Naushad was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1981 for his lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. Besides, he had been also honoured with thePadmabhushan and Sangeet Academy awards.

Born on December 25, 1919, Naushad Ali was one of the foremost music composers of Bollywood. Since early childhood in Lucknow he was an avid listener of live orchestras accompanying silent films.

He studied under Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali and Ustad Babban Saheb. Before coming to Bombay, he repaired harmoniums and composed for amateur theatricals such as the Windsor Music Entertainers.

He moved to Bombay in the late 1930s to try his luck as a musician but had to really struggle and saw days of acute deprivation.

He even had to spend nights on the footpath before he worked as a pianist in composer Mushtaq Hussains orchestra. He joined music director Khemchand Prakash, whom he considers his teacher, as his assistant.

Prem Nagar (1940) was Naushads first Independent break but he first got noticed with Sharda (1942) wherein 13-year-old Suraiya did the playback for heroine Mehtab.

It was the film Rattan (1944) that took Naushad right to the top and enabled him to charge Rs 25,000 a film then. Ankhiyaan Milake and Sawan ke Badalon became the most popular songs of the day.

After initial struggle, he enjoyed great success in the 1940s as a music director.

Naushad introduced Bollywood Nightingale Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammad Rafi to playback singing.

Naushad was one of the first to introduce sound mixing and the separate recording of voice and music tracks in playback singing.

Late in his career, Naushad lamented upon the decreasing use of Hindustani genre and so he dreamt of starting a music school which teaches that genre. He was successful in bringing up the school and breeding young talent in that school.

He had composed music for at least 67 films.

His major hits include Mughal-e-Azam, Mother India, Baiju Bawra and Pakeezah besides Rattan, Anmol Ghadi, Shahjehan, Dard, Mela, Andaaz, Dillagi, Dulari, Babul, Deedaar, Jadoo, Shabab, Udan Khatola, Ganga Jamuna, Mere Mehboob and Ram Aur Shyam.

Songs for his music have been mostly penned down by Shakeel Badayuni.

Naushad also had completed Pakeezah (1972) after Ghulam Mohammeds death.

His last music composition was for the movie Taj Mahal-An Eternal Love Story, by Akbar Khan in 2005. (ANI)