InDepth

The Research Continues... 7 "Oh Mr Benjo...." - A sheer gem of a song from an almost unknown movie " Hum sab chor hain ". This is a duet by Rafi and Asha and picturized on Shammi Kapoor and Nalini Jaywant. The brilliance of the song is created by O P Nayyar's innovative effort to gel fun and frolic with a lilting melody. Of course there is his trademark beat structure. Rafi sings his heart out with the best emotions possible and Asha is just as perfect as it can get. Want to do away with monotonic life ? Just listen to this song and you will enliven your mind! 8 "Piya piya piya mera jiya..." - This is a Kishore-Asha duet from the film " Baap Re Baap " penned by Jan Nisar Akhtar, composed with the rhythm of the horse-shoe beats. This song starts with a rich prelude and the vocals start a little later. If one starts listening once, it is guaranteed that he or she will only stop listening when the song has ended - such is its beautiful and...

The Research Continues..... 3 “Yeh lo main haari piya…” – A very soulful Geeta Dutt number from the film “ Aar Paar ” is another great composition by O P Nayyar. The best thing about this song is how well the simple words are conveyed through a music that has minimal orchestration and a blissful interlude tune. The flow of the tune has a charismatic naughty and fresh feel; if you have a bad mood, just listen to this song and you will feel better. A guarantee for sure! 4 "Pritam aan milo..."  -  There is a long story associated with this song which is interesting too! Originally composed for C H Atma, this is a fantastic song with a haunting tune in a very natural O P style. For someone who wants to sing this on harmonium finds it as a simply-designed tune with notes structured in almost a mathematical pattern. Coming to the famous story associated with this song - when Nayyar-sahab came to Bombay for the first time he had to struggle a lot. He met C H Atma and compos...

“You bring autumns and puffs. It brings songs and laughs - In all petals, in all buds - To be seen in yellow and in muds. I open my heart and feel for that air, I am hollow, but I am not a solitaire. I want to inhale All that is not stale. I want to see For I am free! The music in the air is pious, Your touch in it is gracious. It fills up my inner soul, It fills up my outer soul.” This is a spontaneously written poem after I take a long walk through a beautiful park by the name Beijer’s Park, close to where I live. It is an autumn day. Yellow is “the” color that rules nowadays. The park is the green heart of Kirseberg, a small suburb of Malmö, the city in Sweden where I live. Malmö, also known as the City of Parks, needed one for its eastern part. In the year 1885, the family of the Beijers set up an extensive plantation ground under their own supervision. By the turn of the 1900, the private park changed hand. The Malmö City Council became...

The Research Starts....                                         The O P Nayyar’s style of music has been a topic of research for many young musicians and music directors. I must say that his school of music could not expand much though. The reason for this is simply the fact that it was so magnanimous and affluent that it was impossible to emulate it by any new music composer. Let us try to make a list of some of his greatest compositions which are also my personal favorites. 1  “Hai duniya usiki zamana usika, mohabbat mein jo ho gaya ho kisika” – A song from the movie “ Kashmir Ki Kali ” penned by S H Bihari and on the screen it was the pained lover boy, Shammi Kapoor. The saxophone is played by father of Ismail Darbar ( the noted music director of Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam ) and sung passionately by the great Rafi-sahab. When I say passion, I cannot find a more suitable ...

The Becoming Of a Phenomenon                                                           So, what made O P Nayyar a phenomenon within the film industry? Well, first of all, one could hardly argue to the fact that he was a natural musical talent. Having heard Nayyar-sahab sing “ Dil ki Awaaz bhi sun ” in a TV program, one could easily clear any doubt about it! One can just imagine how accurately he would have presented his songs to his singers! He was extremely hard-working who used to work on his orchestration tirelessly to get it picture-perfect before finalizing a song. He was very hard task-master and a perfectionist to the core. All notes, all bits of the melody and all throw of words on the beats had to be to the point before approving a song. He did not think much about stars and big banners - he worked tirelessly for attaining quality i...

The tripartite force - and it was a force indeed!                                                                                     The Asha-Nayyar-Rafi combination was supremely successful starting from the mid 50’s up to the end of the 60’s. It is to be noted here that before Asha Bhonsle came along, O P Nayyar used to collaborate frequently with Shamshad Begum and Geeta Dutt for majority of his songs. The fact that Asha Bhonsle developed a style different from Lataji was good for her career; however, she still sounded similar to Geeta Dutt. Even the two had similar voice tinge. As an avid listener, I think there was a fine difference between the two voices. While Geeta Dutt was a little too aggressive in the throw of words, Ashaji was more soothing. Here, I must say that ...

Before we reached the venue, we did not know much about them; how they organize a festival, or how they decorate the idols, or how they bring in a family-like feel, or how they greet all the devotees. So it was a classic case of ‘no expectations’, really! As each unexpected thing brings, this one too did – yes, it brought lots of surprises, and I assure you, they were all fascinating ones. A young boy and family of two were present to greet us, hold our hands and let us in. The smiles on their faces were very pure, almost pristine. For us, it felt like we had come out of our homes in Malmö, and we were just entering into a new home in Copenhagen, where the Bengali Cultural Association, who were hosting Durga Puja (the most important and the most awaited festival of the Bengalis, notwithstanding the part of the world they are living in) in the heart of the Danish capital, were welcoming us to the very center of a celebration, which by all means, they wanted to celebrate with all – y...