I am proud to be "regressive"

Theres an insipid dialogue in the boring "mistress of spices"
"If roots are too strong, then they will start strangling your neck"

How wrong tilo was ? Yesterday naushad saab died. He was 86 and it was more of "when" rather than "if". He left a legacy of classics behind him and he made such a great impression on my mind. Be it the brij bhasha's mohe panghat pe or extremely romantic mere mehboob mujhe or the naughty nain lad gaye hai or the enigmatic chalte chalte or the inspiring duniya main ham aaye and the list just goes on and on.

My dad is an old hindi songs admirer and he used to make others listen to revive the old yet golden ( zeugma intended)
tracks. One day in the saloon when the mere huzoor songs were being played a guy came and told " stop playing those jesus
christ songs !! ". My dad felt embarassed, not for himself but for rafi saab. We are so neck deep into the westernized tracks
that we no longer care to appreciate our real treasure.

I mean just listen to the following lyrics
"mere mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam phir mujhe un nargisi aankhon ka sahara de de"

They are so transcendtal. Naushad was a man of many firsts. He introduced the background score. He introduced to us the two kohinoor - md rafi and lata mangeshkar. I can vividly remember the background in mughal-e-azam when madhubala
confronts prithviraj kapoor. The mere sarangi in the background and the segue gives the whole scene a poetic silence.
I still tap my feet whenever i see bharat bhushan swinging in that brilliant "tu ganga ki mauj main jumna ki dhara". No one could explore lata's potential than naushad. She sang her heart out in "jab pyar kiya to darna kya".

Naushad hailed from lucknow and we miss that tehzeeb in current trend music. The lyrics werent functional. They conveyed a lot. I am not against the remix culture but lets try to hear what is our "own".

All i can say is a line from mere mehboob
"mera khoya hua rangeen nazara de de"

May the man's soul rest in peace.