Monday, May 8, 2006
Veteran Bollywood Music Composer Naushad Dies
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Veteran Bollywood composer Naushad Ali, who wrote the music for some of India's biggest film box-office hits, died in hospital after a heart attack, medical officials said.
 Nausahd Ali
© AFP Sebastian D'SouzaNaushad, 86, enjoyed great popular success in the 1950s and 60s, and was a pioneer in introducing Hindustani classical and North-Indian folk music to the cinema.
He started his Bollywood career with "Prem Nagar" in 1940, and a string of successes followed.
He composed music for blockbusters like Oscar-nominated "Mother India", "Mughal-e-Azam" (The Greatest Mughal) and "Pakeezah" (The pure one).
In 1981, Naushad received India's top government cinema award, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, for his lifetime contribution -- 68 movies over six decades, half of them major money-spinners.
He slowed down in the last two decades due to ill-health and his last work was for "Taj Mahal - An Eternal Love Story" in 2005.
Naushad introduced singers Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi to Bollywood movies.
"I was a complete newcomer when he gave me a break in 1947. His greatest contribution was bringing Hindustani music to cinema. He was good natured and had a kind word for everyone, including rivals," Lata Mangeshkar told AajTak television.
Naushad was considered one of the first in the industry to introduce sound-mixing and the separate recording of voice and music tracks in playback singing, for which Bollywood is famous.
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