Actors Dharmendra and Dilip Kumar arrive to pay homage to Naushad. Picture by Gajanan Dudhalkar

When Baiju Bawra, his first big hit, premiered at Mumbai’s Broadway Theatre in 1952, Naushad couldn’t help crying. It was on the footpath across the theatre, where he used to sleep till a few years ago, that he would dream of big screen stars singing his songs of love, heartbreak and death.

Naushad Ali died today of illnesses associated with old age at Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai. He was 86.

He was mourned by the entire film industry, which remembers him as one of the last greats of the old guard, a fine “zinda dil (lively)” human being and, above all, one of the greatest musicians who contributed to make Hindi cinema what it is today.

Dilip Kumar, a contemporary and a close friend who was his constant companion for the last two years, could barely speak. “A noble man”, Naushad was “unforgettable”, he said.

Naushad’s life and achievements span the history of modern Indian cinema. Born in Lucknow in 1919, Naushad realised early that music would rule his life. Away from home, the boy would spend hours under the spell of the haunting voice of a wandering qawaal or a flute player despite a disapproving father.

As a young man, Naushad trained under Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali and Ustad Babban Saheb in Lucknow, got work as a harmonium repairer and composer for amateur musical theatricals ? and then ran away to Mumbai to fulfil his destiny.

He worked with music director Khemchand Prakash, who composed for Mahal, and later with A.R. Kardar and P.N. Madhok. Naushad made his debut with Prem Nagar in 1940. His best-known compositions are from Mughal-e-Azam, Mother India, Baiju Bawra, Mela and Sangharsh. Naushad’s last film was Akbar Khan’s Taj Mahal, which has just been released in Pakistan.

“It is a great loss. He was awesome. If one thinks of the first two or three names associated with Indian cinema, his is one of them,” said poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar.

“I did not have an opportunity to work with him, though my father (poet Jan Nisar Akhtar) did work with him for one film. As a composer, Naushad’s greatest strength was the Indianness of his music,” Akhtar said. “He made Indian classical music simple and made it reach the common man.”

He added: “His greatest work was with Shakeel Badayuni. Naushad the composer, Badayuni the poet and often Mohammad Rafi the singer formed a trio that made some unforgettable melodies.”

Some of the best examples of the Naushad-Badayuni partnership are Afsana likh rahi hun dil-e-beqarar ka from Dard sung by Uma Devi (discovered as a singer by Naushad, she became Baby Tuntun later); Bachpan ke dil bhula na dena from Deedar, Mohe bhool gaye sanwariya from Baiju Bawra, Mere mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam from Mere Mehboob; Apni azaadi ko hum hargiz mita sakte nahin from Leader; Aaj ki raat mere dil ke salaami lele from Ram Aur Shyam and Aaj puraani raahon se koi mujhe awaaz na de from Aadmi.

In a recent interview, when Mughal-e-Azam was released in colour, Naushad reminisced about how one of the eternal Hindi love songs came to be made.

When the music team was asked to write a love song, Badayuni first came up with lyrics like Prem kiya tha chori nahi kari. But Naushad didn’t like it. Badayuni revised the words and settled on Pyaar kiya to darna kya. Naushad, Badayuni and producer K. Asif then worked through the night to finish the song.

Actor Raza Murad, for whom Naushad was a father figure, said the recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award was not only a great music director but his work was particularly relevant to our times.

“Even as religion is again an issue in Gujarat, it is wise to remember that in Baiju Bawra, Naushad the composer, Badayuni the poet and Rafi the singer came together to create a song that went Man tarpat Hari darshan ko aaj.”

Naushad was representative of “a culture that is gone”, said Akhtar. “He had that politeness of words and courteous manners. He embodied Lucknow ki tehzeeb.”

He was full of life “and humour” till the end, said Dilip Kumar.

At Nanavati Hospital, where Naushad was admitted on April 20, he would regale doctors with shayari.

“I met him day before yesterday. As I was leaving, I said I did not want to burden him any more. He shot back saying how could that be a burden,” said the actor, breaking down.

And he had a good word for everyone. In a tribute to Mehmood after the comedian’s demise, Naushad told The Telegraph: “Mehmood saab ko jannat mile (May Mehmood go to heaven)”.

That is where he, too, belongs.