His voice was gentle, soft. Much like his music.
That afternoon in Thiruvananthapuram, over two decades ago, Naushad spoke admiringly about melody in Malayalam music. He was there as a special guest from Mumbai for what should be the grandest live music show ever conducted in Kerala. Just about every living singer and composer in Malayalam cinema was there for the programme organised by composer G. Devarajan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Malayalam film music.
“What Devarajan has done is amazing,” Naushad had said. “This has inspired me to do something like this in Mumbai for Hindi film music.”
Some of the immortal songs in Hindi cinema were composed by Naushad, whose 11th death anniversary falls on Friday. He is easily one of the greatest composers ever in Hindi films. Making good use of his deep knowledge in classical music, he created his own style of music. Perhaps more than any other composer, he brought classical music closer to the common listener.
He may have done almost all his music in Hindi cinema, but he tuned songs for one Malayalam film as well. And what a melodious album it turned out to be. Dhwani , which was one of the better films of 1998, featured seven songs and all of them were lovely.
In the rich history of Malayalam film music, Dhwani certainly has a place of distinction. Yusufali Kechery had written the lyrics for the film directed by A.T. Abu. It proved to be the last film of Prem Nazir, who gave one of his finest performances in his long career.
But, still it is through the songs that people mainly remember Dhwani now, nearly three decades later. Manasa nilayil …, rendered by Yesudas, may be the most popular song of the album, but there were even more melodious ones.
Anuraaga lola gaathri …, a duet by Yesudas and P. Susheela, was, in fact, the pick. Its tune, interestingly, had been used by Naushad earlier for an unreleased Hindi film, Habba Khatoon . The song was Jis raat ke khwaab aaye … sung by Mohammed Rafi.
