O. P. Nayyar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from O P Nayyar)

OP Nayyar
Born	January 16 1926(1926-01-16) Lahore,Pakistan
Died	January 28 2007 Mumbai,India
Occupation	Music Director/Composer
OP Nayyar was one of Bollywood's greatest music directors

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

1 Career
2 Artists
3 Personal life
4 Partial fimography
5 Trivia
6 External links

[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 practised ease of a maestro, Opee 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. In addition to this, Opee 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, always very deferential, frequently referred to him as a rebel composer, as did many columnists labelling him a maverick. Opee seemed to like these epithets judging 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 force 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 heard! Soon the English language press invariably began referring to him with the honorific 'maestro', quite early in his career, considering that Opee was still very young.

[edit] Artists

He worked extensively with Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhonsle and Mohammed Rafi and was instrumental in building their careers. Bollywood maintained all along that Asha Bhonsle 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....", based on a composition by none other than Tagore in Bengali, became a national hit instantaneously, proving effectively that Opee could team up successfully with anyone.The same film has a memorable baritone rendering by Hemant Kumar, another of Bollywood's big composers who also was a great singer. Like many other films of Opee this film is also remembered only because of his music.

Mahendra Kapoor sang heartily for Opee, with real depth of feeling, and in many respects, did much better than what Rafi could ever do to the Opee style, cadence and rhythm. His rendering of that song in Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi for Dharmendra, "....badal jaaye agar mali, chaman hota nahi khaali...... 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 would soon become 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,Padmini, Asha Parekh,Vyjayanthimala and Mala Sinha did several Asha Bhonsle numbers almost all of which are big hits. Asha Bhonsle singing for Asha Parekh in Phir wohi dil layaa hoon, "...aankhon se jo utri hai dil main......" is an evergreen hit, very vigorously stylish even after forty years of its composition.

But the parting of ways with Asha Bhonsle in 1974 was to haunt Opee 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 would 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,Alka Yagnik, 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, Shamshul Huda Bihari and Ahmed Wasi 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, Opee was fond of the poetic flourish of the Urdu language for his more serious songs.The Rafi rendering, "...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 Opee 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 C.I.D with that famous " ...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 across 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.

Fondly referred to as Opee by the film industry in Mumbai, O P Nayyar's specialty was rhythm. That spirited " ....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,sitarommein le challe.......", 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 for any other Opee song. Her swan song though was in Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na 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 Opee classic. In fact it was Asha's own valediction, winning her a Filmfare Best Playback Singer Award.

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 Mukherjee, Biswajeet and Babita to name only a few. In the sixtees and seventies when quite active in the profession, but to the lasting regret of his fans, Opee 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 sensational, dramatic re-entry.

The other Bollywood grandee, S D Burman was far more successful in this respect. Twenty years Opee's senior who died over thirty years ago, the mild mannered Sachin Dev Burman composed great tunes for a succession of Bollywood stars despite a long feud with Lata Mangeshkar. When he made Asha sing that mellifluent "...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.

During his retirement he was in touch with only a few select friends. One was Gajendra singh who presented him as a highly acclaimed judge for his mega successful TV show Sa Re Ga Ma. Another was Ahmed Wasi who interviewed him twice for the Vividh Bharati and presented his life-sketch through six episodes of an hour's duration each, "Mujhe Yaad Sab Hai Zara Zara". It was perhaps this friendship that for a film he was composing two songs were penned by Ahmed Wasi. Eventfully the film's music was never completed due to his O.P. Nayyar's death.

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 Bhatt, Khayyam, Shakti Samanta,Sonu Nigam, Ravindra Jain, Anu Malik, among others.

[edit] Partial fimography

The following are a few of his major hits:

Aar Paar
Naya Daur
Tumsa Nahin Dekha
Kashmir Ki Kali
Mere Sanam
Ek Musafir Ek Hasina.
Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon
C.I.D.
Sawan Ki Ghata
Raagini
Kismat
Phagun
Howrah Bridge
12O'Clock
Baap Re Baap
Humsaaya
Kalpana
Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jayae
Baharen Phir Bhi Aayaegi

Sambandh
Ek Bar Muskurado
Sone ki Chidiya
Kahin Din Kahin Rat
Yeh Raat Phir na Aayegi

[edit] Trivia

Opee owned a Cadillac in the 1950s and with the possible exception of V. Shantaram the well known Director, none in Bollywood owned one before.

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

Did he listen to his own music in his twilight years? Never, Opee 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.