Naushad Saab Was Very Close To My Entire Family: Lata Mangeshkar

Lata Mangeshkar Remembers  Close Ties  With  The  Maestro On  His Birth Anniversary on 25 December

“Naushad Saab was close,very close to not just me but to my entire family, specially my brother Hridaynath. In fact Naushad Saab was  so close to my brother that  when my brother had a son he named his child Baijnath inspired from the film Baiju Bawra which was one ofNaushad Saab’s earliest classic ,classical,  scores…Hriday sang for the child actor who played Baiju  and I sang for baby Tabassum who played  the  child Meena  Kumari.  But I remember little Hridaynathsang a song for Naushad even before that for Naushad Saab in a film called Diwana in  1952. The song was Yeh duniya kaisi haibhagwan…As for me, I owe  a lot to Naushad Saab.

In terms  of voice modulation and specially pronunciation  of Urdu words, he took keen interest  in  the way I sang and helped me through difficult Ghazalslike Uthaye  jaa unke sitam in Andaz and Pyar  kiya toh darna  kya inMughal-e-Azam. Naushad Saab’s score in the film Rattan in  1942 was a turning point for Hindi  film music.

It changed the way we looked at film mysic. There is a false mythology surrounding my rendition of Pyar kiya toh darna kya .That Naushad Saab and I got the  echo effect in the song by making me  sing in the bathroom  of the recording room. No such thing happened. During those days when songs were recorded with  a  huge live orchestra, the studios were stuffy enough. Singing from the  bathroom would have been impossible.It wouldn’t be  wrong to  say Naushad Saab  nurtured my voice cultivated  my abilities and honed my skills .He was  a perfectionist to  the core.

He would not compromise on  a single note in a melody.When I recorded with him I  made sure my diction was  faultless. Before me  Naushad Saab had worked with singers who  had a natural command over the Urdu language like Shamshad Begum , Noorjahan and Suraiya. I  had to make sure my Urdu was as good. Ilearnt more  from recording with Naushad Saab than I can  express. He was  a father-figure and  a mentor and like I  said, so close  to my entire family right till his final years.When there was a wedding in theMangeshkar family  Naushad Saab was of frail health. But he  came for  the wedding on a  wheelchair to bless the  couple. This is  how much we Mangeshkars mattered to  him. I am  indebted  to NaushadSaab.”