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Recalling Our Mohd Rafi through Naushad Sahib

An unpublished interview of Naushad Sahib by Mehtab-Ud-Din

I had an interview of Naushad Sahib, the Great Music Coposer of the !ollywood" I wanted to

publish it in y boo# about all tie Great our Mohd" $afi Sahib" !ut y drea couldn%t be a reality

only due to soe unavoidable circustances in y faily" !ut, now I want to share y feelin&s

about our $afi Sahib ' Naushad Sahib after ()* years, as I a still not able to publish such a boo#" I

hope, the fans of $afi Sahib and the readers of Mohd $afi"co %ll surely for&ive e for the delay in

presentin& the precious inforation"

Naushad Sahib with Mehtab-Ud-Din

It was an occasion of the annual Mohd" $afi Award +unction of aad&ar-e-$afi Society, Chandi&arh

$e&d"." /he day was (0thNoveber, 0)))" Naushad Sahib, the foreost usic coposer of the

!ollywood ' the Chief Guest for the Award +unction had coe in Chandi&arh on (( thNov" /hen, I

was wor#in& as News-1ditor in a 2un3abi Daily 4Desh Sewa#% Chandi&arh. ' I ana&ed to eetNaushad Sahib especially alon&with Mr" Sardul Sin&h Abravan, y collea&ue and the Cultural

$epresentative of the vernacular daily" 5e reached the $oo No" 6(7, 6rd+loor, U" /" Guest 8ouse,

Sector-9: where Naushad Sahib was officially stayin&"

;nly a couple of other 7(-7?(@ 6(((0. of aad&ar-e-$afi

Society told us that Naushad Sahib had &one for dinner with an acBuaintance previous ni&ht" 8e

returned at (6) a and the lift of the Guest 8ouse was out of order" /hat is why, Naushad Sahib

had to coe at 6

rd

+loor throu&h the stairs" 8e had under&one !yepass Sur&ery twice and that iswhy, he felt unwell" Mr" =alia as#ed us not to tal# with Naushad Sahib ore than () or ( inutes"

5e were called in at (00) p" Naushad Sahib was layin& in the bed as he was preparin& hiself for

the Awards% event, which was &oin& to be held at 9)) p"

5e wished hi and he went in half-lyin& position after seein& us" 8e was loo#in& eEtraordinarily

peaceful" 8e seeed e li#e an an&el" I did not believe that I had been before real Naushad Sahib"

5e all sat near the bed and I was the closest of all" F""And then none #new when one and a half

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hour had &one" Naushad Sahib shared a lot of his eoies about our $afi Sahib" I reeber that

while tal#in& with us, he touched e any ties and I feel his touch even today" I as#ed hi the

Buestions only about $afi Sahib" Naushad Sahib stated that he had reebered a lot about Mohd"

$afi" 5hen the arria&e of the dau&hter of $afi Sahib was &oin& to be soleniHed" I also &ot the

5eddin& Card" /he arria&e cereony was &oin& to be held at the 8otel 8oriHon, !obay" I

inBuired and the 2ersonal Secretary of $afi Sahib i"e" Mr" ahir, who was the real brother-in-law of

$afi, confired that Mr" Mohd" $afi hiself had planned the weddin& pro&rae at the 8otel"

/hen I et $afi Sahib and as#ed hi if his dau&hter was born in a hotel" I su&&ested hi that the

dau&hter ust be bidden farewell fro the house, where she had born" $afi Sahib was so sensitive

that he instantaneously chan&ed the whole pro&rae of the weddin& of his dau&hter" 8is dau&hter

was bidden farewell fro $afi Mansion, !andra"J Naushad Sahib further stated,J5hen $afi et e

first tie, he had a letter of y father, which he &ot fro Kuc#now" I as#ed hi to sin& for a short

while" 8e san& very well" I told hi that 4At present, I have no sin&in& wor# for you" 5ell, if you

want, you ay perfor in a chorus son& Hindustan ke hum hain hindustan hamaraJ for +il

4Pehle Aap%" Larious people are sin&in& the chorus and you %ll &et only a sin&le line to sin&"% 8e &ot

ready to perfor in a chorus"

Naushad Sahib, in conversation with Mehtab-Ud-Din with dar# red trousers and close to Naushad Sahib., Sardool Sin&h

Abravan and Anoop =uar"

I didn%t reeber the eEact year, but it was the tie of the 0nd 5orld 5ar, perhaps (7@@" /he sounds

of the heavy shoes of the soldiers were needed for the son& as it was to be shot upon the soldiers but

then, there was not any facility for the sound-iEin& available" /he heavy ilitary-shoes were

bou&ht fro the 4Chor !aHar% /hieves% Mar#et. of !obay now Mubai. and they were &iven to

wear by all the sin&ers of the chorus of 4Pehle Aap%" /he sin&ers, includin& $afi Sahib, were sin&in&

durin& rehearsal as well as they were stri#in& their feet with the sounds of 4thud%" /he idea was only

to record the sounds of the heavy shoes with the son& siultaneously" !ut there were sores upon the

soles of $afi Sahib even durin& the rehearsal" /he son& was recorded and becae hit" Mohd" $afi

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&ot $upees ()- as reuneration and he was very happy" 8ere, I would also li#e to share another

eorable utterance with you, but please don%t publish it" After the recordin&, I as#ed all the youn&

sin&ers to &o to Mir Sahib at 8otel Minerva" /hey all went eEcept $afi" I as#ed the reason" 8e told

that he had not any oney even for bus-fare" I &ave hi soe oney for the fare"J $eally, it was the

&reatness of Naushad sahib as even after -9 years, he forbade the edia persons to publish it"

!ut, I have written it only for the loversfans of $afi Sahib and for the new &eneration, so that they

can &et inspiration" 2erhaps, such type of stru&&les had ade $afi Sahib a &reat person"

Naushad Sahib said a&ain recallin& about the untarnished, transparent and distinctive personality of

$afi Sahib,$afi cae to !obay after duly learnin& the usic" 8e didn%t thin# to becoe a sin&er

only after hearin& soe son&s, 3ust li#e the so-called odern sin&ers are doin&" 8e was tau&ht usic

by !ade Ghula Ali =han Sahib%s youn&er brother" $afi never had wine,pan, ci&arette or bidi" /o

help others, was his reli&ion" ;nce, $afi as#ed e before &oin& to USA for a sta&e show, what should

he brin& fro that country, which i&ht be helpful for the public" I su&&ested hi to brin& a Dialysis

achine fro USA" A Dialysis achine is used to purifychan&e the blood of the patients, ainly

sufferin& fro cancer and soe other serious aladies" $afi sahib did the sae" 8e brou&ht theDialysis Machine and donated it to a local hospital" 8e never donated hiself but only throu&h

others, so that people i&ht not #now that $afi donated soethin&" 8e always believed in

anonyous charity" 8e was so reli&ious that he always donated throu&h his brother-in-law and his

secretary Mr" Mohd" ahir" ;nce, he donated 6)) ats for the Musli devotees, which were

supposed to be used durin& NaaH-e-1id in the Danda Ground, Mubai" $afi Sahib wished that the

the NaaH-e-1id of the year (7?) i&ht be perfored upon the sae ats" !ut it was the destiny

that $afi Sahib died on (9th or (th $oHa i"e" +ast and the prayer of his funeral NaaH-e-

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Naushad Sahib with Mehtab-Ud-Din

Naushad sahib was really sentiental durin& his recall about $afi Sahib" I was sittin& the nearest to

his bed and he was touchin& e a&ain and a&ain durin& the interview, and I was feelin& very uch

honouredproud by his Midas /ouch" Naushad sahib went to his down eory lanes and said,It

was rainy season, when $afi died" /here was a &reat ultitude with his funeral inspite of heavy rain"/he people of every sect, reli&ion, class, race and sphere of life were present there" /he &raveyard

was at soe distance" /he dead body of $afi Sahib had been placed upon an open truc#, so that all

the people i&ht see his face for the last tie" /he truc# covered only a little distance, when soe

youth cae forth and offered that they would ta#e the funeral of $afi Sahib upon their own shoulders

to the &raveyard" All had &one eotional to see the public-love towards $afi Sahib" !ollywood Stars

li#e $a3 =apoor, Shai =apoor, Linod =hanna, A3ad =han, !$ Chopra, ash Chopra and

$a3endra =uar were also present" 1veryone felt that it was the wisdo of $afi Sahib, which forced

the layen to coe durin& the funeral of their favourite $afi Sahib even durin& heavy rains" Soe

ladies, youth and veterans were weepin&" 2eople were throwin& flowers upon the funeral fro the

roof-topsbalconies of their houses" Actually, $afi was a crownless =in& of the popular !ollywoodMusic" 8e was and still lives in the hearts of the illions" /he &raveyard was too short for such a

hu&e ob" /he #eepers of the &raveyard ur&ed that the ob ust be stopped, so that there ust not

be any disrespect to any other &rave" !ut how could such a ob be controlled /hen, the doors of

the &raveyard were shut, but the people then started to 3up over the walls of the &raveyard" /hey

didn%t even care of the pieces of &lasses and the barbed fences" So, in the process, nuerous people

were wounded but they didn%t heed" I didn%t for&et so touchy scenes even today" /hose oents will

be reebered for ever"J

Naushad Sahib continued,$afi Sahib helped everyone" 8e never thou&ht the ArtistDirector is

newcoer or old" Any new 2roducerDirector would say 4$afi Sahib, a son& has been prepared only

for your &ood-self, but we have a low bud&etF" 5e can%t afford your price"% /hen $afi Sahib would

as#,48ow uch will you afford% /he 2roducerDirector were ostly ute before hi" /hen $afi

Sahib would say,ou ay &ive e $s" ))- only for a son&"J And the deal used to &et struc#, aheer

would note the date of recordin&" After the recordin&, $afi Sahib often returned those $s" ))- to

the sae 2roducerDirector and would say,4our children %ll use the oney for sweets"%J

Naushad Sahib criticiHed the so-called 2op Music and said,If Daler Mehndi would sin& without the

sei-nude woen, he i&ht see &ood in sin&in&"J Naushad Sahib was disheartened and worried

by the 4clusy% 2op Music" 8e said that such son&s can never have lon& life" 8e a&ain recalled,;nce

I called $afi Sahib to sin& a GhaHal Jis Raat Ko Khaab Aye, Un Khaabon Ki Raat Aayi"J for the fil

4Habba Khatoon% I had coposed the GhaHal in $a&a 2atdeep" 5hen $afi Sahib heard the whole

GhaHal and the coposition, he be&an to weep" 8e said,5here such usic has &one /oday, we are

often bein& forced to screa li#e do&s or cats"J I as#ed a Buestion that how uch reality in a clai

that Sahir Kudhianvi wrote the son& Ae Mohabbat ZindabadJ Mu&hal-e-AHa. for Sha#eel

!adayuni" /he bac#&round of such an aw#ward Buestion was that a senior Urdu2un3abi writer Mr"

MushtaB 5arsi of Maler#otla 2un3ab. had told e that 4A lyricist of !ollywood, 2re Larbartani

fil 4Ek Din Ka adshah% fae, which has the son& of $afi Sahib ulbul ko !ul pasand hai, teri

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pasand kya hai, yeh mu"h ko khabar nahin#$%told that Sha#eel Sahib was a roantic lyricist and the

son& of 4Mu&hal-e-AHa% was a revolutionary one and which was the field of Sahir Sahib" 2re

Larbartani even claied that Sha#eel was unable to create such revolutionary tone in his lyrics"%

Naushad Sahib replied that the a lyricist always writes the sae as heshe is directed" Sha#eel

never touched alcohol, yet he wrote the son& 4Mu"he Duniya &alo, 'harabi (a 'am"ho% for the fil

4)eader% and it becae the Superhit nuber of $afi Sahib" Sahir Kudhianvi had written a GhaHal *k

'hahnshah (e an+a Ke Hasin Ta" Mahal, Hum haribon Ki Mohabbat Ka Urraya Hai Ma-ak,

Meri Mehboob Kahin Aur Mila Kar Mu"hseJ, but we thou&ht that /a3 Mahal is such a hu&e

onuent and one of the seven wonders of the world, why should we not reply Sahir Sahib%s

GhaHal /hen, Sha#eel Sahib wrote for the sae +il 4)eader% i"e" *k 'hahnshah (e an+a Ke

Hasin Ta" Mahal, 'ari Duniya Ko Mohabbat Ki (ishani Di Hai#J $afi Sahib ' Kata Man&esh#ar

a&ain ade it eternal and everlastin&"J

Naushad Sahib had soe &rievance a&ainst the Union Govt" also as his proposal to a#e a /L Serial

4'an!eet 'amrat Tansen% for Doordarshan was not &iven wei&ht as it should be" Doordarshan had

been a&reed to pay only $s" 0" Ka#h per episode" !ut Naushad Sahib told the scribes that he etMr" A3it =uar 2an3a, the then Union Minister for Inforation, but in vain" 8e told Mr" 2an3a that

$s" 0" Ka#h will be enou&h only for a sin&le shot of an episode, because all the $a&as are to be

transfored into the visual shots" 5e want to show, how a $a&a has its effects upon the

environent" Such scenes are really difficult to shoot" I have the full script and %ll a#e y drea

true at the ri&ht tie"J

Mehtab-Ud-Din

5e were &ettin& such rare ' precious inforation about our $afi Sahib and Naushad Sahib hiself"

;ur conversation i&ht be a little bit ore lon&, if Mr" !" D" =alia had not reinded Naushad Sahib

about the lunch tie" /he interview was really eorable one"