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

[Pratul]

Dear Swarapriya,

Thanks a bunch for the uploads. I can't describe how happy I'm to get Basant songs :-)

Pratul

[swarapriya]

Akalmand (1966)

I am re-uploading these songs on request...

I.S. Johar wrote, produced, and directed the 1960 film “Bewaqoof” that starred himself with Kishoreda. It was only a matter of time that “Akalmand” came along. This 1966 movie was written by I.S. Johar and paired again himself with Kishoreda.

This album by OP has some fine songs. With the success enjoyed in earlier movies he worked with Kishoreda [“Baap Re Bap (1955), “Bhagam Bhag (1966)”, “Chham Chhama Chham (1952)”, “Do Dilon ki Dastan (1966)”, “Naya Andaz (1956)”, and Raagini (1958)], one expected more movies of OP working with Kishoreda. But that has never realized even though they worked in a couple of other movie later on [“Shrimanji (1968)” and “Ek Baar Muskura Do (1972)”]. Somewhere I read that this was because both had very strong personalities and their egos came in the way to work more together. Thankfully, in the few films they worked, they delivered several memorably beautiful songs.

According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Dev Anand was also in this movie. If indeed this is true, I believe his appearance was probably as a guest. I am requesting our learned members to either authenticate or repudiate this claim by IMDb, which sometimes is not accurate with the information it presents.

Some of these songs from this album came from various CD collections. The others came from sources like tape. Therefore, you may find the quality inconsistent and uneven though none of them are bad to listen to. Here are the details of the songs and the songs themselves...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: May 21 2011, 06:15 AM

[Pratul]

SP, you are awesome! Thank you very much.

Pratul

[swarapriya]

Mujrim (1958)

I am re-uploading these songs on request...

Here is a movie made by F.C. Mehra of Eagle Films. This was the first of several movies Shammi was associated with Mehra. I think this was the last movie OP provided music for a Mehra movie. Mehra switched to Shankar-Jaikishan after this movie and the team made several successful musicals. The switching happened not because Mehra wanted it, but Shammi insisted on it.

Ragini, the youngest of the Travancore sisters, made her debut in Hindi films with “Qaidi” in 1957, another OP film. She also appeared in “Payal” the very same year. Altogether she acted in some 15 plus movies in Hindi. All three sisters were classical dancers, with Padmini becoming more famous than others. It was this dancing talent that gave them a pass to enter into the movies. Ragini was the heroine of this picture. Even though it was out and out a Shammi's film, most of the songs were picturized on Ragini who had a role, not surprisingly, of a dancer in the movie. Most songs of the movie were filmed with dancing backdrop. Because of this most songs are female vocals.

Shammi was coming off his career making “Tumsa Nahin Dekha” from the previous year. OP was at the helm of music for that picture. There were high expectations for this film with OP again in-charge of music for this film as well. “Mujrim” music-wise was still on the mark, but the film did only an average business.

Incidentally, the Eagle Films banner is still alive. It is run by Mehra's son. In the late 80's he made a movie with the same title "Mujrim" but not with the same story.

There are eight songs in this album. Some are from different CD collections and others came from various sources such as tapes. Therefore you will find their quality not uniform. With that warning, here are the details of the songs and the songs themselves...

[Pratul]

Dear Swarapriya,

Thank you very much for Mujrim songs. I hope you don't mind if I request a few more OP albums :-)

Thanks,

Pratul

[swarapriya]

Dear Swarapriya,

Thank you very much for Mujrim songs. I hope you don't mind if I request a few more OP albums :-)

Thanks,

Pratul

Pratul

You're very welcome. No. No. Please don't be shy. If I have them I will be happy to share them. Keep them coming.

Cheers,
S

[Pratul]

Dear Swarapriya,

As promised, I've come up with one more request.
This time the films are

1. Kabhi Andhera Kabhi Ujala
2. Mai Baap (1957)
3. Mr. Lambu

And I've a few more lined up too. But for now, this is it.

TIA

Pratul

[swarapriya]

Mr. Lambu (1956)

I am re-uploading these songs on request...

Besides this album, O.P. Nayyar composed music for two other movies of Sheikh Mukhtar, “Do Ustad (1959)” and “Mangu (1954)”. This album has at least eight songs that I am uploading here. The sources of these songs are from CD collections, DVDs and probably contributions from the Forum members. I tried to clean these songs to improve their quality. The result is decent enough. Yet, because of the diversity of these sources, the quality of the songs is also very diverse from very good to so so. Please bear this in mind when downloading these songs.

With OP at the helm one can expect lots of Asha and some of Geetaji. This album has their fine numbers. But besides, there is Suraiya. Not only she was the leading lady of the film but she had two beautiful solos and a duet with Rafi Saab. Both of her solos are simply superb. My favorite is the song “Soyee Hai Kahaan Jaa Kar”. It is an absolute beauty of a song with deep pangs of pathos. This is a great composition to touching lyrics. And unparalleled rendering in the mesmerizing voice of Suraiya. It leaves one with such an indelible impression on your heart that you keep thinking about it for a long long time…

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

[swarapriya]

Humsaya (1968)

Songs from this lovely album by OP are uploaded in the "Muse & Music" thread in the "Sangeet ke Sitarey" directory. These are available starting at the following location...

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...mp;#entry691632

This post has been edited by swarapriya: May 5 2011, 02:21 AM

[Pratul]

Dear Swarapriya,

Thanks for Mr. Lambu and Humsaya songs :-)

[swarapriya]

Mai Baap (1957)

The year 1957 was a very busy one for OP. He gave music to seven movies ("Bade Sarkar", "Duniya Rang Rangili", "Mai Baap", "Naya Daur", "Qaidi", "Tumsa Nahin Dekha", and "Ustad"). Busy or not, he gave hit music to all of the movies. Some of the movies hardly made the grade, yet the music went onto flourish. There were some blockbusters like "Tumsa Nahin Dekha" and the award winning "Naya Daur".

"Mai Baap" did only a moderate business even though it had a pretty good premise for the story. Johnny Walker played a funny but a bad guy in the film trying to cheat the winnings of the lottery won by Balraj Sahni who played a blind person. Almost every song was a hit. Even today they are fun to listen to. Geetaji and Rafi Saab have two duets that were popular. Rafi Saab's solo was a chart buster. Both solos by Asha were also popular, especially the song "Gaalon Pe Teri". I am uploading all these songs below. It appears like I am missing at least one song shown in red italics in the table below. If indeed this is the case, please share the song with rest of us if you can. Thank you very much in anticipation.

Here are the songs...

[Pratul]

Dear Swarapriya,

Thanks for Mai Baap songs :-)

Pratul

[swarapriya]

Kabhi Andhera Kabhi Ujala (1958)

Here is another beautiful album from OP. This one stars Nutan and the inimitable Kishore Kumar. Almost all songs from this movie were popular when it was released. Pleases bear in mind that because of the diversity of the sources of these songs, their quality varies. However, almost all songs are uniformly good to listen to.

Kishoreda's "Surma Mera Nirala" was a chart buster. It still adorns any number of his CD compilations. I think it rightfully deserves the credit. Only Kishoreda could sing such songs, yodeling and changing voice so many different ways. There are four solos by Asha, her usual quota for a typical OP album. As usually the case, she always gives her best for OP. Her title track, “Ajab Hamaari”, is one of the better songs. But for me the standout song of the album is the duet of Asha with Manna Dey, "Baahon Ko Zara Lehraado". It was done very beautifully and stays with you for a long time.

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

[Pratul]

Dear Swarapriya,

Thank you very much for Kabhi Andhera Kabhi Ujala songs.

Pratul

[Pratul]

Dear Swarapriya,

The next few albums I would like to request are -

1. Kahin Din Kahin Raat
2. Musafir Khana
3. Mangu

Thanks in Advance
Pratul