Cineplot Music

Mukesh – Naushad Collaboration

Mukesh and Naushad

Naushad composed approximately 23 songs for Mukesh, out of which 15 were solos and 8 were duets. Naushad used Mukesh’s voice in 2 phases. The first was late 40′s phase (1948-1949), when Naushad created some of the best gems for Mukesh including Kabhi dil dil sai takrata to hoga, Main bhanwara tou hai phool and Tu kahe agar. After 1949, Naushad started to patronize Mohammad Rafi as his main singer and Mukesh got sidelined. Naushad didn’t use Mukesh voice for the next 19 years until Saathi (1968) was released.

Mukesh’s main co-singer under Naushad’s baton was Shamshad Begum, Naushad utilized the nasalish tinge in their voices to full extent and they sang 4 duets together for Naushad, all of which are considered classics today – Bhol gaye kiyoun de ke sahara, Aai sawan rut aai, Mein Bhanwara tu hai phool and Mera dil todne wale.

Naushad on Mukesh

I used to call him Mukesh Babu. He was a singer who belonged to Kundan Lal Saigal’s school. Mukesh was excellent in low tones. There was a certain sadness in his voice but the moment he was taken to the high notes, he used to get shaken. Many music directors, including me, were guilty of asking him to sing in a higher pitch.

One particular trait Mukesh Babu had was that he could never sing without a harmonium. This was because he thought that he would go out of tune. In fact, many times I had to pad up the harmonium and whenever we did that the result was much better.

I used Mukesh Babu’s voice for my songs in two phases. First spell was during late forties when films like “Mela”, “Anokhi Ada”, and “Andaz” were made and the second phase started with “Saathi” and so on, which continued intermittently till his sad demise in 1976. The last song I recorded on him was for the film “Pukar” which Producer/Director Sohrab Modi was making in late seventies. I very clearly remember an incident that took place at the time of the song session. After recording the song everyone was being paid. Even Mukesh Babu was given his packet. Everybody was knowing that Modi Saab was passing through a very difficult financial condition. As soon as the packet was received by Mukesh babu, he returned it to Modi Saab with the words, “Take this back, make your film. When it becomes a jubilee hit, pay me double this amount”.

Mukesh-Naushad Collaboration

Mukesh sang approximately 23 songs for Naushad. Details are provided below :-

Pairs