Nostalgic Nuggets: This music director's film was the first to get nominated for Oscar award

65 years and 65 films… this is the one-line summary of music director Naushad Ali's (1919-2006)career, who was quite clearly one of the three top directors of Hindi cinema between the 1950s and 1960s. In his illustrious tenure in Bombay film industry, he was a music director, composer, film producer, writer and poet. May 5 happens to be his death anniversary.

Known for adapting the classical musical tradition to modern Hindi film songs, Naushad was equally well-versed in playing Western music. He is also credited with introducing the western notation style in Indian film music. Ironically, till the Hindi film music increasingly began to get westernized in the mid-1960s, his music was in demand.

The epic drama film, Mother India released in October 1957 is still counted among the all-time successful films of Indian cinema. In this film, Naushad introduced western classical music and orchestra to the desi audience.

It also has the distinction of being awarded as the first Indian nomination for Oscar – ' Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film'-but lost by a single vote. The music and soundtrack is still rated among the top 100 of Hindi cinema.