Mukesh and Naushad

Naushad composed approximately 23 songs for Mukesh, out of which 15 were solos and 8 were duets. Naushad used Mukesh’s voice in 2 phases. The first was late 40′s phase (1948-1949), when Naushad created some of the best gems for Mukesh including Kabhi dil dil sai takrata to hoga, Main bhanwara tou hai phool and Tu kahe agar. After 1949, Naushad started to patronize Mohammad Rafi as his main singer and Mukesh got sidelined. Naushad didn’t use Mukesh voice for the next 19 years until Saathi (1968) was released.

Mukesh’s main co-singer under Naushad’s baton was Shamshad Begum, Naushad utilized the nasalish tinge in their voices to full extent and they sang 4 duets together for Naushad, all of which are considered classics today – Bhol gaye kiyoun de ke sahara, Aai sawan rut aai, Mein Bhanwara tu hai phool and Mera dil todne wale.

Naushad on Mukesh

I used to call him Mukesh Babu. He was a singer who belonged to Kundan Lal Saigal’s school. Mukesh was excellent in low tones. There was a certain sadness in his voice but the moment he was taken to the high notes, he used to get shaken. Many music directors, including me, were guilty of asking him to sing in a higher pitch.

One particular trait Mukesh Babu had was that he could never sing without a harmonium. This was because he thought that he would go out of tune. In fact, many times I had to pad up the harmonium and whenever we did that the result was much better.

I used Mukesh Babu’s voice for my songs in two phases. First spell was during late forties when films like “Mela”, “Anokhi Ada”, and “Andaz” were made and the second phase started with “Saathi” and so on, which continued intermittently till his sad demise in 1976. The last song I recorded on him was for the film “Pukar” which Producer/Director Sohrab Modi was making in late seventies. I very clearly remember an incident that took place at the time of the song session. After recording the song everyone was being paid. Even Mukesh Babu was given his packet. Everybody was knowing that Modi Saab was passing through a very difficult financial condition. As soon as the packet was received by Mukesh babu, he returned it to Modi Saab with the words, “Take this back, make your film. When it becomes a jubilee hit, pay me double this amount”.

Mukesh-Naushad Collaboration

Mukesh sang approximately 23 songs for Naushad. Details are provided below :-

Naushad & K.L. Saigal

Saigal sang 6 songs [1 duet, 5 solos] for Naushad. They came together for first and last time in Shah Jehan in 1946, which was one of the last films in which Saigal acted. Shah Jehan also marked the debut of lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri.

Naushad on K.L. Saigal

Saigal was a legend to me from the day I saw his film “Pooran Bhagat” (1933). He had attracted me with the haze and glamour of heroes. More so, as he was a singing star, singing in “sur”. His songs and acting in the films of New Theatres carved a niche in my mind.

It was around 1946 I had a chance to meet him. Saigal was at the height of his popularity. D. N. Madhok and I were discussing a point of a picture at Kardar Studios. A tall bald headed figure with thick rimmed spectacles entered the room. Mr. Madhok began to talk with him informally and I receded in the background. As conversation progressed, Madhok saw that I was kept aloof and asked me if I knew the gentleman with whom he was talking. I told him I did not. Madhok looked at me with surprise and asked me, “Why you don’t know Saigal”? I jumped up. Saigal was smiling at me. i offered my apology saying that his bald head and thick rimmed spectacles were far from the boyish idea I had of the great Saigal. There was a heavy laughter from him in reply. That first meeting with Saigal left a lasting impression on me.

Saigal’s mannerisms were just plain. He had no affected accents or no studied poses. He was just a plain gentleman from Punjab. His soul was transparent just as his melodious voice. He hardly ever acted: either on or off the screen. He always went about with his roles just as he would in real life. His singing, too, was marked with the ease of this very naturalness. And that was, indeed, great about his singing.

When an occasion arose to work with him for the film “Shah Jehan” my joy knew no bounds. It was an honor. Before every formal occasion of singing, Saigal made it a point to pray. This I discovered during one of the recordings of “Shah Jehan”. As the time for the “takes” approached, he had a special mattress spread out for him, (he never sang standing or sitting on a chair) and squatting, he was muttering some prayer with a “mala” rhythmically moving between his fingers. A few minutes skipped by and his personal assistant took away the “mala”. Mr. Saigal looked at me to know if everything was all right. I nodded approval. He turned aside and called: Driver, get me ‘kaalee paanch’. Promptly his driver appeared as if from nowhere with a bottle of whisky which he casually poured out into a large glass and offered it to his boss. Saigal emptied it with a certain ease and began singing in the “sur”. He was coming to shape.

An honest appraisal of Saigal, should, of course, mention that he was a victim of alcohol. There is no irreverence about it. It was a fact. He was no less religious a man for that matter.

I went recording “take” after “take” to get the finest from the great artiste. But I noticed, too, that with every take he was having fresh “Kalee paanch”. As “takes” began to mount upon one another, Saigal’s sobriety began to dwindle. He could no more count the bars meant for interlude. He would come in singing either too early or too late. He would admit his fault every time. He was not conscious of his unconsciousness. At last I approached him and suggested that he needed rest and that we would record the song again the next day. That was the end of “kalee paanch” that night.

Saigal loved precious stones. He used to wear rings made with them. He loved “panna” stones in particular. He was fond of displaying his “panna” rings to everyone.

Saigal was a great artiste, no doubt. But he was a great man also. It was this greatness that had attracted Dr. Latiff from Kolkata to become his closest friend and personal physician. Dr. Latiff had left his wife and children, closed down his dispensary and had thrown his lot with Saigal. He literally moved along with Saigal. The doctor-friend always remained with him in the same room, carried his medical kit day and night from set to set and theatre to theatre. I had the chance once to witness the complete dedication this man had for Saigal. Once on a set the cry was heard, “Saigal Sahab has fainted, Saigal Sahab has fainted, Saigal Sahab has fainted”. I reached the spot and found that Dr. Latiff was giving him an emergency injection. After that he threw himself on the ground by Saigal’s side to comfort him.

Once I had the chance to speak to Dr. Latiff. I made it a point to inquire what made him love Saigal so much. I knew that Dr. Latiff had no liking for music or film or acting. His reply was unique: “Saigal is a good man. He is a great friend and he needs understanding”.

As I continued to work with him , I discovered that he was convinced with a false idea about himself. He thought he would never sing in “sur” without whisky. But I had noticed Saigal singing at his best when he was sober, during rehearsals, for instance. One day I took the courage to tell him about this and requested him to have takes without his driver and the bottle. He said he would try but was sure of the poor results. I insisted and he agreed, but on one condition: there must follow a recording session with his driver and the bottle. I agreed.

We had both the sessions. Both went off as I expected. When I played the recordings of both and asked him to choose which he thought the best rendition of the song, he unmistakably picked out the really good recording done without drinks. The song was “Jab dil hi toot gaya”.

That Saigal recorded songs without drinks became the news. It spread like fire among music directors. Khurshid Anwar tried it, too, for “Parwana” and was successful. But hen Dr. Latiff had to be by his side always ready with injections.

I took occasions then to tell him that someone had made a psychological fixation in him about alcohol and his singing. I insisted that it was simply untrue and that he had seen the results himself. He looked a me wistfully and said: “What a pity, Naushad Sahab…This good news is too late to be good to me. Had I met you a little earlier, I might have been a different Kundan altogether…..” By referring to a song line from “Shah Jahan” he said “Chaah barbaad karegi hamen maloom na tha”.

I wonder how many Saigal fans know what he thought about drinking. He regretted it wholeheartedly. There are many among us who like, admire and imitate him even to the point of drinking. But he would never approve of it. I am sure he would say, “We ought to imitate always the good trends in others, not the bad ones”.

He was an artiste through and through. Many incidents are told about this. Once after a night long search, a director was pleasantly surprised to find Saigal in fond embrace with an electric post at Matunga in the early hours of the morning while he was supposed to be on the set. When asked, how come, he said he lost his bearings on the way to the studio and was seeking directions from the lonely electric post.

Another day, Saigal reached home very thirsty. He walked into the kitchen and took some tea from the oven, kept a cup at his feet and poured the contents right down on his feet. The “tea” turned out to be boiling oil, which burnt his feet and hands, canceling his shooting schedule for weeks and keeping Dr. Latiff busy for months.

With the completion of “Shah Jehan” I lost the contacts with this great man. News of his death did not come to me as a surprise. i could imagine his deathbed and Dr. Latiff sitting with his medical kit saying “Mera Kundan…Mera Kundan…..”

During Saigal’s funeral, one of his relatives told me later, the music of “Jab dil hi toot gaya” from the film “Shah Jehan” was played by the band as per his wish.

Every generation has its crop of artistes. Often God replaces disappearing great men with worthy substitutes. No doubt, after Saigal, many singers have arisen in the Hindi film world. Some of them may have overtaken him in some sense, some may not have. But I feel there was none to replace Saigal. He is just….Saigal”.

It should not sound too effusive, if I say in conclusion, that Saigal outdid Tansen in popularity. Mian Tansen was, of course, the beloved of his times. But his voice was, in a way, imprisoned by palace walls and a select upper class audience. Saigal, on the other hand, had the whole nation behind him as he was the singer of the general public. He was, in fact, their Tansen.

Saigal belongs to that category of human beings, who defied death. He is alive even today. We have the proof that he is. His voice, his style, his intonation is amidst us. Saigal is immortal. In that sense he has even surpassed the legendary singer Tansen in popularity.

K.L. Saigal – Naushad Collaboration

Shamshad Begum & Naushad

After Lata Mangeshkar, Shamshad was Naushad’s second favorite female singer. Naushad gave Shamshad some of the best songs of her career. Shamshad sang for Naushad for the first time in Shah-Jehan (1946). Shah-Jehan – a soundtrack dominated by K.L Saigal numbers, Shamshad held her own with the two solos she got to sing including Jab usne gaisou bikhraye badal aaya jhoom kai. This started a long term partnership between these two legends that lasted for 16 years!

Naushad on Shamshad

Shamshad was a big name when I came to films. Her songs from the films made by Pancholi at Lahore had become very popular and she already had nationwide popularity. Later on, when she came to Mumbai she continued to be at the same height as in Lahore.

When I called her for the first time to sing for my films in the midst of the 1940s decade, I found that her voice was like a sharp edged knife. It used to rush straightaway through the heart of the listener. I liked her way of singing and from our first meeting itself, she became one of my pet female playback singers. Over the years I recorded a number of songs in her voice which also became very popular.

Shamshad’s tonal quality was very impressive. She was very sharp in grasping the tune and rendering it. I did not have to spend much time for her rehearsals as she was very fast in picking up.

I remember an interesting anecdote about her. Once she came to my place for rehearsing a song. I was busy with something else and told her to wait for me upstairs in the hall. She went upstairs and occupied one of the seats near the balcony. Just before that my assistant Master Ibrahim had gone upstairs and standing in the balcony he wanted to light a cigarette. But before he could do it, the match box slipped out of his hand and fell outside the balcony in a crevice. Ibrahim tried his best to pick it up by leaning from the pillars of the balcony but could not succeed. Then he got down from the balcony and somehow managed to pick up the match box. Coincidentally, it was around the same time Shamshad Begum started looking out from the balcony. She saw that a tall black man with red eyes suddenly came up and started smiling at her. He had a defect in one of his eyes and impressions of small pox on his face. Looking at this horrible figure Shamshad felt that it must be some ghost. She became very much frightened and started running from her place with a big shout, “Save me! Save me!”. After hearing the cry I came running upstairs. I found my assistant was quietly standing in the balcony and was looking at Shamshad as if nothing had happened. But she was very much frightened. I realized the situation and told Ibrahim to leave the place and pacified Shamshad.

Shamshad had sung for almost all the heroines for the films made in Mumbai. She was a reigning singer in the decade of the 1940′s. When towards the end of 1940′s and beginning of 1950′s, new female singers started lending their voices, Shamshad started receding back. Still in the decade of the 1950′s I got quite a number of songs recorded in the voice of Shamshad Begum. Even in the year 1960 she sang for Mughal-E-Azam. It was a Qawwali song, a duet, shared with Lata Mangeshkar.

Shamshad – Naushad Collaboration

Shamshad sang 61 songs for Naushad in 19 films. Shamshad songs from Deewana (1952) were deleted from the film. Shamshad’s songs from Son of India (1962) were re-recorded in Shanti Mathur’s voice and used in the film.

Listen!

Shamshad’s first song for Naushad – Jab usne gaisou bikhraye from Shah Jehan (1946). The song is heavily influenced by Arabic music with the opening bars sound just like an Oum Khaltoum song – the style of singing, the use of percussion and the bank of violins playing in harmony.

Talat Mahmood & Naushad

Babul was the only film in the 1950′s where Talat Mahmood sang for Naushad. Naushad didn’t repeat Talat for the next 18 years, despite the success of Babul. The reason behind not repeating Talat for the next 18 years is mentioned by Subhash K. Jha in “Mohd. Rafi – The Virtuoso”. “Angered with Talat Mahmood, whom he found smoking during a recording, the perfectionist composer, hired Rafi on a whim and decided that he would sing all the songs of Baiju Bawra.”.

However, Naushad had high opinion of Talat Mahmood’s singing abilities. According to Indian Express dated 20th September 1981, Naushad said, “I have a very high opinion of Talat Mahmood. He has a fine style. When he sings ghazals, it is in his own unique inimitable sweet style.  Sweetness is indispensable to a proper singing of the ghazal. Besides, he has mastery over the language. He knows which words to emphasize and which not to. You will never hear any lines misread from Talat Mahmood’s lips!”.

Talat sang 8 songs for Naushad listed below:-

Back to Legends – Suraiya

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Naushad and Suraiya

Naushad was Suraiya’s mentor and Suraiya sang some of the best songs of her career under Naushad’s baton. It was Naushad who introduced Suraiya as a playback singer for Mehtaab in Sharda (1942) and then later gave hits after hits when Suraiya became full fledged singing star in Anmol Ghadi (1946), Dard (1947), Dillagi (1949) and Dastaan (1950). Naushad composed approximately 51 songs for Suraiya, coming at 2nd place after Husnlal Bhagatram for composing the highest number of songs for Suraiya.

Naushad on Suraiya

Suraiya with Naushad

Suraiya, unlike the others, was never a trained singer. She had never taken any lessons in music but till date, it is very difficult to find a voice like her’s. It has that next door appeal, a voice that bears natural tonal quality. Of course, unlike other established singers, her voice had a very narrow range and she needed a number of rehearsals. Had her limitations been kept in mind while setting tunes to adapt to her tonal quality, she was unbeatable.

I introduced her to films almost six decades back as a playback singer. When she grew up and started accepting heroine’s roles, naturally all the music directors of that period including myself made her sing the songs. She was almost reigning supreme as a singing star in the forties. But when a fresh band of female singers started growing up in the decade of 1950s, slowly Suraiya started declining and perhaps due to the age factor she retired from acting and singing in due course.

Only a couple of years ago I asked her to stage a comeback and sing for “Chanakya” but she politely turned down my request saying, ‘I gave up singing a long time ago. If I begin again and if my voice is not up to the mark, people will hear my bad voice and lose whatever respect they have for me. So please don’t force me to stage a comeback”.