Foot Tapping & Heart Stopping Op, The King of Rhythm Options

[swarapriya]

Foot Tapping & Heart Stopping O.P.

The King of Rhythm

After a great night’s rest, you wake up one fine morning and start sipping a cup of fresh brewed coffee admiring the eastern skies reddened with beautiful sunrise. Then all of a sudden you hear a distant radio playing a familiar tune permeating the tranquility of the quiet morning. Did your heart flutter? Did you miss a beat or two? Then perhaps you were listening to a song carried through the gentle morning breeze composed by the King of Rhythm, O.P. Nayyar Saab. That music, like the beautiful morning you are enjoying, lifts your spirits even further up. For that moment you forget all of the life miseries and transcend in the joy the song provides shelter for. Now, that is the power of moving music!

There is some definite magic in the O.P. style of music. It is as stylish as the man himself. It is as interesting as the genius behind the music. It is as intoxicating as the distinctly sweet voice of Geetaji or beautifully seductive voice of Ashaji or the unique vocals of Shamshadji. The clip-clop sounds with the fusion of folk music and the modern instruments make his music a standout.

OP Saab provided countless number of some of the most memorable and hummable tunes ever. In a span of 42 plus years, he composed music for 54 movies. Except for one or two in the beginning of his career and one or two at the tail end of his career, he delivered one hit after another hit. This was one continuous hit parade ever put on display. Based on the premise to make melodious music, he created new sounds. He experimented by juxtaposing sounds of various instruments in coming up with some of the most melodious and memorable tunes ever composed in Hindi film industry.

OP by his own admission was an illiterate in music. He couldn’t read the music notations or the alphabets of music. Yet this “handicap” must have given him a new perspective of how an everlasting melody should be created. Sometimes literacy can impede in growth by discouraging to try experiments that create strange new sounds. Well aware of his own limitations, OP Saab still created many beautiful new sounds through the tunes.

I have been fond of OP’s music ever since I started losing myself in good music and the rich lyrics the poets seems to generally endow them with. Enthusiastically I have been collecting his albums over the years. Currently I have in my possession 32 CDs. That represents 60% of his films. I also have most of other songs from his other movies obtained from various sources including some from different CDs. In the coming weeks I would like to share with you the music of OP Saab from the CDs I own. The filmography of these CDs is shown in the following table.

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Aug 5 2008, 07:00 PM

[swarapriya]

Hum Sab Chor Hain (1956)

This movie was before Shammi Kapoor shaved his mustache and established his own identity as a "Rebel" star. This was an all out comedy. It was expected because I.S. Johar was at the helm of affairs. He wrote the story, directed the movie, and had a major role in the movie. It was made by Filmistan and was a huge hit. O.P. Nayyar's music contributed strongly for the movie's commercial success.

I.S. Johar was an award winning author before he entered into the movies. Soon he established his own brand of comedy. He also acted in several English movies. These include "Harry Black and the Tiger", "Northwest Frontier", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Maya", and "Murder On The Orient Express". For "Harry Black", he received a nomination for best supporting actor from the British Academy of Films and TV Arts (BAFTA). These awards are equivalent to American Oscars in Britain. "Maya" also starred Master Sajid who was introduced by Mehboob Khan in "Mother India." After the huge success of this movie, Mehboob Saab adopted Sajid and gave him the principal starring role in his "Son of India." By the way, the movie "Maya" subsequently became a television series in USA and ran for several seasons with Sajid sharing honors with an American actor.

The famous producer and director Yash Chopra got his start with I.S. Johar. Yashji worked as an assistant director to Johar Saab before started working in the same capacity for his brother Bal Raj Chopra (B.R. Chopra). After directing few movies for his brother he started his own production company "Yash Raj Films" and has been making one popular film after another for a number of years.

The CD has eight songs. However, the song "Hum Ko Hanste Dekh Zamana Jalta Hai" appears twice on the CD. They sound identical to me. Therefore, I am uploading here only one of them. If someone is interested, I will be happy to upload the other song.

Now for details of songs and the songs themselves ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Jun 24 2008, 05:50 AM