Best Naushad songs and films

Before RD Burman experimented with synthesizers, before AR Rahman fused Tamil classical with Western harmony, there was Naushad Ali. A composer from Lucknow who arrived in Bombay in 1937, worked as a piano player in silent film orchestras, and by the late 1940s was the most influential music director in Hindi cinema. His work defined what mainstream Hindi film music sounded like for two decades. Here is the essential guide to his songs, films, and why he still matters.

RAGA 01 What made Naushad different

Most music directors of the 1940s borrowed from popular Western forms — jazz, swing, light orchestral. Naushad went the opposite direction. He systematically introduced Indian classical music — ragas, taals, the structural elements of khayal and thumri — into Hindi film songs.

This sounds technical. The practical result was that Hindi film songs suddenly had emotional and structural depth that earlier styles couldn't reach. A romantic song could carry the longing of Raga Bhairavi. A patriotic song could borrow the martial rhythm of Raga Bilaskhani Todi. A devotional song could open with an alaap (the slow vocal exploration that begins classical performance).

Combined with this was Naushad's choice of singers. Mohammed Rafi became his definitive male voice. Lata Mangeshkar his definitive female voice. He gave them songs whose musical structures revealed what their voices were capable of in ways earlier composers hadn't tried.

RAGA 02 Baiju Bawra (1952) — the breakthrough

Baiju Bawra was the film that established Naushad as the dominant composer of his era. The plot — a fictional musical duel between the historical court musician Tansen and a folk singer named Baiju — was a frame for Naushad to compose songs that were almost entirely classical-music structured.

"Tu Ganga Ki Mauj" was sung in Raga Bhairavi. "O Duniya Ke Rakhwale" became one of Mohammed Rafi's signature performances. "Man Tarpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj" — composed in Raga Malkauns — won every devotional-song award going.

The film was a major box office success. More importantly, it proved that audiences would embrace classical-music-based film songs in large numbers. The "lighter" jazz-influenced film music styles that had dominated would now have to share space with Naushad's classical approach.

RAGA 03 Mother India (1957) — the folk turn

Mehboob Khan's Mother India is one of the most important films in Indian cinema history. Nominated for the foreign-language Oscar in 1958. It remained one of the all-time highest-grossing Indian films well into the 1980s.

Naushad's score for Mother India did something different from Baiju Bawra. Instead of high classical music, he reached for rural folk traditions of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. "Duniya Mein Hum Aaye Hain" used the structural simplicity of folk lullabies. "Holi Aayi Re" was based on a Brij Bhasha folk Holi song. The famous "Nagri Nagri Dware Dware" carried the weight of village-women's work songs.

This was a deliberate choice — the film was about rural India, so Naushad's music had to feel rural. He spent weeks in UP villages recording folk songs before composing. The result is a score that feels organic to its setting in a way that most Hindi film music of the era did not.

RAGA 04 Mughal-e-Azam (1960) — the masterpiece

K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam took 14 years to make. Naushad composed the music across this entire production period. The result is widely considered the greatest score in Hindi cinema history.

The legendary "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" — picturised on Madhubala dancing in Anarkali's chamber — was sung by Lata Mangeshkar in Raga Yaman. Naushad employed full orchestral strength for the qawwali-style backing. The marble Sheesh Mahal echo on Lata's voice was achieved by Naushad asking her to record the song while standing in an actual marble bathroom in the studio.

Other highlights:

• "Mohe Panghat Pe": A traditional thumri arrangement.
• "Teri Mehfil Mein Kismat": A qawwali duet — Lata vs Shamshad Begum — that was unprecedented for women's voices in Hindi cinema.
• "Jab Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya": The film's defining song. Echo-chamber recording. Full orchestra. Lata at full operatic range.
• "Bekas Pe Karam Kijiye": A devotional addressed to the Prophet, sung by Lata in Raga Kedar.

For Naushad, Mughal-e-Azam was the crowning achievement. The score has been studied in music conservatories for decades and remains one of the most influential pieces of Indian film music ever produced.

RAGA 05 Pakeezah (1972) — the final classical work

Kamal Amrohi's Pakeezah is technically credited to Ghulam Mohammed for music. But Ghulam Mohammed died in 1968 before completing the score. Naushad took over and finished it. The result is one of the most ravishing soundtracks in Hindi cinema.

"Chalte Chalte" sung by Lata Mangeshkar. "Inhi Logon Ne" — based on a Lucknow folk tradition. "Thade Rahiyo" — the slow-burn opening number. The entire score draws from the Mughal court music tradition that the film's story is steeped in.

Pakeezah was Naushad's last major work. By the early 1970s, RD Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, and other younger composers were taking over the industry. Naushad continued to compose occasionally but the era of his dominance was over.

Naushad introduced raga structure to Hindi film music. Every composer who came after — RD Burman, AR Rahman, Vishal Bhardwaj — owes him a debt.

RAGA 06 The legacy

Naushad died in 2006 at age 86. By then he had received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1981) — Indian cinema's highest honour — and the Padma Bhushan (1992). His Filmfare for Mother India in 1958 was the first Filmfare Best Music Director award ever given.

His influence is felt indirectly more than directly. Younger composers didn't copy him — but they worked in the musical landscape he had built. Once Naushad proved that Indian classical music could be commercially successful film music, every subsequent composer was free to draw on classical traditions in their work.

For more from the music room, see RD Burman who took the next step and Lata's classic 1960s songs including her work with Naushad. The cinema room covers Bimal Roy's films from the same era.