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C U L T U R E
KING OF TAAL –
MUSIC DIRECTOR O.P. NAYYAR
Harjap Singh
Aujla
Inimitable
music
director O.P. Nayyar (born on January 16, 1926, died on January 27, 2007) was
unique for off the beaten track musical compositions. Being born in the city of
Lahore, he had Punjabi folk music in his blood. Lahore used to be the cradle of
Punjabi culture and civilization. Some writers claim that Nayyar had no formal
training in classical music. They are absolutely wrong.
 Nayyar had
his initiation into classical music during the years of schooling. Just like
applied mathematics, he knew the technique of applying the raga to compose
popular tunes. Although he did not compose any film music in Lahore, but on
arrival in India, he took a job at All India Radio Jalandhar – Amritsar, where
he honed his skills at tune making. Nayyar did use several ragas in their
pure form also in some of the film tunes he composed later on in Bombay.
Nayyar
loved Lahore as a city and loved its sophisticated Punjabis. Partition of the
Punjab at the time of independence came as a rude shock to young O.P. Nayyar.
When every Hindu and Sikh was leaving Lahore in a jiffy, Nayyar decided to
buck the trend and stay back in Lahore. Some Muslim friends, against all odds,
kept sheltering him during the worst phase of communal frenzy. Soon he realized
that the anti Hindu and anti Sikh sentiment was not ebbing in the city. He felt
suffocated in his beloved city. Thus he migrated to Amritsar as his parents
chose this city for their residence. Both cities were culturally and
linguistically akin to each other. Yet he sought a larger place and after a
short stint at All India Radio, he moved to Bombay in 1949 and served as an
assistant to some big ticket music directors. He made his debut in music
direction by composing the background music for film “Kaneez”. In India,
during those days the background music did not get any recognition. Even a
brilliant effort would go unrecognized.
He got his first
break as an independent music director in 1952 in film “Aasman”. The music
was great, but the film did not do well at the box-office. So the music also got
quietly buried in the cemetery of flop shows. In the meanwhile O.P. Nayyar’s
musical album with song “Preetam Aan Milo, Dukhia Jia Bulae” in the voices
of C.H. Atma and Geeta Roy was released. It got better response. Within a short
span of time Nayyar completed a couple of more contracts.
The negative
public response to his brilliant music in film “Aasman” pushed O.P. Nayyar
into disappointment. Sensing a poor future, Nayyar decided to return to
Amritsar. He got married there. But soon thereafter his music for film “Aar
Paar” in 1954 became a hit and the next release “Mr. and Mrs 55 in 1955 was
also quite successful.
One of the
reasons of Nayyar’s initial setback was his experimentation with style
of music, which was alien to his own homegrown style. Once he adopted the
Punjabi beat and his innovative variations of the basic Punjabi folk tunes, he
became a thundering success. Film CID in 1956 catapulted O.P. Nayyar into the
category of highly successful contemporary music directors.
Nayyar
could have tried his hand at composing music for Punjabi films also, but in
spite of the fact that he could easily compose that kind of music, he chose not
to do so. Perhaps he knew it quite well that there are four famous names, namely
Hans Raj Behl, Vinod, Alla Rakha Qureishi and Sardul Kwatra, in the business of
composing music for Punjabi films and not more than two films were made each
year. So the field was too crowded and the returns were inadequate.
In “Naya Daur”
film Nayyar used Punjabi folk tunes in their purest form. The public gave
thumbs up to this experiment. This was his finest point and he could not go
wrong. The film was proclaimed a hit and his music became even a bigger success.
Mohammad Rafi and Asha Bhonsle were its leading playback singers. Both got new
recognition in this film. Although Asha Bhonsle made her debut in 1949 as a
playback singer under the music direction of Sardul Kwatra in Punjabi film “Posti”,
but in “Naya Daur” she realized that she is very well suited to singing
Punjabi style songs. The tunes of two of her “Naya Daur” numbers “Reshmi
Salwar Kurta Jali Ka, Roop Saha Na Jaye Nakhre Wali Ka” and “Urhen Jab Jab
Zulfein Teri, Kawariyon Ka Dil Machle Jind Meriye” are directly derived from
Punjabi folk tunes and both are considered landmark songs in the history of film
music. A high pitched and fast paced chorus song in the voices of Mohammad Rafi,
Balbir Singh and others “Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawanon Ka, Albelon Ka Mastanon Ka,
Is Desh Ka Yaro Kya Kehna, Yeh Desh Hai Duniya Ka Gehna” is to date one of the
all time favourite patriotic Hindi film songs. It is proudly played over radio
on every Independence Day of India as well as the Republic Day of India. “Naya
Daur” assured Nayyar that Punjabi style music is his forte.
Nayyar
started his career with the voices of among males C.H. Atma and among females
Geeta Roy, who after getting married to Guru Dutt, became Geeta Dutt. Noorjehan
had returned to Lahore soon after partition, amongst the rest Suraiya was the
actress singer and Geeta Roy was the leading female playback singer. Lata
Mangeshkar was sprinting to the top very fast, but a highly whimsical O.P.
Nayyar preferred Geeta Roy. In fact Lata Mangeshkar, who sang for virtually
every other music director of Bollywood, did not sing a single of the musical
compositions of O.P. Nayyar. His second choice was Shamshad Begum, who sang some
of the most popular songs under his music direction. Shamshad Begum naturally
displayed a special Punjabi lilt in her voice, which was liked by . Nayyar and
several other music directors of Punjabi origin.
Mohammad Rafi
used to admit that one of the songs that touched his heart most was a duet in
the voices of Shamshad Begum and Kishore Kumar from film “Naya Andaz”,
the lyrics are “Meri Neendon Main Tum, Mere Khwabon Main Tum, Ho Chuke Hum
Tumhari Mohabbat Main Gum, Man Ki Beena Ho Dhun, O Balam Aaj Sun, Meri Nazron Ne
Tujh Ko Liya Aaj Chun”. It is a slow paced dance song, but indeed very well
composed by O.P. Nayyar. Some of this film’s Shamshad Begum numbers like
“Raat Rangeeli Gaye Re, Mohse Raha Na Jaye Re, Main Kya Kroon, Kaise Kahoon,
More Saajna”, are also very captivating.
O.P. Nayyar
composed great music in several other films like “Miss Coca Cola”, “Hum
Sabh Chor Hain”, “Baaz”, “Howrah Bridge, “Baap Re Baap”, “Tumsa
Nahin Dekha”, “Phagun”, “Aji Bus Shukria” “Sone Ki Chirhia”, “Ek
Musafir Ek Hasina”, Kashmir Ki Kali” etc to name a few.
I liked one of
his less popular songs sung by Asha Bhansle with initial lines “Bol Pardesia
Yeh Toone Kya Kiya, Apna Banake Zalim, Haye Daga De Diya”, from 1956 film
“Dhake Ki Malmal”. The film did not do well and the music also failed.
Although Hindi
film industry had several big names like Timir Baran, Anil Biswas, Sajjad
Hussain, Khem Chand Prakash, Naushad, Shyam Sunder, Ravi Shanker, Hans Raj Behl,
Vasant Desai, Sachin Dev Burman, Jamal Sen, Snehal Bhatkar, C. Ranchandra, but
the post 1947 Hindi film scene was dominated up to 1949 by duo of Pandit
Husnalal Bhagatram and after 1950 by Shanker and Jaikishan.
From 1954, O.P.
Nayyar started challenging the dominating position of Shanker Jaikishan. The the
duo of Shanker and Jaikishan was the first to exceed 100 film mark by the early
seventies.
After the
untimely death of Geeta Dutt in sixties,. Nayyar put all his eggs in Asha
Bhonsle’s basket. Asha is indeed a great singer. The combination of the
telents of the two geniuses paid rich dividends. Both Nayyar and Asha Bhonsle
created some of the most memorable film hits.
During the
seventies, much younger in age than . Nayyar, R.D. Burman got closer to Asha
Bhonsle. Their association also led to the creation of some most memorable Hindi
film hits. When O.P. Nayyar discovered this newly emerging relationship, he was
shocked beyond imagination. This unfortunate split eventually led to the
downfall of O.P. Nayyar’s career as a music composer.
As the
frustrations grew, O.P. Nayyar started getting irritated. During the nineties he
broke up with wife after a forty year long married life. This led to his leaving
his household in Bombay and moving to a suburb Thane, where he lived with the
family of a family friend, who understood O.P. Nayyar’s nature quite well.
During the
nineties he composed the music for two more movies, “Andaz Apna Apna” and
“Nischay”. The music was reasonably good, but the tastes, especially of the
younger generation, had changed a lot. So the music did not do too well.
O.P. Nayyar was
held in high esteem by the TV industry. He was invited as an expert and a judge
on several shows meant for discovering young talent. Ten days after he turned
81, he left for his heavenly abode after a heart attack.
[Harjap
Singh Aujla, lives at 16 Junction Pond Lane, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey 08852
U.S.A.]
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Amu releasing
this week in Vancouver
Gurpreet Singh
A film based on
the 1984 anti Sikh massacre is releasing this week in Greater Vancouver.
Directed by Shonali Bose, Amu is a powerful story of a girl orphaned by the
state sponsored massacre that followed the assassination of the then Indian
Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards and brought up by a
compassionate Hindu family.
 The local Sikhs
had raised funds for the film last year. This massive fund raise has enabled
Bose to release her film in Toronto and Vancouver. On February 23, the film will
be released in Vancouver and Surrey theatres.
In December,
special screening of the film was organized in Surrey by the Sikh community. The
family of Vancouver Sikh millionaire Ripudaman Singh Malik, who was earlier,
charged for the Air India bombing but later acquitted also helped her. His
brother Gurdip Singh Malik had partially financed the film. This had generated a
controversy as the mainstream media gave too much attention to the Air India
connection.
The film is not
propaganda as its story suggests. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP,
Barinda Karat has also acted in the film. It is pertinent to mention that the
Sikhs were targeted by the mobs led by Gandhi’s Congress party in the states
under the Congress rule. The Communist government of West Bengal did
not let such incidents occur in their state.
Some of its
dialogues were censored in India. A scene in which the Sikh widows blame the
ministers for inciting hatred against their community goes silent in the
censored version. A Congress Party MP, Jagdish Tyltler who is accused of
inciting the massacre had allegedly tried to stop its shooting. He lost his job
as the Overseas’ Indians Minister after the Nanavati Commission indicted him
for his involvement in the pogrom. He had to resign only after the communists
forced the Congress led fractured government to fire him.
The former
Indian censor board Chief Anupam Kher who was sacked by the present Congress led
coalition government in India had claimed that he was fired for giving clearance
to Amu. He was appointed by the previous government.
Amu was screened
at the Vancouver International Film Festival last year. Shonali Bose, who had
also worked at the relief camps established to help the victims of the massacre,
said that she holds the entire Indian state responsible for the massacre, as the
subsequent non Congress governments also failed to punish the guilty.
The film was
selected as the Best Feature Film in the English Language for the 2005 Indian
National Awards and International Film Critics Award.
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