Gautam Ganguly
(gautamganguly2012@gmail.com)
The connoisseurs of music across India and even the world have offered heartfelt tribute on 16th January to OP Nayyar, the legendary music director, on the auspicious occasion of his 96th birth anniversary.
Despite the passage of time, the popularity of OP Nayyar's lilting, foot-tapping compositions has kept soaring encompassing the young, vibrant generations by the immortal tunes. Empirical experiences reveal that 'dance-friendly', rhythmic compositions of OP Nayyar suit the tastes of fast-pace-loving present generations. Consequently
'remixed' versions of OPN songs outscore his equally illustrious contemporary Bollywood colleagues like Shankar-Jaikishan, SD Barman and others.
Superlative perfection in composing songs based on 'horse-beat rhythm' is attributed to OP Nayyar's sky-rocketing popularity in overcoming the generation gap syndrome by musical experts. 'CLIP-CLOP, CLIP-CLOP', the sound created by the hooves of horses galloping is typical of his characteristic music. To quote famous music critic, Bharadwaj Rangan, 'GHODA-GAADI BEAT' had defined the music of an era'. OP Nayyar practically held the patent on this rhythm. '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, all-time super hit songs composed on this rhythm.
However, 'Yun toh humne lakh haseen dekhe hain' is unanimously rated as the
mother of all horse beat songs with euphoric, spirit-uplifting musical resonance. The song, 'Deewana hua badal' remains the milestone, the quintessential romantic song to date in the history of Bollywood that revolutionized the very concept and texture of Hindi filmy song. The scintillatingly melodious song is one of the most popular songs irrespective of age, culture, generations and transcending national boundaries. Composed as back as 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' having been born there in the year1926. The rendition of 'Deewana hua' by Khalid Baig and Nish Asher, two Pakistani celebrated singers ably supported by breathtaking orchestration, is fantastic and soothing.
Foot-tapping orchestration, the superb blending of instruments especially Guitar, saxophone, accordion coupled with Indian Classical Instruments like Santoor, Sitar, Vina, Harmonium and Tabla etc are the hallmarks that resulted in enriching Bollywood film songs with some magnificent opening 'buzz' and instrumental preludes. Even a casual listener can never miss the melodious opening buzz in 'Pukarta chala hoon mein (Mere Sanam), 'Babuji dheere chalna' (Ar Paar) etc, As soon as the opening buzz is played, people are seen humming these songs. Similarly, interlude instrumental renditions in ' Yeh Chand sa Roshan chehera (Kashmir ki Kali' )
'Mera Naam Chun chun chu' ( Howrah Bridge) etc are unparalleled, to name a few.
Use of harmonium in the classic song,'Leke pehla pehla pyar' or use of the flute in the super hit song, ' chal akela, chal akela' ( Sambandh) are par-excellent. The orchestration in these songs is as good and mesmerizing as the immortal songs themselves!!! Endless examples can be cited to prove this contention. Objectively speaking, no other music director can boast of a display of uncanny musical creativity with such perfection.
The year 1954 saw the massive success of the film, 'Aar Paar' starring Guru Dutt. All songs composed with silken melody like 'Ello main haari' sung by Geeta Dutt were smashing hits. 'Ae Dil hai mushkil jeena yahan', from the film, 'CID' serves to showcase the versatility of Nayyar that continue to pulverize music lovers even today. There was no looking back for OP Nayyar, thereafter, and was instantaneously described as 'rhythm king'. Recently the India-Czech Sinfonietta Orchestra and Czech musicians had sung 'Yeh Hai Mumbai (Bombay) Meri Jaan' mellifluously during the visit of our Hon'ble President to Prague. This is revealed from a 'tweet' by our President himself.
For over a decade, Nayyar remained at the peak of popularity facilitating him to charge Rs 1 lakh for a film! No other Composer could get such a staggering amount in the sixties!
OP Nayyar's had a highly egoistic, stubborn uncompromising personality with a 'no-nonsense nature'. A casual follower of Bollywood music will be surprised to know that he never used 'Lata Mangeskar, the 'Nightingale of India', to sing his songs even once in his entire illustrious career and still could win the hearts of millions with his melodious compositions.
One article is too small to highlight the greatness, multidimensional musical brilliance of OP Nayyar. I wind up my tribute with the appropriate 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.