OP Nayyar...Loss of the Veteran composer - Page 2

Thanks a lot. Very interesting article.

Somehow this interview of OPN has brought him down in my estimate a few notches (as a person). Of course, I will always like his compositions. But his arrogant talk is simply unacceptable to me.

He informs us pompously that he removed Sahir because Sahir was pompous! He says airily that he told his wife before marriage that he was a womaniser! This interview is full of unacceptable remarks such as "No one leaves OP. OP leaves them," or some such thing.

I can guess what a horrible time Asha must have had with him. He treats women like dirt! He doesn't even refer to Asha with respect. In another article, he referred to Lata in the same boorish manner.

Unforgivable behaviour, unless his senility is making him talk like this.

Originally posted by: punjini

Somehow this interview of OPN has brought him down in my estimate a few notches (as a person). Of course, I will always like his compositions. But his arrogant talk is simply unacceptable to me.

He informs us pompously that he removed Sahir because Sahir was pompous! He says airily that he told his wife before marriage that he was a womaniser! This interview is full of unacceptable remarks such as "No one leaves OP. OP leaves them," or some such thing.

I can guess what a horrible time Asha must have had with him. He treats women like dirt! He doesn't even refer to Asha with respect. In another article, he referred to Lata in the same boorish manner.

Unforgivable behaviour, unless his senility is making him talk like this.

Agreed Punjini - top of that he wear that 'topi' 😡😡

A hero who turned out to have feet of clay. OPN is an example.

I was introduced to O P Nayyar's music when I was very very young.

I may even call him my distant mentor as far as music is concerned.

I remember his early songs and his melodious tunes based on the beat of an 'Ekka'- a single-horse driven carriage. This was his signature tune, made famous by his song 'Maaang ke saath tumhara, maine maang liya sansaar' in 'Naya Daur'. OPN and Asha came together in this movie. They were together till 1972 and left a great legacy of soulful music behind them.

It is a tragi-comedy that RD Burman, with whom Asha reportedly got married gave the best of his music, like his father S D Burman to Lata, and not Asha, but that is another story.

Back to Naya Daur; the song was a super-hit as much as the movie with Dilip and Vyjantimala in it. The lyrics were by Sahir, the best ever revolutionary Urdu poet India has produced, who wrote for Bollywood. All the other songs of the movies were also a hit. 'Ude Jab Jab Zulfein Teri', ' Aana Hai To Aa, Raah Mein Kuch Der Nahin Hai' and the immortal 'Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawano Kaa' and so on. Despite the fact that it was a movie by B R Chopra, the music was not by tried and tested Naushad and still the music was a super-hit- says a lot about the music of OPN.

music of OPN.


Baaz, Aar Paar, Baap Re Baap, Mr. and Mrs. 55, CID, Howrah Bridge and many other movies had already established OPN as a leading Music Director in Bollywood and his songs had already found their place in the hearts of music lovers. 1960's- undoubtedly the best decade for Indian Film Music - is filled with music by OPN. Phir Wohi Dil Laaya Hoon, Kashmir Ki Kali, Mere Sanam, Tumsa nahin Dekha, Ek Musafir Ek Hasina, Sawan Ki Ghata, Baharein Phir Bhi Aayengi, Yeh Raat Phir Na Ayegi, Kismat, Humsaya, Sambandh, Kalpana, Sone Ki Chidiya, Phagun , gave us some memorable and soulful music for ever.

Even though OPN didn't take any formal lesson in Hindi Classical music, his several songs do not betray the same feeling. He worked with the best of lyricists, the worst and most unknown of them such as Sahir Ludhianvi, S H Bihari, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Qamar Jalalabadi, Noor Devasi, Shevan Rizvi and Aziz Kashmiri. . He worked with the best of the movie houses like BR, Guru Dutt and he worked with the least known ones only.


By late 60's, he was rich and famous with his unusual style of a hat and his crisp style of dressing, his Mere Sanam proved to one an all time hit and that he was no fluke. The most important thing he did during his entire music direction era was to give a chance to the most unknown of singers- Mahendra Kapoor, Krishna Kalle, Geeta Dutt and of course – one and only one Asha Mangeshkar Bhonsle.

So, OPN went to Asha and asked her to sing for him, as Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum and Johra Bai Ambalewali needed a respite and moreover, OPN's music needed sensuousness that these voices were not able to provide.

Asha needed that chance like as fish needing water and rest, as they say, is history. Asha and OPN's music were made for each other and it would not be hyperbole or untrue that the best songs that Asha sang were for OPN. She sang for her till late 60's and then they had a fight and separated. OPN's heart broke down and he left Hindi film music though his kind of music left an indelible print on our hearts and minds and Mumbai film industry. When I saw 'Andaaz Apna Apna'- undoubtedly the best comedy ever made by Bollywood in my opinion, it's music reminded me of OPN

For whatever the problems in the persona of OPN, the so-called great singer of today Asha Bhonsle NEVER acknowledges the greatness of OPN as music director and NEVER acknowledges him as her mentor, the opportunity that OPN gave to her that made her so famous in the Bollywood in any of her numerous interviews and stage shows.

Ironically, O P Nayyar is remembered by history as much for what he did not do (record a song with Lata Mangeshkar), as for what he did (compose music for hit films over two decades).

The stubbornly individualistic Omkar Prasad Nayyar was the only major composer from the golden age of Hindi film music to eschew the siren call of Lata's honeyed vocals. Yet Nayyar's robust songs redolent of his native Punjab (Reshmi salwar kurta jaalidar), his characteristic rhythmic beats (in tanga songs like Yun toh hamne, Maang ke saath tumhara) as well as his feather-light melodies (Jaaiye aap kahan jayenge), were immensely popular.

Nayyar had an obstinate streak right from childhood. Born in Lahore in 1926, he was fascinated by music. He was not trained in music, but left home to pursue a career as a composer. The lanky Nayyar got his first break when he composed the background score for Kaneez

Famous songs of O P Nayyar
Song	Film	Singer
Babuji dheere chalna	Aar Paar	Geeta Dutt
Thandi hawa kaali ghata	Mr and Mrs 55	Geeta Dutt
Yeh hai Bambai meri jaan	CID	Rafi-Geeta
Maang ke saath tumhara	Naya Daur	Rafi-Asha
Yun toh humne	Tumse Nahi Dekha	Rafi
Mera naam chin chin choo	Howrah Bridge	Geeta
Ek pardesi mera dil	Phagun	Rafi-Asha
Bahut shukriya	Ek Musafir Ek Hasina	Rafi-Asha
Humdum mere	Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon	Rafi-Asha
Isharon isharon mein	Kashmir Ki Kali	Rafi-Asha
Jaaiye aap kahan jaayenge	Mere Sanam	Asha
Chayen se hamko kabhie	Pran Jaaye Par Vachan Na Jaaye	Asha

(1949).

Three years later, D Pancholi gave Nayyar his debut film, Aasmaan (1952), for which he composed the Geeta Dutt beauty Dekho jaadoo bhare more nain. But Aasmaan, like Nayyar's next two films Chum Chama Cham and Baaz, left the box-office cold.

Baaz made Nayyar's acquaintance with director Guru Dutt, now husband of his favourite singer Geeta. This led to Nayyar being chosen, with a little nudging by Geeta, as music director for Guru Dutt's debut production, Aar Paar (1954). Nayyar conjured a memorable score for this hit film. With Geeta's voice for support, he deftly unfurled a range of silken melodies from the ebullient Ello main haari to the sombre Hoon abhi main jawan.

Nayyar and Guru Dutt productions completed a hat-trick of successes with their next two films, Mr And Mrs 55 (1955) and CID (1956).

He was now in demand. Lata was the reigning playback singer. But Nayyar determinedly avoided recording with her as he felt her voice did not suit his compositions. He zeroed in on fledgling chanteuse Asha Bhosle.

Nayyar had used Asha's voice only sparingly in the early years (Man mora from Mangu) preferring to concentrate on Geeta and Shamshad Begum. But from 1957, he sidelined his erstwhile favourites and lavished his best on Asha.

The famous Nayyar-Asha teaming up proved beneficial to both as Nayyar was lifted to an unprecedented high in 1957- 1958 with around nine releases in both years and a string of successful scores like Naya Daur (for which he won the Best Music Director Award), Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Sone Ki Chidiya, Phagun, Howrah Bridge and Ragini.

Nayyar became one of the earliest music directors to command a lakh for a film.

But his decline was as sudden and as steep as his rise. His arrogance and insistence on a high remuneration were famous. Besides his films in the 1959-1960 phase (Raj Kapoor's Do Ustaad, Dev Anand's Jaali Note) did not set the box-office on fire. In 1961, Nayyar had no releases at all.

An emotional Nayyar always credits S Mukherji with the ability to always inspire him. And it was Mukherji's Joy-Sadhana musical hit, Ek Musafir Ek Haseena (1962) that brought Nayyar back into the reckoning.

It was a different, more relaxed Nayyar in the 1960s who did one film a year and crafted exquisite scores for Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Kashmir Ki Kali (1964) and Mere Sanam (1965). His limited musical education did not come in the way of embellishing his melodies with well-chosen instruments like the sarangi which he popularised or the piano which ripples through Aapke haseen rukh pe from Baharein Phir Bhi Aayegi.

Guru Dutt and Nayyar reunited for Baharein Phir Bhi Aayegi (1966), but Asha was singing instead of Geeta in a Guru Dutt film. Nayyar's luck had begun to run out when it came to the box-office. Despite composing some truly timeless melodies like Dil ki awaz bhi sun for Joy Mukherji's Humsaaya (1968), the film didn't do well.

In the late 1960s, Nayyar fell out with his favourite Mohammad Rafi but managed to conjure memorable songs even with Mukesh (Chal akela), Mahendra Kapoor (Lakhon hai yahan dilwale) and Kishore Kumar (Tu auron ki kyon ho gayee).

O P Nayyar's famous solos for Asha Bhosle
Song	Film
Aaiye meherban	Howrah Bridge
Piya piya na lage mora jiya	Phagun
Ankhon se jo utri hai ke aana	Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon
Beqasi had se jab	Kalpana
Balma khuli hawa mein	Kashmir Ki Kali
Yeh hai reshmi zulphon	Mere Sanam
Yehi woh jagah hai	Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi
Zara haule haule chalo	Sawan Ki Ghata
Woh haseen dard de do	Humsaaya
Aao huzoor tumko	Kismet

A major blow was Nayyar's split with Asha Bhosle after the pair had reached a crescendo with the Filmfare Award winning Chayen se humko kabhie in Pran Jaaye Par Vachan Na Jaaye (1974). Nayyar tried recreating the magic with new singers but musical trends had bypassed him by then.

In the early 1990s, Nayyar made a surprise comeback with Zid and the Salman Khan-Karisma Kapoor starrer Nischay, unleashing a wave of nostalgia with his unmistakable tunes. Around the same time, new composer Tusshar Bhatia doffed his hat at the veteran by composing in the Nayyar idiom in Andaaz Apna Apna's Elloji sanam hum aa gaye.

Today, the maestro, still dapper in his hat, is seen as a guest on television shows. But OP's beaming visage hides that characteristic stubbornness that has stood him in good stead and helped him tackle the vicissitudes of fate that has seen him move from his posh Churchgate flat to the distant suburbs of Mumbai and necessitated a profession switch from composer to homeopath.

Originally posted by: soulsoup

Agreed Punjini - top of that he wear that 'topi' 😡😡

😆😆😆

BTW - even I have liked his signature music, but from the interviews and articles of his and his colleagues, there's not much to write home about as a person

KASHMIR KI KALI

("bud of Kashmir")
1964, Hindi, 168 minutes
Produced and directed by Shakti Samanta
Story and screenplay: Ranjan Bose; dialog: Ramesh Pant; lyrics: S. H. Bihari; music: O. P. Nayyar; art direction: Shanti Das; choreography: Surya Kumar; director of photography: V. N. Reddy

This visually sumptuous and robustly entertaining film shows off the talents of Shammi Kapoor (born Shamsherraj Kapoor in 1931), whose screen persona, developed through such hit films as TUMSA NAHIN DEKHA (1957) and JUNGLEE (1961), combined the hipster gyrations of Western teen idols like Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard, the spasmodic slapstick of Jerry Lewis, and the romantic histrionics of his elder brother Raj Kapoor (only more so). Here he stars in another variation on a narrative chestnut of which his brother (and many others) was fond: rich urban boy goes to the countryside (often the Himalayas) and falls in love with poor local girl who embodies the simplicity and sensuality of "nature," as well as the coded ethnicity of the peripheral and minority-dominated "provinces" (e.g., in such films as BARSAAT, SATYAM SHIVAM SUNDARAM, and RAM TERI GANGA MAILI; for a darker recent variant, see DIL SE). Hence the couple's love match offers a pairing that appeals to both male notions of the harmony of culture-nature (the former being masculine and dominant) and the politico-cultural program of "national integration" (since the boy simultaneously embodies urbanity, modern technology, and a centralized Congress-style national vision).

There is a vestigial nod to the Nehruvian socialist ideals of the older generation (Shammi's father Prithviraj, the great stage actor and scion of the dynasty, was close friends with Jawaharlal Nehru) in the film's opening segment, in which young Rajiv (Shammi), sole heir to a textile magnate's fortune, scandalizes his widowed mother and uncle by announcing at a mill rally that, in this new era of "laborers' raj," he has decided that his family has already "made enough profits" and he now intends to give away lakhs of rupees to the workers. But mum and uncle Shyamlal-ji soon diagnose that the problem behind Rajiv's largesse is not political, but libidinal: the poor oversexed boy needs to be married off ASAP (this assessment, made about three minutes into the film, appears to be accurate, and so we hear nothing further about workers, socialism, business etc.). But the prospective bride chosen by Mother does not please the idealistic son, who announces that he will wed only a girl of his own choosing, and tears off to points unknown in an oversize convertible before the elders can stop him.

The destination is the Kashmir valley, that heaven-on-earth for north Indian plains dwellers, bone of violent contention between India and Pakistan, and longtime favored dreamscape of Bombay filmmakers. Here love is famously in the air (and water), and Rajiv sings of his hopes that it may strike him, in the road song Kissi na kissise, ("Sometime or other, somewhere or other, you have to give your heart to someone"). This leads to a chance encounter with a shy Kashmiri girl, Champa (Sharmila Tagore), who sells baskets of flowers to support her blind father Dinu (Anup Kumar). The impetuous boy soon loses his heart and then fairly throws himself—in trademark Shammi style (see below)—at the girl, who only gradually shows that she returns his affection. This requires three gloriously-picturised Islamicate courtship songs. The first (Taarif karun kya uski, "How shall I praise Him … Who has created your beauty?") is staged as an aquatic boat-ballet on magnificent Dal Lake.

The second (Isharon isharon, or "All your signs...[of love]") involves the obligatory rainstorm, and the lovers taking shelter in the home of an old peasant woman, who provides them with cute local outfits—a scene that led to God-knows-how-many honeymooners in hill stations dressing up as "Kashmiri" couples for keepsake photos. The third unfolds as Champa and her girlfriends are being transported to a local fair by the crude Mohan (Pran), a truck driver who has set his sights on Champa, and who moreover knows a secret with which he is blackmailing her poor father Dinu into giving her to him. To break through Mohan's proprietary defenses, Rajiv concocts an elaborate ruse with the aid of his pal Chander: they pose as a Pathan couple seeking a lift (since the "wife" is pregnant). But "she" is in fact Rajiv, under the tent-like cover of a purdah-nasheen matron. Joining the other girls, "she" proceeds to shamelessly woo Champa with the song Subaan Allah hai ("Praise be to God!"), with Rajiv periodically unveiling himself while still retaining a drag persona of exaggerated female idioms and mannerisms. "Her" beefy stature and low voice are explained to the suspicious Mohan by invoking the stereotypic sturdiness of Pathans. Shammi is at his best in this hilarious gender-bender escapade, and to my mind, this song sequence, staged as Mohan's truck rattles down the poplar-lined roads of the Vale and beneath snowcapped mountains, has to rank, with Chala chayya chayya from DIL SE and Kaanton se kheench ke anchal (a.k.a. Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai) from GUIDE, among the all-time-great-filmi-songs-performed-atop-moving-vehicles.

Even after Champa's heart is won by Rajiv, there remains the problem of Mohan's claim on her, and the matter of Dinu's strange secret. The resolution, if contrived, is still clever, suspenseful, and satisfying—even when the scenery during a final, all-out fight between Mohan and Rajiv apparently cuts abruptly from Kashmir to the Deccan plateau. Mohan's character deserves comment: arch-villain Pran is, like the heroine, coded as an ethnically-marked provincial; in this case, with a Kulu hat and (incongrously) rustic eastern-UP accent ("s" turned into "sh"), a deshi kurta showing under leather jacket (the latter a code for villains in this period), and a beedi smoked in clenched fist, peasant-style. But whereas regional marking is fine in the heroine (who will be "nationally integrated" through marriage to the hero), it is typically either ludicrous or ominous (or, as here, both) in a male. In Shammi's world, good guys wear Teddy Boy suits.

Sharmila Tagore is both credible and fetching as the innocent-but-not-dumb Champa, and she is nicely paired with Shammi here.

Originally posted by: jayc1234

😆😆😆

BTW - even I have liked his signature music, but from the interviews and articles of his and his colleagues, there's not much to write home about as a person

Jaya ji..who knows what goes in their mind. THere have been shows in US where an artist just gets arrogant and doe s not perform. I also once came back with a refund (Ustad Bismillah Khan Ji) But what they have given is still more respectable. Specially the music we hear today, my respect to him has gone high. Yes they should not do that but who knows what goes on. I will do my part of respecting him as a wonderful OPN.