Naushad

Lore & Background

Naushad Ali was born and raised in Lucknow, a city with a long tradition as a centre of Indian Muslim culture. His father, Wahid Ali, was a munshi (court clerk). As a child, Naushad visited the annual fair at Deva Sharif in Barabanki, where great qawwals and musicians performed. He studied Hindustani music under Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali, Ustad Babban Saheb and others, and also repaired harmoniums. He formed his own Windsor Music Entertainers and later the Indian Star Theatrical Company, travelling to regions like Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Saurashtra, where he developed a sense for folk music.

He moved to Mumbai in late 1937 for a career as a musician. He assisted music director Ustad Jhande Khan, worked as a pianist in composer Ustad Mushtaq Hussain's orchestra, and later became assistant to Khemchand Prakash, whom he called his guru. His first independent film as music director was Prem Nagar (1940), and his first musically successful film was Rattan (1944). From 1942 until the late 1960s, he was one of the top music directors in Hindi films. He composed for Mother India (1957), the first Indian film nominated for an Oscar. He also composed background music for the TV serials 'Akbar The Great' (1988) and 'The Sword of Tipu Sultan' (1990).

Reader's Guide

Naushad's significance lies in his pioneering role in integrating classical and folk music into Hindi cinema, setting a standard for film composition. His career spanned from the 1940s to the early 2000s, with 65 films, including 26 silver jubilee hits, 8 golden jubilee hits, and 4 diamond jubilee hits. He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1981 and the Padma Bhushan in 1992 for his contributions. His legacy includes the 'Naushad Academy of Hindustani Sangeet' in Maharashtra, established during his lifetime. He also published a book of Urdu poetry, 'Aathwaan Sur', and an album of ghazals. His work influenced generations of music directors, and his assistants included Mohammed Shafi, Jerry Amaldev, and Ghulam Mohammed. Five films have been made on his life, and several biographical books have been published.

Did You Know?

• Naushad's first musically successful film was Rattan (1944), which earned Rs 3 lacs in gramophone royalty in its first year.
• He composed the tunes for Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story (2005) at the age of 86.

Roots and the Making of a Voice

Mohammed Rafi entered the world on 24 December 1924 as the second-eldest of six sons born to Allah Rakhi and Haji Ali Mohammad. The family traced its origins to Kotla Sultan Singh, a small village in what is now the Amritsar district of Punjab, and belonged to the Punjabi Bhatti Jat Muslim community. Young Rafi, whom those around him called Pheeko, discovered his love for music not in a formal setting but on the village streets, where he would mimic the melodic chants of a wandering fakir. In 1935 his father relocated the family to Lahore, setting up a barbershop in the Noor Mohalla area near Bhati Gate. There, Rafi received his formal classical training under three gurus—Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, Pandit Jiwan Lal Mattoo, and Firoze Nizami—building a technical foundation that would later support his extraordinary range. At just thirteen he stepped onto a stage in Lahore, singing alongside the legendary K. L. Saigal. By 1941 he had already made his playback debut in a Punjabi duet with Zeenat Begum for the film Gul Baloch, composed by Shyam Sunder, and had been invited to perform for All India Radio's Lahore station.

Bombay, Partition, and the First Solo Milestones

In 1944 Rafi arrived in Bombay, where he and a companion named Hameed Sahab shared a cramped ten-by-ten-foot room in the bustling Bhendi Bazar district. Poet Tanvir Naqvi became a crucial bridge, introducing the young singer to producers including Abdur Rashid Kardar, Mehboob Khan, and actor-director Nazeer. His first recorded Hindi-film song was a duet with G. M. Durrani for Gaon Ki Gori, and his earliest collaboration with composer Naushad came in A. R. Kardar's Pehle Aap. Rafi also briefly appeared on screen, singing in Laila Majnu (1945) and Jugnu (1947). The partition of 1947 forced a painful decision: Rafi chose to remain in India and arranged for his family to be flown to Bombay, while his contemporary Noor Jehan crossed to Pakistan. By 1949 he was receiving solo assignments from Naushad, Shyam Sunder, and Husnalal Bhagatram. In the immediate aftermath of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in 1948, Rafi and the Husnalal Bhagatram–Rajendra Krishan team created the tribute "Suno Suno Ae Duniyawalon" overnight. Prime Minister Nehru personally invited Rafi to perform at his residence and presented him with a silver medal on Independence Day that year.

A Prolific Voice Across Languages and Composers

Rafi's recording output was staggering. Over his career he laid down approximately seven thousand songs, contributing his voice to more than a thousand Hindi films and extending well beyond that single language. His command of Urdu and Punjabi was particularly strong, but his repertoire stretched across Konkani, Assamese, Bhojpuri, Odia, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Magahi, and Maithili. He even recorded in several foreign tongues, including English, Persian, Arabic, Sinhala, Mauritian Creole, and Dutch. In Hindi cinema his most enduring partnerships were with the leading composers of his era. With Naushad he sang a total of 149 tracks, 81 of them solo, and their work on Baiju Bawra (1952) became a landmark—Naushad, reportedly irritated after catching his previous favorite Talat Mahmood smoking in the studio, entrusted the entire soundtrack to Rafi. With S. D. Burman he recorded in 37 films, voicing characters for Dev Anand and Guru Dutt in titles like Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool, and Guide. His collaboration with Shankar–Jaikishan, which began with Barsaat in 1949, is widely regarded as one of the most successful singer-composer pairings in the industry's history.

Versatility, Honors, and a Lasting Legacy

What set Rafi apart from his contemporaries was the sheer breadth of his musical palette. He moved effortlessly between fast, peppy numbers and deeply melancholic ballads, from patriotic anthems to tenderly romantic duets, from qawwalis and ghazals to devotional bhajans and classical compositions. A particular gift was his ability to shape his vocal tone to match the specific persona and acting style of whichever actor was lip-syncing on screen, making each performance feel tailored to the character. His contributions were recognized with six Filmfare Awards and a National Film Award. In 1967 the Government of India conferred the Padma Shri, the nation's fourth-highest civilian honor, upon him. Decades after his death on 31 July 1980, his stature continued to grow. In 2001, Hero Honda and Stardust magazine jointly bestowed on him the title "Best Singer of the Millennium," and in 2013 a CNN-IBN poll of the public named him the Greatest Voice in Hindi Cinema. These posthumous tributes underscore a consensus that has persisted since the 1950s: Rafi stands as one of the most influential and greatest singers India has ever produced.