O. P. Nayyar

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O. P. Nayyar (1926 - 2007)
O. P. Nayyar (1926 - 2007)

Omkar Prasad Nayyar (January 16, 1926 - January 28, 2007) was a famous Indian film music director and composer born in Lahore,in undivided India. He was particularly acclaimed for his peppy numbers.

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[edit] Career

O P Nayyar ( "Opee" } started his film music with the background score for the film Kaneez (1949), followed by Aasman (1952). Guru Dutt's [[Aar Paar]] (1954) was his first success, which led to a successful partnership with Guru Dutt in Mr. & Mrs. '55 as well as in C.I.D. which was a runaway musical hit 1956.This was followed up by Tumsa Nahin Dekha in 1958. With the practiced ease of a maestro, Nayyar went on to notch up greater distinction in "Phir wohi dil laya hoon..." and in [[Mere Sanam]], which featured his big evergreen hits, "Banda parwar, thamlo jigar...", in the former film and Jaayiye Aap Kahan Jaayenge and Pukarata chala hoon main in the latter. Months later his "Kashmir ki kali" once again became a super musical hit.

At the height of his reign as a composer of Hindi film music he is reported to have commanded the highest fee in the industry. He was the first music director to command the figure of Rs.100,000, a very substantial figure in the early 1950s. Besides he had a reputation for stubborn individuality all along. Many remember him as being aloof and imperious, but always generous with struggling newcomers and those marginalized in the industry. The press frequently referred to him as a rebel composer, as did many columnists labelling him a maverick. Opee seemed to like these epithets judging him by his combative performance in the various talk shows on the television. During the fifties the state-controlled All India Radio found O P Nayyar too trendy and had put in place a ban on most of his very famous tunes from being broadcast! This ban was in vogue for quite some time. Reports suggest that he was unfazed by this hamhanded government order and went on to create more of such tunes most of which were national hits. The far away Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation of the then Radio Ceylon was the only source from which his new hits could be listened in!

[edit] Artists

He worked extensively with Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhonsle and Mohammed Rafi and helped in advancing their careers. Bollywood maintained all along that Asha was his find and he groomed her specially for his tunes which she rendered with effortless ease and gusto. Many of her songs for him are in fact memorable and remarkably contemporary sounding. He is renowned for the fact that he never worked with Lata Mangeshkar, Asha's elder sister, famous as the melody queen in Bollywood music. After the break up with Mohammed Rafi he switched to Mahendra Kapoor, another newcomer, remarkably swiftly. He went on to engage even Mukesh, the well known singer for Raj Kapoor on the screen for his music in Sambandh much to the surprise of the industry. This song by Mukesh, "chal akela, chal akela, chal akela...." became a national hit instantaneously, proving effectively that OP could work successfully with anyone.The same film has a memorable baritone rendering by Hemant Kumar, another of Bollywood's big composers who also was a good singer. Like many other films of O P Nayyar this film is also remembered only because of his music. Mahendra Kapoor sang very heartily for OP, with real depth of feeling, and in many respects, did much better than what Rafi could ever do to the OP style, cadence and rhythm. His rendering of that song in Bahaarein Phir bhi aayegi for Dharmendra, "Badal jaaye Agar mali, chaman hota nahi Khali...... was an instant hit.

Opee had recognised the talented Kishore Kumar long before he became a great popular singer. The film Baap re Baap is full of Kishore hits in the inimitable Opee style as well as in the Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Padmini starrer Raagini. But the relationship did not endure. Kishore soon became a singing sensation widely admired for his range and style.


In the black and white era Opee's favourite heroine was Madhubala depicting a distinct, stylised performance for his song sequences. After her untimely death other heroines like Sharmila Tagore, Asha Parekh and Mala Sinha did several Asha Bhonsle numbers almost all of which are big hits. Asha Bhosle singing for Asha Parekh in Phir wohi di Layaa hoon, "Aankhon se jo utri hai dil main....." is an evergreen hit, very vigorously stylized and mod even after forty years of its composition.

But the parting of ways with Asha Bhonsle in 1974 was to haunt him for the rest of his life.He would repeatedly refer to her as a singing sensation almost until his last days in great admiration for her. But Asha will have nothing of it. Bitter after the break up she chose to forget her association with him and ignored him altogether.She went on to say her voice was her own and composers tried making use of it in the manner they wanted and that she was not beholden to any single composer in her singing career. Many in the industry felt the break up indeed was the tipping point in Opee's musical career and, in fact, he produced nothing really remarkable after the spat.Opee could not create another Asha much as he tried. Dilraj Kaur, Krishna Kale, Vani Jayaram and Kavita Krishanmurthy, all new comers and good singers were tried for his various films after the departure of Asha. But the magic in his work had long gone.

Asha went on to become a widely admired singer under the baton of many other composers, most notably R D Burman, but many felt she was merely being successful: that special lilt in her voice as when she sang for Opee was just not there anymore.

Opee chose his lyricists with care, though experimentation was his forte.Keeping clear of the established song writers of his time he chose to let a few newcomers write the lines for his music: they seemed to write the way he wanted his tunes to be remembered: sensuous and racy. Jan Nisar Akhtar, Qamar Jalalabadi and S H Bihari wrote his lyrics and let his music stay young, vibrant. Majrooh Sultanpuri, his older favourite lyricist and Sahir Ludhianvi wrote some of the earlier, memorable lyrics,such as in Naya Daur. In the tradition of the great composers in India, Nayyar was fond of the poetic flourish of the Urdu language for his more serious songs.The Rafi number,"Dil ki awaz bhi sun, mere fasane pe na ja...." from Humsaya is among his most haunting.

Saroj Mohini Nayyar, Opee's wife, is an accomplished lyricist. She wrote the famous C H Atma/Geeta Dutt song "Preetam aan milo...", a song that really launched him into the big league of Bollywood composers.

It was perhaps a tradition started by Opee to have a full length song of about three minutes to the comedians in the films which became more famous than any of the songs sung by the heroes themselves and these junior actors received excellent reviews. Johnny Walker in CID with that famous number " Yeh dil hai muskil jeena yaha...." ,and his equally well known " Mai Bambai ka baboo, nam mera anjana....." in Naya Daur are examples,which really are all-time great hits in India, not forgetting Om Prakash with his "Churi banne kanta banne oo my son..." (Jaali Note). In fact Johnny Walker the well known comedian was another of Opee's gifts to Bollywood. There was indeed a film titled "Johnny Walker" where this comedian himself was the hero. Among the numerous hits in this film the Asha Bhonsle/Gita Dutt number "Thandi thandi hawa....." is very memorable.

O P Nayyar was referred to as Opee by the film industry in Mumbai and his specialty was rhythm. That spirited number," Yeh desh hai veer jawonon ka..." , featuring Dilip Kumar and Ajit from "Naya Daur" (1957) is an all-time hit in India among people of all ages, fifty years after he composed it.Many of the films where he rendered the musical score ran mostly on the unforgettable, uniquely Opee tunes. Lata Mangeshkar once said her most favourite Opee tune was the one by sister Asha in "Kismet", "Aao huzoor thum ko....", a song which begins with no special promise but courses through a remarkable lilt soon after, Asha's voice in it at its elemental best.Perhaps Asha never sang with the same verve again for any other Opee song. Her swan song though was in "Pran Jaye par vachan jaye" (1974). "Chain se hum ko kabhi...." which she sang for Rekha was never shown in the film itself, but went on to become an OP classic. In fact it was Asha's own valediction.

Opee did not choose his films well,critics said, and in the process missed topflight productions "wasting" some of his greatest tunes on B-grade actors, like Joy Mukherji, Biswajeet and Babita to name only a few. In the sixtees and seventies when still active in the profession, but to the lasting regret of his fans, OP did not compose music for the then superstar Rajesh Khanna or a budding Amitabh Bachchan. Other well known heroes of the day like Sanjeev Kumar, Shashi Kapoor and Jitendra also never featured in any Opee film. Similarly, with the exception of Rekha, Opee did not compose music for heroines like Hema Malini, Rakhee or Zeenat Aman, all well known around the time when he really could have made a new dramatic re-entry.

The other Bollywood grandee, S D Burman was far more successful in this respect. Twenty years Opee's senior who passed away over thirty years ago, the mild mannered Sachin Dev Burman composed great tunes for a succession of Bollywood stars despite a spat with Lata Mangeshkar. When he made Asha sing that mellifluent solo "Koi Aayaa....Dhadkan kehti hai....." in Lajwanti for Nargis, S D Burman had all but declared he was her joint mentor. Opee had held Burman in high esteem and was reported to have liked the famous Lata solo in Guide, for Waheeda Rehman, "Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai...., aaj phir marne ka iraada hai....." a haunting composition of Burman's. Opee was said to have declared that it was the best ever song in Hindi for sheer evocative beauty and matching lines in lyrics. Only that the song was not recorded well!

Apart from Hindi films , he did compose for a few South Indian movies as well.One such was Neerajanam, (a Telugu movie).

He faded from the Bollywood scene in early 1970s, although he made a comeback attempt in the 1990s.

[edit] Personal Life

He is survived by his wife and four children, three daughters and a son. His family lives in his Marine Drive house in Bombay that he left to them after a prolonged feud in the family. Following the fight he moved to the far away suburb of Virar where he stayed in a friend's flat. A month before his death he moved to yet another suburban flat of the friend in the far away Thane.

He died on 28th Jan 2007 due to cardiac arrest. His estranged family members were not present for his funeral. In fact he had requested that they be not allowed to be present. Lata Mangeshkar said in her tribute that Opee was a distinguished composer with a unique style of his own and she had respected him greatly all along. Tributes came from other well known Bollywood figures: Chopra of BR Films, producers of Naya Daur, Shammi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore, Mumtaz, Mahesh Bhat,Khayyam, Shakti Samanta,Sonu Nigam, Ravindra Jain, Anu Malik, among others.


There was no word from Asha Bhonsle.

[edit] Partial Fimography

The following are a few of his major hits:



Trivia'


O P Nayyar owned a Cadillac in the 1950s and with the possible exception of V Shantaram the well known Director, none in Bollywood owned one before or since.

Opee is sometimes criticized for repeating his own tunes in different films, and some new compositions did have a ring of familiarity to them.

Mumtaz, the vamp turned heroine, was forthright when she said that OP was a brilliant maestro and that she knew for long many others who tried repeatedly to copy his style. To Mumtaz that indeed was the real tribute to the Bollywood's famous rebel. Imitation was really the praise due. But OP's wizardry was his own.

Did he listen to his own music in his twilight years? Never, OP declared, adding he did not have a collection of his own music! "Once I have made them, I am finished with them"! A rare sentiment indeed!

It is also widely acknowledged that when a well-known Opee tune is being played many just impulsively listened in. Even his critics admit his tunes had an arresting, declarative quality.

In the last few years he was often fond of invoking the name of Lord Krishna. It has been reported he turned a homeopath helping the needy with his medicines free of cost.

[edit] External links


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