The author eulogizes that greatness of Late OP Nayyar, the iconic music composer and director of Bollywood, on his 95th birth anniversary that fell on 16th January last.
Even the most passionate and involved followers of Bollywood films will be surprised to know that a legendary music director, who won hearts of millions of music lovers by his melodious, foot-tapping compositions and earned the sobriquet ‘Emperor of Rhythm’ never recorded a single song, solo or duet with Lata Mangeshkar, the ‘Nightingale of India’ in his illustrious and long career that spanned nearly five decades. To be able to keep Lata Mangeskar, the virtual empress of Bollywood playback singing, off from his professional musical journey speaks volumes of the superlative composition quality of OP Nayyar, his rich gamut of sensually mellifluous songs and haunting melodies thereof that have kept music lovers practically mesmerized in a timeless wrap.
It needs to be reiterated that OP Nayyar (or OPN purely with deep love and respect to him) belonged to that distinguished phase which is unanimously considered the ‘golden era’ of Bollywood film music. To quote Raju Bharatan, one of the most discerning critics, “Golden age of popular Hindi film music lasted from the 1960s to the 1990s. Songs from this era proved to be much more memorable than tunes released in the 21st century.” This era saw the flourishing of Hindi film world with legendary music directors like, SD Barman, Shankar-Jaikishan, Laxmikant–Pyarelal, RD Barman etc. Needless to say, OP Nayyar stood on the same pedestal with his contemporary galaxy of musical geniuses and carved out an immortal place for himself with his innovative composition style. All his contemporaries had high regard for him. Even Lata Mangeshkar spoke about OPN with profound regard. To quote Lata, “Nayyar’s music always carried its own distinct mark. His work was different from his contemporaries. One could always identify an OP song.” Anil Biswas, another famous music director commented in a manner that was nothing but forthright: “At a time when most music composers were copycats, Nayyar was an original.”
A study has found that golden oldies stick in millennial minds far more than the relatively bland, homogeneous songs of today. A study conducted by a group of academics among youths of various parts of the country revealed that the youths exhibited remarkable keenness, familiarity and enchantment for the songs of the golden era. Burgeoning popularity of the song, ‘Pukarta Chala Hoon Mein', with irresistible impact on admirers of successive generations drives home the point. This song has 111.9k views and likes in the public domain up to 2019 and has the whooping record of re-mixed versions. The opening buzz and the instrumental prelude in this song is simply mind blowing and matchless to say the least. The musical pundits attribute the secret of OP Nayyar’s sky-rocketing popularity overcoming the generation gap syndrome to his superlative perfection of the ‘horse beat rhythm’. ‘Clip-Clop, Clip-Clop’, the sound created by the hooves of horses galloping is typically characteristic of Nayyar’s music. To quote famous music critic, Bharadwaj Rangan, “Ghoda-Gaadi Beat had defined the music of an era.” ‘Maang Ke Saath Tumhara’ (Naya Daur) and ‘Piya Piya Piya’ (Baap Re Baap), ‘Zara Haule Haule Chalo’ (Saawan Ki Ghata), ‘Banda Parvar, Thaam Lo Jigar’ (Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon) are some of the outstanding songs composed on this rhythm. However, ‘Yun Toh Humne Lakh Haseen Dekhe Hain’ (Tumsaa Nahi Dekha) is unanimously rated as the mother of all horse beat songs with its spirit-uplifting musical resonance.
The song ‘Deewana Hua Badal’ remains the milestone, the quintessential romantic song till date in the history of Bollywood that revolutionized the very concept and texture of Hindi film song. The scintillatingly melodious number is one of the most popular songs irrespective of age, culture, generations and transcending national boundaries. Composed as back as in 1964, this iconic song is one of the top twenty popular songs as per YouTube views. Even neighbouring Pakistan, despite national animosity, takes pride in describing him as the ‘Son of Lahore,’ and two of their best singers, Khalid Baig and Nish Asher, have sung ‘Deewana Hua’ superbly.
One of the characteristic hallmarks of Nayyar’s compositions is his opening buzz, the instrumental prelude and the instrumental interlude thereby enriching Hindi film songs like no other music director did. The opening notes of ‘Aakhon Hee Aakhon Mein’ (CID), ‘Huzoor-e-Walaah’ (Yeh Raat Phir Na Ayegi), ‘Babuji Dheere Chalna’ (Aar Paar), ‘Chal Akela, Chal Akela (Sambandh) etc are breathtaking. As soon as the opening buzz is played, people are seen humming these songs. Similarly, interlude instrumental renditions in ‘Yeh Chand Saa Roshan chehera’ (Kashmir Ki Kali), ‘Mera Naam Chun Chun Chu’ (Howrah Bridge) etc, to name a few, are unparalleled.
Foot-tapping orchestration, superb blending of instruments especially the guitar, saxophone, accordion coupled with Indian classical Instruments like santoor, sitar, vina, harmonium, dholak and tabla etc are the characteristic features of the maestro’s compositions. Use of harmonium in the classic song, ‘Leke Pehla Pehla Pyar’, use of the mouth organ in ‘Kisi Na Kisi Se’ (Kashmir Ki Kali) is par excellent. No other music director possibly can compete in creating such amazing melodies consistently for a period of over fifty years.
The critics opine unanimously that long before fusion music became the rage, composer OP Nayyar was deftly mixing western instrumentation with Indian rhythm, especially Punjabi folk, and produced great numbers that are still popular decades later. One article is too small to highlight the greatness and multidimensional musical brilliance of OP Nayyar. On the occasion of the 95th birth anniversary of the rhythm king that fell on 16th January, I wind up with the accolades of Javed Akhtar, “Any lover of vintage Hindi film music can identify a Nayyar tune as easily as any art lover would recognize an MF Hussain painting.”
(The author is a retired civil servant and a connoisseur of music. The views expressed in the article are his own.)