea of who the dominant music directors were. Naushad with all his songs in Anokhi Ada and Mela – totalling about two dozen – being super hits, is undoubtedly top of the pack. Anil Biswas in Anokha Pyar, Gajre and Veena; C Ramchandra in Nadiya Ke Paar and Khidki; Husnlal-Bhagatram in Pyar Ki Jeet; Ghulam Haider in Shaheed; Ram Ganguly in Aag; and Khemchand Prakash in Ziddi gave some everlasting songs. The underrated genius, Ghulam Mohammad never fails to create outstanding songs, and he did so in Grihasthi and Pugree. There were others, too, whose one or two songs featured in the best lists.

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Best songs of 1949: Final Wrap Up 5

The SoY Award for the Best Music Director goes to?

Anil Biswas_Shankar-Jaikishan_Naushad_Khemchand Prakash_C Ramchandra_Husnlal-BhagatramFor the final wrap up, I can do no better than quote Mahesh: “The year 1949 itself was the biggest winner of all.” That refers to the historical place of the year in the evolution of Hindi film songs which we have discussed in the overview post, as well as in the various wrap ups: Wrap Up 1 (Best male solos), Wrap Up 2 (Best solos of ‘other’ female singers), Wrap Up 3 (Best solos of Lata Mangeshkar) and Wrap Up 4 (Best duets). In brief, there were two watershed events that changed the course of film songs. Lata Mangeshkar’s coming as a Tsunami shook the established order of the full-throated vintage era singers – her high-pitched thin voice becoming the industry standard for female playback singing for leading ladies. This started the era of Lata Mangeshkar versus ‘others’. Shankar-Jaikishan had a sensational debut with Barsaat in which they came with a unique orchestration, which was easy on the ears and extremely melodious. For the next twenty years they would be counted among the five most dominant music directors.

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Naushad’s gems before ‘Rattan’ (1944)

NaushadIt is well known that Naushad zoomed off in an orbit of his own with Rattan (1944). He had debuted four years earlier as independent music director with Prem Nagar (1940). To be exact, his first recorded song was Bata do koi kaun gali more Shyam in the voice of Leela Chitnis for Kanchan (1941), but because of some rift with that film’s team he had to leave it after recording this song and the remaining songs were composed by Gyan Dutt. Kanchan’s release got delayed and, thus, Prem Nagar became his first film. Before Rattan, Naushad did over a dozen films, having over 120 songs. You may ask, is it worthwhile to discuss his pre-Rattan songs?

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The Great Mughal and The Empress of playback singing

Wishing Lata Mangeshkar a very happy 86th birth anniversary (b. 28 September 1929) with her songs for Naushad

Naushad and Lata MangeshkarA blog would start losing its appeal if it became too predictable. Today is one such day when everyone is going to exclaim, ‘’I knew it!’ However, there is no way I can avoid it. There are many who are as enamoured of Naushad as I am. As for Lata Mangeshkar, I doubt if there is anyone who does not regard her as The Female Playback Singer, as a class by herself, far above her rivals. The Great Mughal of film music and the Empress of playback singing make an unparalleled combination.

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Asha Bhosle with reluctant Naushad and C Ramchandra: Part 2 (duets)

Asha Bhosle with C Ramchandra and NaushadI could not have imagined until sometime back that I would be writing two posts back to back on Asha Bhosle. But I have since become conscious of a strong Asha Bhosle Fan Club on SoY. In my last post on her songs with Naushad and C Ramchandra, we saw that even though they might have gone to her reluctantly, they created some of the best songs of her career. That post was devoted to her solos. While looking for their songs I realised that her duets, too, composed by them are no less memorable. We can make a general statement that duets as a class, right since the earliest days from when film songs are available, have held a special charm. Therefore, to have a complete picture of the songs that Naushad and CR composed for Asha Bhosle, I am presenting her duets made by the two reluctant Masters.

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Asha Bhosle with reluctant Naushad and C Ramchandra: Part 1 (solos)

Greeting her happy birthday on her 82st birth anniversary (b. 8 September 1933)

Asha Bhosle with C Ramchandra and NaushadAsha Bhosle’s position in the early 1950s was very unenviable. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had debuted as a playback singer (Aap Ki Sewa Mein; 1947) only a year before her (Chunariya; 1948), but the former stormed the music scene in 1949 as a Tsunami wave, emerging soon as The Female Playback Singer. While most of the vintage singers disappeared fast, some of the early era stalwarts like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya and Geeta Dutt were holding their own. In this scenario, it was difficult for Asha Bholse to make a space for herself. The two dominant composers of the era, Naushad and C Ramchandra, were even more firmly on Lata Mangeshkar bandwagon. They gave a look-up to Asha Bhosle very sparingly in the early years. My view is that they came to Asha Bhosle in later years, especially in the case of C Ramchandra, reluctantly.

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Naushad’s Long-distance Duets of Separation

NaushadHindi films have a very neat structure. They can be divided into three parts – romance, conflict and resolution. The lovers meet, or childhood friends grow up into lovers and dance around trees and sing romantic songs. Then the villain strikes, who lusts for the girl or her wealth, and kidnaps her; or the girl’s Daddy cannot stand the boy and locks her up; therefore, the lovers sing sad songs. In the end all the misunderstandings are removed, or the villain is beaten to pulp, and the lovers unite singing happy songs again. If eight or nine songs are divided evenly, about two or three should fall under the sad part. Some movies have weepy endings, especially if they happen to star a ‘Tragedy King’ or ‘Tragedy Queen’, which means that there could be proportionately more sad songs.

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C Ramchandra-Naushad comparison and contrast with Rafi

A tribute to Rafi on his 35th death anniversary

Naushad, Rafi and C RamchandraIt is certain that readers would have been expecting something on Rafi with Naushad today, but they would find the inclusion of C Ramchandra surprising and somewhat contrived. While Naushad is the most important composer to have laid the foundation of the Rafi legend, C Ramchandra does not figure among the composers who gave great songs for Rafi. Naushad, SD Burman, OP Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishan, Roshan, Chitragupta, Madan Mohan, Ravi – these are the names that come to mind instantly when you think of Rafi. As a matter of fact, I have read a comment somewhere (not by Raju Bharatan) that CR shared his mentor Anil Biswas’s antipathy for Rafi.

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Naushad’s exceptional Mukesh

A tribute on Mukesh’s 92nd birth anniversary (22 July 1923 – 27 August 1976)

Naushad and MukeshIf someone had asked me a few years ago who the second most prolific male singer of Naushad was, I would have never guessed Mukesh. His songs number only 26 compared to 149 of Rafi. If you compare Mukesh songs by different composers, Shankar-Jaikishan and Kalyanji Anandji did about four times more. Naushad-Mukesh association is essentially limited to three films in 1948-49: Mela, Anokhi Ada and Andaaz. Thereafter, he seems to have forgotten Mukesh for about two decades, until he reappears with some songs in Saathi (1968). By that time, it was clear, Naushad was not too enamoured of him. In Jo chala gaya use bhool ja, a song which is right up Mukesh’s alley, the prelude at high notes has been sung by Mahendra Kapoor, because it was felt that he could not handle it. Not a very flattering revival of their association.

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