A Complete Artist

Compared with Lata didi, I sang far fewer songs under his direction -not more than some 40 or 45 odd. I would often complain to him playfully,"You give all the good songs to Lata didi." He would pat me on thecheeks, as a father would show his affection: "You mean the songs I get youto sing are bad?" I would be speechless.

When it came to music, I never saw him discriminate or indulge in anyfavouritism. He would always get the singer who he thought was appropriate for agiven composition. I was aware of that, which is why I would be speciallyenthused whenever he asked me to sing. I would know that I'd get to singsomething really good.

Of all the songs I sang under his direction, I specially like mere mehboobmein kyaa nahiiN, kyaa nahiin. Now, off the cuff, I don't recall much, butmost of the songs I sang under his direction became very popular.

I think it was sometime in the 1980s when I sang his composition ghunghruuTooT gaye.  Its popularity proved how he had maintained his hold on both the notesand the melody. It was a commonly held belief those days that any movie whichhad music by Naushad would be a big hit. The amazing thing about his music wasthat even if the films flopped, his music would definitely be popular. The mainreason for that was that not only did he know his music well, he also knewthe public taste. He was a master at moulding the music to the mood of a movie.And the wonderful thing was that he never compromised on the quality of music. Igathered from him that he had not received any formal education in music. Heexpanded his knowledge of music merely by listening to it. He was veryparticular when it came to the raagas, which is why he so often used thetraditional musical instruments such as the flute, Sitar, Sarod, Jal Tarang,Dholak, Matka, Duffli.

I think his biggest contribution was that he brought the classical music soclose to the common man and woman. Many stalwarts of classical music too haveappreciated so many of his songs. He used different raagas, Dhrupad, Khayal andTaraana in such a wonderfully simple way in his songs that even an ordinarylistener could appreciate the finer nuances. Nowadays, the music directors justmake a tune and then are completely dependent on the arranger - but I never sawhim do any such thing. He would handover the complete tune and musical score tohis assistant and then be present during the complete recording. He did not haveany hesitation in using western instruments, but he never let them dominate hismusic or himself. He was truly disheartened by today's music. He would sayunhesitatingly that the lack of knowledge was hampering creativity and coming inthe way of original compositions. He would always say that an original creationhas longevity. I think his own oeuvre is a testimony to this.

I was always inspired by his one remark: He would often say that by copying,no artist can make a place for himself. Way back, he had been very fond ofhunting and fishing. Another of his passions was poetry. He was alwaysparticular about using appropriate words in his songs. He was a complete artist,far above religion or caste. He had no parallel when it came to encouraging anartist. I remember, he would pat my cheeks after each recording, and say, "Shaabaash".Not once, but many a time I heard him say that a great artist is one who is alsoa great human being. That was so very apt for him. He was a total saint.