Was a famous composer of Hindi films. The great musician O, who took many playback singers like Asha Bhosle and Mohammad Rafi to the pinnacle of success with the magic of his tunes. The songs composed by P. Nayyar are popular even today.
life introduction
Omkar Prasad Nayyar alias O.P. was born on 16 January 1926 in a middle class family of Lahore (Pakistan). Nayyar was inclined towards music since childhood. He wanted to become a playback singer. After the partition of India, his entire family left Lahore and moved to Amritsar. Omkar Prasad left his studies midway to serve music. He started his musical journey from All India Radio.
film journey
To make a mark in the film industry as a musician, O. P. Nayyar came to Mumbai in the year 1949. In Mumbai, he met the famous producer and director Krishna Kewal, who was producing the film ‘Kaneez’ at that time. Krishna Kewal was impressed by his style of music making and offered to compose the background music for the film. Due to the failure of this film, O. P. Nayyar may not have been successful in making his mark as a musician, but his career in the film industry definitely started.
first song
In the year 1951, on the advice of a friend, he moved from Mumbai to Delhi and later on the advice of the same friend, he met producer Pancholi who was producing the film Nagina in those days. As a musician, he started his cine career with the film ‘Aasmaan’. For this film, he recorded his first song in the voice of C.H. Atma. The lyrics of the song were something like this: ‘Is Bewafa Jahan Mein Wafa Dhundte Hain’. Meanwhile, his films like Chamma Cham Cham and Baaz were also released but the failure of these films deeply shocked him and he decided to leave the film industry and go back to Amritsar.[1]
meeting gurudutt
Year 1953 Playback singer Geeta Dutt married O.P. Advised Nayyar to meet Guru Dutt. In the year 1954, Guru Dutt started his own production house and the responsibility of music direction of his film Aarpaar was given to O. Handed over to P. Nayyar. The songs composed under the direction of O.P. Nayyar of the film Aarpaar became superhit and after this success, O. P. Nayyar was successful in making his mark. He gave up his intention of going back home. After this, O.P. was also appointed for Guru Dutt’s film ‘Mr. and Mrs. 55’. Nayyar composed the music. The songs ‘Jaane Kahan Mera Jigar Gaya Ji’ and ‘Thandi Hawa Kali Ghata’ composed under his music direction in the film became quite popular.[1]
most expensive musician
By giving consecutive hit films like Aar-Paar, C.I.D., Tumsa Nahi Dekha etc., he became the most expensive music composer in the cinema world. In 1950, he was the first musician to take Rs 1 lakh for giving music in a film. “Naya Daur” was his most popular film. He also received the Filmfare Award for this film in 1957. This musician, who proved his mettle in only a few films, was also in the news due to his stubborn and reclusive nature. Some people also called him arrogant, domineering and autocratic.
However, he was very generous with new and struggling singers. Journalists were always against him and he was always presented as a rebel musician. During the fifties, All India Radio banned his music considering it modern and his songs were not played on the radio for a long time. This did not surprise him but he continued creating his own tunes and all of them became big hits in the country. At that time his new songs could be heard only on Sri Lankan radio. Very soon discussions started praising him in the English newspapers and he was called a maestro in Hindi music, when he was very young.
favorite singer-singer
He worked the most with Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi. After parting ways with Mohammed Rafi, OP started working with Mahendra Kapoor. Mahendra Kapoor ji used to sing from his heart for OP. The depth of his voice and feeling brought out the emotions in OP’s songs and brought the depth of OP’s thoughts to the hearts of people. OP worked with Asha Bhosle in about seventy films. People from the cinema world called Asha Bhosle their discovery. It seemed as if Nayyar Saheb had composed special tunes for Asha ji, which Asha could sing without any effort. OP has never worked with a musical queen like Lata Mangeshkar. This has always been a topic of discussion in the cinema world. OP used to say that his songs did not match Lata’s voice. He mostly composed fun songs with Punjabi tunes. But the very serious song sung by Mukesh is ‘Chal Akela, Chal Akela, Chal Akela’ O. Shows the all-round talent of P Nayyar.
famous movies
A new era has not come across from you, Kashmir’s bud is my love, A traveler, a beauty, I have brought the same heart again. C.I.D Sawan’s reduced Ragini luck Fagun Howrah Bridge, I may die but my words may not spring, yet relations will come again, Golden bird. Somewhere day and sometimes night, this night will not come again Mr. & Mrs. 55 Naya Andaz
popularity
How strange that All India Radio had banned the broadcast of some of his songs on the grounds that their lyrics and tunes were misleading to the young generation. Later, defeated by the increasing desire to listen to his songs on Radio Ceylon, the Minister himself had to come forward to remove this restriction. At the age of just 30, he got the title of “Rhythm King”. He always considered the status of a musician high and became the first music director to receive Rs 1 lakh. “Naya Daur” released in 1957 was a “milestone” in his journey from the musical perspective. After the arrival of Shammi Kapoor, along with OP Nayyar, Hindi film music also became young again. Madhubala had even said that she would reduce her remuneration for producers who would cast OP as a musician. OP gave music for 6 films of Madhubala. Despite being the most expensive musician of those days, he was the most in demand. His name appeared before the names of the actors in the show reel of the film. This had not happened before for any other musician, OP started the trend which was later adopted by many successful musicians.
interesting facts
It is said that talent has its own side effects. OP Nayyar got lyricist Pradeep to write songs for only one film. This was S. Mukherjee Production’s 1969 film ‘Sambandh’. Nayyar Saheb did not like Pradeep’s appearance. That’s why he did not call Pradeep in the sitting. Kavi Pradeep is a very simple hearted gentleman. Nayyar is very blunt and arrogant. Pradeep used to send the songs of ‘Sambandh’ to some musician and their tunes were composed.
Similarly, lyricist Anjaan Se Nayyar had written the songs for the film ‘Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi’. Anjan’s son Sameer himself told that Nayyar Saheb had requested Anjan not to come near Anjan. The stranger asked the reason. Nayyar said – ‘Dude, you are a very polite man and I talk abusingly. I don’t like it.”Shararat’ and ‘Ragini’ – these were two such films in which Mohammed Rafi sang for Kishore Kumar. The producer of the 1958 film ‘Ragini’ was Ashok Kumar himself. And he was also acting in this film with Kishore. The song ‘Man Mora Bawra’ of this film was based on classical music. Therefore Nayyar decided that he would get Rafi to sing this song. Kishore Kumar did not agree that he should take Rafi’s voice on screen. He went to elder brother. But Dadamuni clearly refused to interfere.
last time
There came a year when not even a single film of OP was released. Remembering the year 1961, OP used to say – “Everything in love was looted…”. Actually OP was talking about his relationship with his favorite playback singer (Asha Bhosle). In 1962, he made a grand comeback with the film ‘Ek Musafir Ek Haseena’. In the same decade, he made a comeback with the music of films like ‘Phir Wahi Dil Laaya Hoon’ (1963), Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), and ‘Mere Sanam’ (1965). Maintained his position at the top. Once he was not happy with Sharmila’s acting on one of his songs, he went ahead and advised Sharmila to just stand there in his songs. You can’t move your lips, these songs are about antics, you have to use your body expressions too. Sharmila took this advice to heart and took special care of this in every film.
By the end of the decade, despite good music, his films started flopping. His relations with Rafi Saheb had also deteriorated. After Guru Dutt’s death, Geeta drowned herself in alcohol and she too died tragically in 1972, while OP’s relationship with Asha was going through a critical phase. This was a very difficult time for him. Asha Bhosle sang for him “Chain Se Humko Kabhi…” in the film “Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye”. In August 1972, OP and Asha Bhosle finally decided to never work together again and after that they were never seen together under the same roof. On 28 January 2007, Indian Hindi cinema composer O.P. Nayyar died.[
