The Story of the 'Richly Evergreen'......(Part4)
Shakti Films and O.P.Nayyar
Incidentally, Kashmir Ki Kali was not the first film where O P Nayyar collaborated with Shakti Samanta. There was previously another film, Howrah Bridge (1958), a thriller where O P gave music to Shakti Samanta. Ironically, Howrah Bridge was also the first film under the banner of Shakti Films - a production house that Shakti Samanta launched and which, with the passage of time, and thanks to various sparkling hits that came in the years to follow - became a big brand within the Indian Film Industry. Today, it is needless to say how much O.P contributed to the initial days of Shakti Films. The film was a runaway hit and Shakti Samanta started to make his mark among the other star directors of that era. I have mentioned about “Aaiye meherbaan” already before but there were other lilting tunes in the soundtrack of Howrah Bridge. One of them was the beautiful “Yeh kya kar dala tune” sung by Asha Bhonsle; a breezy tune that grows in you the more you hear. Also, do not miss the very melodious prelude, which is also repeated as interlude pieces!
Tunes Afresh
There were several aspects of Nayyar-sahab that were unique in the true sense of the word. One of them was certainly the unmatched freshness that he used to add to his tunes. Almost all of his songs were so high on freshness quotient that when those tunes were brought onto the celluloid, they simply added to the youthfulness and the feel-good mood of the sequence. There are numerous examples of this feel-good factor - for instance, we can take the song “Maang ke saath tumhara..” which is picturized on Vyjayantimala and Dilip Kumar. Without being over-the-top, we can say that this song is very youthful and that its inherent youthfulness is very easily visible in the eyes and faces of the actors on the screen.Not A Regular With Any Particular Production House
Talking about associations in the industry, O P Nayyar had been one of those who had a somewhat strange equation with the film producers. First of all, he was not the house-composer of a certain production house. S D Burman was for the Navketan, Shankar Jaikishen for RK Films, Naushad for Mehboob Productions, R D Burman for Nasir Hussein Productions and Laxmikant Pyarelal was for Manmohan Desai. He was kind of left out of these elite leagues; however, he never faltered on any given opportunity that came his way. His works with Guru Dutt is already mentioned, his work with B R Chopra in film Naya Daur is considered a landmark even today.Apart from few of these, most of the films that he did had relatively less famous star-cast. Nonetheless, he excelled in these movies. He gave Joy Mukherjee some memorable songs in films like Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Ek Musafir Ek Hasina, Humsaaya, tremendous numbers to Biswajeet in films such as Mere Sanam and Kismet. Shakti Samanta was probably the only noted producer-director who opted for O P from time to time with films like Jaali Note or Sawan Ki Ghata. Nayyar-sahab used to charge a hefty sum of money for his work. It was, at that time, beyond the reach of many producers, especially if they had signed up a A-league star already in the film. Besides, Nayyar-sahab was very outspoken and a strictly disciplined person (which he has also acknowledged in televised interviews) - his strict disciplined approach was perhaps not liked by all and many within the industry. Still, all in all, the work he did was certainly on his own terms and he did it with supreme quality and with complete inner satisfaction.
No Work Done With Lata Mangeshkar
Nayyar-sahab had a long long association with both Asha Bhonsle and Mohammad Rafi. This tripartite force tasted success for a number of years. Nayyar-sahab obviously never worked with Lata Mangeshkar. I have heard him saying that his style of music did not suite Lataji and that is why he chose not to ask her for a song. This was Nayyar-sahab’s own words as quoted in an interview. Of course, there had been several rumors about what actually happened that led to the fact that these two giants never came together. I think the most exquisite thing about this is that the two held utmost respect towards each other, right till the end. I still remember when Nayyar-sahab left us forever, Lataji was one of the first to pay homage to his departed soul.[To be continued....]
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