Foot Tapping & Heart Stopping O.P.

The King of Rhythm

After a great night’s rest, you wake up one fine morning and start sipping a cup of fresh brewed coffee admiring the eastern skies reddened with beautiful sunrise. Then all of a sudden you hear a distant radio playing a familiar tune permeating the tranquility of the quiet morning. Did your heart flutter? Did you miss a beat or two? Then perhaps you were listening to a song carried through the gentle morning breeze composed by the King of Rhythm, O.P. Nayyar Saab. That music, like the beautiful morning you are enjoying, lifts your spirits even further up. For that moment you forget all of the life miseries and transcend in the joy the song provides shelter for. Now, that is the power of moving music!

There is some definite magic in the O.P. style of music. It is as stylish as the man himself. It is as interesting as the genius behind the music. It is as intoxicating as the distinctly sweet voice of Geetaji or beautifully seductive voice of Ashaji or the unique vocals of Shamshadji. The clip-clop sounds with the fusion of folk music and the modern instruments make his music a standout.

OP Saab provided countless number of some of the most memorable and hummable tunes ever. In a span of 42 plus years, he composed music for 54 movies. Except for one or two in the beginning of his career and one or two at the tail end of his career, he delivered one hit after another hit. This was one continuous hit parade ever put on display. Based on the premise to make melodious music, he created new sounds. He experimented by juxtaposing sounds of various instruments in coming up with some of the most melodious and memorable tunes ever composed in Hindi film industry.

OP by his own admission was an illiterate in music. He couldn’t read the music notations or the alphabets of music. Yet this “handicap” must have given him a new perspective of how an everlasting melody should be created. Sometimes literacy can impede in growth by discouraging to try experiments that create strange new sounds. Well aware of his own limitations, OP Saab still created many beautiful new sounds through the tunes.

I have been fond of OP’s music ever since I started losing myself in good music and the rich lyrics the poets seems to generally endow them with. Enthusiastically I have been collecting his albums over the years. Currently I have in my possession 32 CDs. That represents 60% of his films. I also have most of other songs from his other movies obtained from various sources including some from different CDs. In the coming weeks I would like to share with you the music of OP Saab from the CDs I own. The filmography of these CDs is shown in the following table.

Aar Paar (1954)

Aar-Paar catapulted O.P. Nayyar Saab to fame and fortune. Each one of the song is a foot tapper. The songs were enriched by Geetaji's beautiful voice along with Shamshadji and Rafi Saab. The song "Babuji Dheere Chalna" was in a recent Hindi movie "Salaam-E-Ishq." The song was picturized in its entirety but the singer was not Geetaji. This just shows the populaity of these songs even after 54 years.

All songs are from a CD. There are eight songs altogether. I am also uploading extended versions of all eight songs. These are all by the courtesy of the Forum members. The extended version of "Ja Ja Ja Ja Bewafa" is only 8 seconds longer. Except for additional music there is not much extra in it. Also, the extended version of the song "Mohabbat Karlo Jee Bharlo" is missing a word in the beginning.

Here are details of the songs and songs themselves ...

Swarapriya, wow..what a great thread you have started! It will be a treasure to have CDQ songs of all the lovely songs composed by OP sahab. I am posting a beautiful pic of Geeta ji which you can use in the collage of your first post if you like.



Best Regards
Parag

Songs of Aar Paar (1954) Continued ...

Now for the rest of the songs of "Aar Paar (1954)" ...

Parag,

Thanks for the great picture of Geetaji. I have already modified the pictures of singers by including this new picture of Geetaji.

Also, thanks for the encouraging words. We should have fun doing this thread I think.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

Thanks Swarapriya, I just cropped the pic to capture her face alone. Please have a look at this one and see if you like it.

thanks a lot for all these all CDQ OP NAYYAR SAHAB,S SONGS
& GEETAJI,S PICTURE
i am also adding one GEETAJI,S beautiful picture. hope you will like it
taiyab53Click to view attachment

Now for the rest of the songs of "Aar Paar (1954)" ...
[/quote]

Swarapriya Ji,

Thanks for thr great thread on OP. We are all indebted to you for all the graet music that you have been providing to HF members. Your passion and energy for this is commandable.

By the way I did post my little story on Jaikishan's Begunah song in your Begunah thread. Please check it out.
Thanks again.

Vijay

Swarapriya! I am short of words to thank you for your efforts.
You are a true angel
Thanks and then thanks and then some more for your uploads.



JayJay

Great! -S

Just beautiful. Thanks a lot. -S

[quote name='vijay' date='Jun 6 2008, 04:59 AM' post='502543']
Now for the rest of the songs of "Aar Paar (1954)" ...
[/quote]

Swarapriya Ji,

Thanks for thr great thread on OP. We are all indebted to you for all the graet music that you have been providing to HF members. Your passion and energy for this is commandable.

By the way I did post my little story on Jaikishan's Begunah song in your Begunah thread. Please check it out.
Thanks again.

Vijay
[/quote]

Thank you Vijay. I did see your snippet on Jaikishan. Interesting reading. I didn't realize that Shankarji tried so hard to please his fellow composer.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

Thank you so much JayJay. It is always a pleasure to share. It gives such a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

Baap-Re-Baap (1955)

Here is another movie which has OP wrote his stamp all over. This time he had Ashaji singing all of the female songs. There was Kishoreda to help him out. The perennial crowd pleaser, the duet by Ashaji and Kishoreda, "Piya Piya Piya" still makes ones heart flutter. This was the beginning of his trademark songs where the sounds of horse hoofs become part of the music for that song. He was able to use this same tune effectively in other movies such as, for example, "Naya Daur," ("Maang Ke Saath Tumhara").

The movie boasts several songs. All except two are from CD. The exceptions include "Ab Ye Bata Jayen Kahan" and "Kaun Jaane." The latter song, this one shown in red in the table below, I am not convinced is from this movie but I filed in my music bank this song under this movie's name. I am uploading this anyway even though there is an outside chance that it may not belong here.

Now for details of the songs and the songs themselves ...

Songs of "Baap-Re-Baap (1955)" Continued ...

Here is the last song that may or may not belong to this movie. I am including here because of an outside chance that it may be.

Thank you, Swarpriyaji for BAAP RE BAAP!

Erumji, you're very welcome. -S

Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955)

Here is another great musical treat from the combinaton of Guru Dutt-O.P. Nayyar-Majrooh Sultanpuri. To assist them were Geeta Dutt and Raf Saab. All songs even today sound vibrant and very youthful. My favorites from this movie are Geetaji' solo "Thandi Hawa", Rafi Saab's "Meri Duniya", and their duet "Udhar Tum."

Guru Dutt plays a cartoonist in the movie. The cartoons were drawn by the famous cartoonist late R.K. Laxman. For years and years, seemd like forever I can remember, Laxmanji had a daily cartoon in "The Times of India" newspaper entitled "You Said It." Beautiful Madhubala, the heroine of this movie, died very young (in 1969) when she was only 36 with various heart ailments. Guru Dutt, the actor, producer, and director of this movie also died (in 1964) when he was young and only 39 years. So much promise, so much potential, so many outstanding contributions, yet both these great artists tragically dying so young.

Now for details of the songs of "Mr. & Mrs. '55" and songs themselves ...

Some bits and pieces of information on the music of Aarpaar:

OP's Aasmaan, Chham Chhama Chham and Baaz (produced by Geeta Bali and Guru Dutt) were superflops. Guru Dutt was upset for the failure of Baaz. Guru owed some amount to OP but was in no mood to pay him. OP was ready to pack his bags and that time Geeta stood by OP. Even though OP gave all songs of Chham Chhama Chham to Asha ji, Geeta ji did not feel offended by that. She made sure that OP got the assignment for Guru's next flick, a musical crime thriller titled "Aarpaar". It was kind of Aar ya paar situation for OP himself. Guru gave him a few records of Bing Crosby and OP came out with foot tapping numbers of Aarpaar. "Sun sun sun zalima" was sure inspired but "Ja ja ja ja bewafa" was a masterpiece.

All the songs of Aarpaar were superhit. OP composed "Baabuji dheere chalana" but he got to a quick-fast start for his career with songs of Aarpaar. Geeta ji sang for Shyama, Shakila and Noor in "Yeh lo main haari piya", "Baabuji dheere chalna" and "Arey na na na na tauba tauba" respectively. Shamshad ji sang the superhit title song and she will always be remembered for this lovely song. Rafi sahab was superb in all the duets he sang "Mohabbat kar lo", "Sun sun sun zalima" and "Arey na na na na tauba tauba" with Geeta ji.

Aarpaar bought OP into A grade of composers and more success followed...

Thanks Parag for the information. I heard somewhere that OP and Guru Dutt didn't get along because Guru Dutt didn'y pay the money Nayyar Saab thought he owed him. But the fact still remains, as you noted, that OP owed so much to Guru Dutt for providing him additional opportunities with both Aar Paar and Mr. & Mrs. '55 after the disassters of Baaz and others. Of course, many years later, OP came back to provide music for Guru's "Bahare Phir Bhi Aayengi" also.

Swarapriya

Chhoo Mantar (1956)

Here is another winner from O.P. Nayyar Saab. One of the distinnguishing feature about Nayyar Saab is that he composed music with same verve and gusto whether the hero was Shammi Kapoor or Guru Dutt or Johny Walker. This movie is an excellent example of this. It boasts several beautiful songs. The duet by Geetaji and Rafi Saab "Tumhi Ne Dard Diya Hai" is still a very popular number.

Now for details of songs and the songs themselves ...

Great work Swarapriya!! Thanks a million!

Thanks Rakesh. Cheers. -S

C.I.D. (1956)

This was the movie in which Guru Dutt, the producer, introduced Waheed Rehman to Hindi audience. She just made a sensational debut in a Telugu movie (“Rojulu Maarayi”) in South, and Guru Dutt immediately signed her for a long term contract to act in his movies. For all practical purposes this was a stunning debut. Waheeda went on to act in many successful movies and reaped many rich laurels on herway to the top.

This was the movie also in which Raj Khosla, who was assisting Guru Dutt, made a second start as a director. He was a close friend of Dev Anand and Guru Dutt. He earlier directed Dev Anand in the movie “Milap” that was a commercial failure. He got a second chance when Guru Dutt offered him to direct “C.I.D.” This time Khosla didn’t waste his opportunity. He made a great movie comparable to any crime noir thrillers of Hollywood ala Bogart. Very stylish and very suspenseful. Also to embellish this was rich music with beautiful song picturizations. Raj Khosla had training as a singer and wanted to be one when he arrived in Bombay. This background and working with Guru Dutt made him realize the importance of songs and their picturizations. The picturization of songs of “C.I.D.” are still talked as much as its music composed by the one and only O.P. Nayyar Saab.

With this movie, Guru Dutt also was sort of “paying back” his friend Dev Anand. Guru Dutt got a break as a director with Dev’s own movie “Baazi.” For a brief period in mid-50’s, Dev was going through a “lean” period and was looking for a major hit. This movie offered him that chance.

There were only a few songs in this movie, but each one of them is a marvel. The rustic charm of Shamshadji’s voice comes through in her two solos as well as the complex “Leke Pahla Pahla Pyar” song. The seductive mysticism of Geetaji comes throug in both of her duets and especially the song “Jaata Kahan Hai Diwane.” The picturization of “Leke Pahla Pahla Pyar” was just astonishing. Shakila looked very impish and beautiful in the song to Dev’s trademark stroll by the seaside promenade. This song had all of the melodic charm as it was picturized on three different singers.

Then there was Johny Walker who almost stole the show from Dev Saab. His song sung by Rafi Saab, “Yeh Hai Bombai Meri Jaan” with Geetaji is another one of those beauties (horse carriage trots again!) that is still considered a homage to the great city.

Now for details of songs and the songs themselves …

Hum Sab Chor Hain (1956)

This movie was before Shammi Kapoor shaved his mustache and established his own identity as a "Rebel" star. This was an all out comedy. It was expected because I.S. Johar was at the helm of affairs. He wrote the story, directed the movie, and had a major role in the movie. It was made by Filmistan and was a huge hit. O.P. Nayyar's music contributed strongly for the movie's commercial success.

I.S. Johar was an award winning author before he entered into the movies. Soon he established his own brand of comedy. He also acted in several English movies. These include "Harry Black and the Tiger", "Northwest Frontier", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Maya", and "Murder On The Orient Express". For "Harry Black", he received a nomination for best supporting actor from the British Academy of Films and TV Arts (BAFTA). These awards are equivalent to American Oscars in Britain. "Maya" also starred Master Sajid who was introduced by Mehboob Khan in "Mother India." After the huge success of this movie, Mehboob Saab adopted Sajid and gave him the principal starring role in his "Son of India." By the way, the movie "Maya" subsequently became a television series in USA and ran for several seasons with Sajid sharing honors with an American actor.

The famous producer and director Yash Chopra got his start with I.S. Johar. Yashji worked as an assistant director to Johar Saab before started working in the same capacity for his brother Bal Raj Chopra (B.R. Chopra). After directing few movies for his brother he started his own production company "Yash Raj Films" and has been making one popular film after another for a number of years.

The CD has eight songs. However, the song "Hum Ko Hanste Dekh Zamana Jalta Hai" appears twice on the CD. They sound identical to me. Therefore, I am uploading here only one of them. If someone is interested, I will be happy to upload the other song.

Now for details of songs and the songs themselves ...

Swarapriya ji,

Thanks for Hum Sab Chor Hain

You're welcome Pratulji. -S

Naya Andaz (1956)

Here is another beautiful album from the maestro O.P. Nayyar. Shamshad Begum and Kishoreda are the stars of this album with able support coming from Rafi Saab. There are some melodious duets by Shamshadji and Kishoreda, the most famous being "Mere Neendon Mein Tum".

I am uploading 11 songs here, all from CD. There is one song missing. The name of the song is displayed in red italics in the table shown below.

Now for the details of the songs and songs themselves ...

Songs Of Naya Andaz (1956) Continued ...

Now for the rest of the songs of "Naya Andaz (1956)" ...

swarapriya,
Thanks and heartfelt appreciation for these wonderful posts!!

Thanks Rakesh. You're doing your share by posting some of OP's best work yourself too. Cheers. -S

Naya Daur (1957)

Here is another movie for which O.P. Nayyar gave fabulous music that is at once youthful and zestful. This time he had Sahir Saab writing some of the finest lyrics. This was the first of the many movies that Sahir collaborated with Chopra brothers (Bal Raj and Yash Raj) until his death.

For this movie, originally Madhubala was cast opposite Dililp Saab. B.R. paid her advance and shot several weeks of film with her. Then the shooting shifted from Bombay to outdoors in Bhopal. This was the time when Dilip was making advances for Madhubala's affection and it was no secret in the film industry. Because of the extended weeks of shooting scheduled for Bhopal, Madhubala's father became nervous and decided to pull her off the film. Eventhough her love for Dilp was reciprocal, Madhubala decided to stick with her father's decision. Chopra sued Madhubala asking court to honor the commitment she made. But it was evident that the court was not in a hurry to make any decision soon. Chopraji went ahead and replaced Madhubala with Vyjayanti Mala. Dilip Kumar himself was called as a witness to the court that had open proceedings. He testified against Madhubala and her father. It was evident that Madhubala was about to lose the case. In the mean time the film was made, released, and became a runaway hit. There was lot of negative publicity and Madhubala's reputation tarnished and as a result she suffered severely. B.R. Chopra decided to drop the case to save the eternal beauty from further embarrassment and possible conviction.

This was BR's second movie. His first movie, "Ek Hi Raasta" was a huge success. During its jubilee celebrations, BR invited OP Saab to attend the function. One of the highlights of the evening was Punjabi folk dances and Bhangra dances. OP, who was signed to give music for BR's next film, decided to use this type of music as the main theme for the movie. No wonder "Naya Daur" heavily leans on the upbeat Punjabi music.

Akhtar Mirza, the story writer of "Naya Daur", initially approached several producers to make his story into a movie. Those decided not to touch the subject matter included Raj Kapoor, Mehboob Khan, and Subodh Mukherjee. But when BR Chopra heard the story, he at once decided to make it into a movie.

Also, when BR Chopra approached Dilip Saab to act in the movie, he refused thinking that it will not fly. BR was coming off fresh from the success of his first movie "Ek Hi Raasta" which starred Ashok Kumar. Ashok and Dilp Kumar were good friends. Ashok Kumar heard the story and knew Chopra Saab. He pursuaded Dilipji to accept the role. Under his pursuasion, Dilipji reluctantly accepted to play the lead.

Ironically, this movie won Dilip Saab a best actor award from Filmfare. Also, the story by Akhtar Mirza also won the Filmfare award. OP Saab's music also won the best music award. This was the only Filmfare award OP won.

All songs I am upoloading here are from CD. All extended versions are courtesy of the members of the Forum. There is that horse trotting song also present in this movie, "Maang Ke Saath." Apparently there is another solo by Asha is missing. I never heard it and also it is not included in the DVD either. The details of this song are shown in red italics in the table below. If anyone of the members has it, please share with us.

Like "Mughal-E-Azam" this movie was also colorized and re-released in 2004. Whereas the former hit the boxoffice bull's eye, "Naya Daur" couldn't earn the colorization money invested.

As a bonus, I am uploading a Lataji singing OP's song! It is only a snippet, of 45 seconds duration. She sang first few lines of "Uden Jab Jab Zulfen." I am not sure who the male singer with her is. Could it be Rafi Saab?

Now for details of the songs and the songs themselves ...

Songs of Naya Daur (1957) Continued ...

Here are rest of the songs of "Naya daur (1957)" ....

Swaraprija ji, Excellent uploads again. Thanks.

Just a little correction, Ude Jab Jab Zulfen teri is Asha-Rafi duet, its marked as Asha solo by mistake.

Thanks Swarapriya for one more O.P. Nayyar Classic album.

gop

Thanks a bunch Pratul ji for finding the error. I made the correction and the modified table reflects this.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

Great. Good music is bonding, isn't it?

Cheers,
Swarapriya

Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957)

This movie had several firsts. This was the first directorial venture for Nasir Hussain who hitherto was a writer. He worked for Filmistan's earlier hits like "Munimji" and "paying Guest". Nasir Hussain also wrote the story, screenplay, and dialogues apart from directing the movie.

Another first was that it was Ameeta's turn to be a heroine. Before this she only appeared in smaller or supporting roles. The studio owner Tolaram Jalan was convinced that she has bright future. Ameeta became his protegee. He decided to give her the break with this movie. The director knew this and the emphasis was on to show her on the screen in nice makeup with extra lighting. The publicity of the movie was carefully planned around her. When the movie was released and became a huge hit, it was not Ameeta but it was Shammi Kapoor who ran away with all the laurels. This was a breakthrough movie for Shammi.

Shammi who came into the movies in early 50's had an opportunity to act with top leading ladies. Unfortunately for him, most of these flopped. One of these was a movie called "Coffee House". His costar in this movie was the versatile Geeta Bali. During the shooting of this movie they fell in love and married against the wishes of Kapoor clan. It was Geeta Bali who pursuaded and then encouraged her husband to change his persona and transform into someone like Elvis Presley or James Dean. Taking this cue, he took the assignment on for "Tumsa Nahin Dekha". He shaved his mustache for the movie and promoted himself as a "Rebel Star". (Remember James Dean's classic movie called "Rebel Without A Cause"? Shammi even combed his hair to look like Jimmy Dean.) On the top of this, OP provided the exact music he was looking for. After this movie, for the new Shammi Kapoor, there was no turning back.

Incidentally, Ameeta was offered by Mehboob Khan to play the role opposite Rajendra Kumar in "Mother India". Ameeta was convinced that she will be obscured by Nargis's enigmatic presence in the movie and decided that it was time for her not to play second fiddle any more. She declined the role. She did get an opportunity to play the lead in "Tumsa Nahin Dekha". She acted in few other notable movies including "Goonj Uthi Shehnai" and "Mere Mehboob". But she never got the recognition she thought she was due and decided to retire early from films.

Sahir Ludhianvi was originally hired to write songs for this movie. However, he developed some differences with Nasir Hussain. He decided not to write the songs. He already wrote one song, the title song. That remained in the movie. Then Nasir Hussain hired Majrooh Sultanpuri. Their association lasted several decades where R.D. Burman, O.P. Nayyar, and other music directors had the benefit of providing many hits to the lyrics of Majrooh Saab for Nasir Hussain movies.

All songs of this movie are from CD except the exteded version of "Sar Par Topi". This was ripped from DVD. There is a small click some 44 seconds into this song, otherwise it is fine. The extended version contains in the end OP trademark "clapping" music compared with the regular version. That is the only difference.

Now for details of the songs and songs themselves ...

Swarapriya Ji,

Your enthusiasm and energy for u/l is commandable. You back that up with choicest songs from the yester years. I feel HF members are really fortunate to have someone like you. I hope you never get bored and tired of providing these gifts to HF members.
Thanks .

Vijay

The missing song is here.

Ik deewana aate jate hamse chhed kare-Asha Bhosle

Bit Rate:128kbps
Track Duration:0:03:05
Format:mp3

Kamala Mohanty

Hello Vijayji,

It is always a great tribute when a fellow music lover takes time to appreciate things that you love and love to do. Therefore, boring is definitely out of question. However, tiring may be another matter. Only time will tell.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

Kamalaji,

You'r absolutely fantastic. I was always under the impression that this is a non-existent song. Also, this is the first time I realized that Sahir Saab wrote two songs, not one. Great upload. I guess more you think you know, it is always proves that you really don't know as much as you think you do. Very very humbling experience indeed.

Yet, I love it. Lots of cheers to you.

Thanks,
Swarapriya

Swarapriya,

Thanks a lot for uploading these delightful songs of OPNayyar

Rajan

Kamalaji,

With so many threads going on I got a bit confused. I thought the song you uploaded was from "Tumsa Nahin Dekha". Hope my above comments make some sense now. Now I know it is from "Naya Daur". Of course, Sahir Saab wrote all the lyrics for it.

Thanks again for sharing this song.

Swarapriya

Rajan, as always, you're very welcome indeed. Cheers. -S

Howrah Bridge (1958)

Here is one of the early classics of Shakti Samanta before he became a household name much later with Rajesh Khanna's "Aradhana". There is enchanting Madhubala singing in Asha's breathtaking voice "Aaiye Meherbaan". And there is Ashok Kumar, more than ever Bogart looking. Also, there is Helen in one sizzling dance number to the music of OP and the voice of Geetaji crooning "Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu". To top all this there are some beautiful duets by Ashaji and Rafi Saab. It is a small wonder these songs are still fresh in minds of people and still popular even after 50 years. The ageless wonders!

The movie was shot in rustic Calcutta. It has a Hitchcock style climax, pulsating and heart pounding action drama, right on the Howrah Bridge span.

By the way, they are making this movie in color. But not the original movie. Instead it is going to be an animated movie with the same story and same music and songs of O.P. but instead of real actors you will see caricatures of them. Novel idea. We have to wait and see if it will fly.

Now for details of the songs and songs themselves ...

Swarapriya ji,
Very good uploads once again. Thank you very much.

Awesome Swarapriya... Simply Incredible...

I had just 2 songs of the album the very famous 'Chin-Chin-Chu' & 'Aayeeye Meherbaaan'

I love the way u upload the songs with every possible details & pictures

Whats the total music collection size on your hard-disk? Mine is 50GB

Where r you from? Whats yr profession? Whats your age?

I am 29. A student with IIM Kozhikode Calicut. I am basically a bengali but born & broughtup in Bhopal M.P

Thanks once again
maverick

Hello Maverick,

Your admiration for these uploads is heart warming. Let me say this much. I have a huge collection of CDs. I have collected them over a number of years as a hobby. Now the music is passion with me.

The number of songs in my music bank runs into many many thousands. If you continuously listen to them without a single minute break it will take nearly 4 months to finish them.

Let us not get into the rest of the details because it is getting to be very personal. This platform is definitely not for that purpose. We're here to share and enjoy music.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

You're very welcome Partulji. And, many thanks for the support. -S