O P Nayyar: An Intoxicating Composer Options

[Nimii]

O P Nayyar: An Intoxicating Composer document.write('Faridoon Shahryar, ')Faridoon Shahryar, IndiaGlitz [Tuesday, January 30, 2007]
O P Nayyar, the mellifluous music composer of classics such as ‘Aaiye Meherbaan’ was born in Lahore, Punjab on January 16th 1926. He died a quiet death on January 28th in a PG accommodation in far away Thane near Mumbai. Nayyar was the man responsible for Asha’s rise as a singer in the 1950s and 60s. And in his characteristic arrogance he never allowed Lata Mangeshkar to sing under his baton. He started his professional career with AIR, Jullundur and his first film assignment was the background music for ‘Kaneez’. But it was with ‘Aasmaan’ that he became a music composer and went to score very popular music for many films such as early Guru Dutt (‘Baaz’, ‘Aar Paar’, ‘Mr and Mrs 55’) and Kishore Kumar films (P.L.Santoshi’s ‘Cham Chama Cham’ and Kardar’s ‘Baap Re Baap’). ‘Tumsa Nahin Dekha’, the film in which Shammi Kapoor changed into his Presley image, and ‘Howrah Bridge’, with the most famous song, ‘Mera naam Chin Chin Choo’.

His biggest film undoubtedly was the one that changed Shammi Kapoor’s ‘Yahoo’ image in ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’. Nayyar introduced several Punjabi rhythms, especially from the Bhangra folk dances, into Hindi films as well as producing ‘light popular music with rock overtones for Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle’s early hits.

Nayyar's robust songs were characteristic of his native Punjab (‘Reshmi salwar kurta jaalidar’), his typical rhythmic beats (in taanga songs like ‘Yun toh hamne’, ‘Maang ke saath tumhara’) as well as his feather-light melodies (‘Jaaiye aap kahan jayenge’), were immensely popular.

‘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 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’).

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 ‘Nishchay’, 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’.

Indiaglitz salutes O P Nayyar. He was truly an intoxicating music composer who was way ahead of his times. May his soul rest in peace…





source: http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/article/28839.html

[Nikita Choudhary]

Thanks Nimii ji for this interview..

Niki

[nasir]

Thanks Nimii ji for this interview..

Niki

Yes, thanks for the excerpts Nimii ji.

NASIR.