As new sounds, rhythms and beats pervaded the Hindi Film Industry thanks to the efforts of men like Ghulam Haider, Anil Biswas and C.Ramchandra another music director who would go on to rule the film industry through the late 1940s , 50s and 60s made his debut in 1940 with Prem Nagar. Born in Lucknow in 1919, since early childhood he was an avid listener to the live orchestras accompanying silent films. He studied under Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali and Ustad Babban Saheb and 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 Hussain's orchestra. He joined music director Khemchand Prakash (whom he considers his teacher) as his assistant. One of his earliest hits came with Panchi Ja in Sharda (1942) where as we mentioned earlier he used a 12 year old Suraiya to sing for the heroine Mehtaab. In 1944 he introduced Mohd. Rafi to Hindi films with the film Pehle Aap and Rattan released the same year broke all musical records! The Music Director in question? Naushad Ali!

The phenomenal success of Rattan (Ankhiyaan Milaake, Saawan ke Badalon) took its singer Zohra Ambala and Music Director Naushad right to the top enabling him to charge Rs 25,000 for a film in those days! A fee charged then only by Ghulam Haider. In fact asfilm music became more and more popular, it is largely due to Master Ghulam Haider's efforts that musicians and Music Directors were given better wages in films. After Rattan, Naushad ruled in the 40s as he churned out successful and high quality music in film after film. Naushad churned out hit after hit in the 1940s mainly in the films of A.R. Kardar - Shahjehan (1946), Dard (1947), Dillagi (1949), Dulari (1949) and Mehboob Khan - Anmol Ghadi (1946), Elaan (1947), Anokhi Ada (1949) and Andaaz (1949). But all his musical hits notwithstanding, Naushad was also a man of great technical knowledge and capable of much innovation. He was the first to introduce sound mixing and the separate recording of voice and music tracks in playback singing which he did with Shahjehan getting Saigal to record separately on a different track and having the music on another track.

Naushad was also the first to combine the flute and the clarinet, the sitar and mandolin. He also introduced the accordion to Hindi film music and was among the first to concentrate on background music to extend characters' moods and dialogues through music. But perhaps Naushad's greatest contribution was to bring Indian classical music into the film medium and what's more make them extremely accessible to the layman in films like Baiju Bawra(1952) and Mughal-e-Azam (1960).

While Shahjehan was a big success for Saigal and Naushad, the film introduced a new lyricist to the Hindi Film Industry - Majrooh Sultanpuri. He was born Asrar Hussain Khan in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, the son of a police constable. After studying Persian in Aligarh, he moved to Bombay. His early and best-known independent poetry was in the ghazal form. Majrooh Saab's songs touched the core of human experience. And although a product of the hoary adabi tradition of classical Urdu poetry, his film songs adhered to simple Hindustani, which struck a chord in both the commoner and the connoisseurs alike.

Majrooh Sultanpuri ideally blended popularity with purity of thought and expression. He went on to become part of the formidable quartet that ruled Hindi Cinema in the 1950s and early 60s, the others being Sahir Ludhianvi, Shakeel Badayuni and Shailendra but Majrooh Saab outlasted them all working right up to his death, his career spanning over five decades and over 350 films, many of them extremely successful at the box office. And though he has written all types of lyrics and worked for all the top Music Directors of the day - Anil Biswas, Naushad, O.P. Nayyar, Roshan, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, his work with S.D. Burman and R.D. Burman particularly in the light and frothy Nasir Hussain musicals really stands out for its youthfulness and sense of fun.

The other really important lyricist to enter Hindi Films in the 1940s was Shailendra. Shailendra was an employee with Indian Railways. Raj Kapoor who had just turned actor-producer and was making Aag (1948)had heard Shailendra recite an inflammatory poem Jalta Hai Punjab and was highly impressed. He offered Shailendra a chance to write the songs of Aag. However Shailendra, a member of the leftwing IPTA, was wary of mainstream Indian Cinema and refused Raj Kapoor. However the birth of his son, Shaily precipitated the need for money and he himself approached Raj Kapoor for work and for Rs 500 he wrote two songs for Barsaat (1949) - Patli Qamar Hai and Barsaat Mein Humse Mile Tum. This led to a lifelong partnership with Raj Kapoor and Shankar-Jaikishen. Shailendra had found his vocation in life…

As Shailendra became a full time lyricist, his songs dazzled with their lyrical lustre. His acute sensitivity and emotionalism were wrapped in simple yet extremely effectively Hindustani. Besides his association with Raj Kapoor and Shankar-Jaikishen, some of his best work came for Bimal Roy in films like Do Bigha Zameen (1953), Madhumati (1958) and Bandini (1963).

The man Naushad considers his Guru, Khemchand Prakash, was among the other distinguished Music Directors of the 1940s. Born in Jaipur in 1907, he was appointed court singer by the Maharaja of Bikaner while just 19! He also served under Nepal royalty and worked in Calcutta as a radio artist and with Timir Baran at New Theatres. His work in the 40s is associated mainly with Ranjit Movietone, most famously the Saigal-Khursheed starrer Tansen (1943). A pioneer in the field of classical music and rajasthani folk music, he had a complete grasp of Marwar folk songs, thumris and ghazals.

Among his later years Khemchand Prakash's work at Bombay Talkies stands out. Besides turning around Lata Mangeshkar's career, It was he who gave Kishore Kumar his initial break with Marne ki Duayen Kyon Mangoon in Ziddi in 1948 and gave him one of his earlier assignments in Rhim Jhim coming the same year as his musical masterpiece Mahal in 1949. But more of Lata and Kishore later. Unfortunately Khemchand Prakash couldn't live for long to enjoy Mahal's stupendous success as he passed away the following year when still in his early 40s. But not before giving us two scintillating musical scores in Bombay Talkies Tamasha (1952) and the Raj Kapoor - Nargis starrer Jan Pehchan (1950).

As mentioned, the 1940s saw most of the legends of playback singing entering the Industry. But not just singers or lyricists, the late 1940s saw other Composers taking their first steps - SD Burman, Shankar-Jaikishen, Roshan were all climbing the first rungs of the ladder that would see them at their creative best in the forthcoming golden period of Hindi Film Music, the 1950s and 1960s...