Tum na jaane kis jahan mein kho gaye...! Naushad Ali is no more. The man who gave the Indian film industry the whole concept of playback singing as a passionate expression of popular angst died here Friday. He was 87.

Naushad was one of the last lingering legacies of an era when Hindi cinema gained momentum as a vehicle of cultural continuity.

Born in Lucknow in 1919, Naushad was the first and perhaps only music composer of Hindi cinema whose name appeared before the actors of the films. Many film personalities believe Naushad was the star of the films for which he chose to compose music.

He chose his assignments very carefully. And once he selected a project, Naushad was the undisputed king. Any interference from the producer or any other member of the unit was not just unacceptable but unimaginable.

There is this story of how a producer tried to tell Naushad saab how to do his job. The temperamental composer heard him out and then said, "Why don't you do the music yourself since you know so much about composing?"

And he walked out. Naushad's knowledge of classical and popular Indian music made him the most eligible candidate for composing immortality. He introduced western-style orchestras in the songs of the epic films of the era.

K. Asif's "Mughal-E-Azam", Mehboob Khan's "Mother India" and "Andaz", Vijay Bhatt's "Baiju Bawra", Nitin Bose's "Ganga Jumna" and H.S Rawail's "Mere Mehboob" were some of Naushad's most celebrated music scores of the 1950s and 1960s.

Naushad's music was a complete motion-picture experience designed and carved out of the choicest raw material obtainable to musicians. He constantly experimented with his sound and voices. If Mohammad Rafi was his favourite male singer, with Lata Mangeshkar he created some of her most popular melodies initially.

There's a legendary story of how Naushad made Lata run into the bathroom of the recording studio to sing a portion of the mythic melody "Pyar kiya to darna kya" in "Mughal-E-Azam".

"That's right," said Lata.

Remembering the incident, she said: "In those days there were no recording devices to create an echoic effect. So Naushad saab devised this method of creating an echo in the song. With Naushad saab I did some of my most important work in the earlier phase of my career."

"I love "Uthaye ja unke situm" ("Andaz"), "Jaane wale se mulaqat" and "Na milta gham ("Amar"), "Mohe panghat pe nandlal", "Beqas pe karam" and of course "Pyar kiya to darna kya" in "Mughal-E-Azam". Then I like Naushad saab's "Dhundo dhundo re sajna" in "Ganga Jumna". They don't make composers and songs like that any more."