Bollywood Gharana

Ever since he composed that bhajan sung by one Muslim (Mohd Rafi) and written by another (Shakil Badayuni), Naushad Ali (1919-2006) has been synonymous with BaijuBawra’s Man tadpat.... He gained more majesty than any other film composer thanks to the ease with which he used classical music in popular cinema. He even got Hindustani maestros to sing a jugalbandi. Naushad reigned in the golden era of film music (1940s-’50s) when melodies were bolstered by sublime poetry. Recently, Naushad did compose for Taj Mahal, who knew that it was to be his swansong.