(Tribute from Hemant Parikh)

She was the blithe spirit of our popular music. All the more so under the baton of O.P . Nayyar who owed his "Aar Paar" breakthrough to her.

Here is a peep into GEETA DUTT’s solo repertoire for this composer. On the occasion of her 22nd death anniversary falling on July 20,1994 a study by RAJU BHARATAN. Complied by Hemant Parikh.

Who recommended O.P. Nayyar as a music director to Guru Dutt for "Baaz"? Inimitable Geeta Roy of course, when she was all set to become Geeta Dutt Which number arguably rates as the hottest
tune composed by O.P. Nayyar- yesterday, today or tomorrow? Mera naam Chin-Chin-Choo, the Helen foot-tapper from "Howrah Bridge".

What a grim irony that Mera naam Chin-Chin-Choo turned out to be Geeta’s swan song for Opee. I turn the spotlight here on Geeta Dutt’s solos for O.P Nayyar, since it is not my style to halve the anniversary credit by bringing in the singer’s duets too. At twelve o’clock on July 20, we were into 22 years without Geeta Dutt. Yet this blithe spirit of our popular music has been in the public ear all these 22 years Geeta’s vocal mystique, it is unique.

Especially under the seductive baton of O.P. Nayyar. The story of their ear-riveting association be-gins with Dalsukh Pancholi’s "Asmaan" in 1952, flopping like nobody’s show business in the face of Geeta Roy’s vocals in it; for O.P.Nayyar, being vibrant as vibrant could be. Vibrant in the shape of Pom pom pom baaja bole dholak dhin dhin dhin (the GE28021 record I had to beg, borrow or steal for Ameen Sayani to play during Binaca for birth play during anniversary), Arre kya hoon main na bahaar hoon, Dekho jaadoo bhare more naina and that stunner: Dil hai diwana jawaan hai zamana. "Asmaan" bombed so explosively that O.P. Nayyar switched wholesale to Asha Bhonsle for all the 12 songs of his next film, P.L. Santoshi’s "Chham Chhama Chham".

Characteristically, Geeta never held this against Opee, commending his name to Guru Dutt to score the music for the 1953 Geeta Bali - Guru Dutt starrer, "Baaz". And Guru Dutt shot the movie almost entirely on a ship. What memorable solos Opee composed for Geeta to articulate while working for the first time with a creative director like Guru Dutt and a super heroine like Geeta Bali. Remembar Geeta Roy’s Zara saamne aa zara aankh mila on Geeta Bali?

And Geeta Roy rendering the very opposite style of tune in the very opposite style of scene that Geeta Bali, alone could take in her acting stride; Ai dil ai diwane aag laga li kyun daaman mein. There were, in the same "Baaz", other numbers that the listener of taste recalls to this day as Geeta-Opee at their brightest; Maanjhi albele chalo re haule haule, Ai watan ke nauja waan jaag aur jaga ke chal, Taare chaandni afsaane samaan bahaar hai suhane and Jaage panchchi savera hua.

What composing by Opee, what vocalising by Geeta!

Yet "Baaz" failed. But not the vocals of Geeta or the tunes of Opee. In fact, the solo numbers scored by O.P. Nayyar for Geeta Roy in "Asmaan" and "Baaz" have become collectors items in the 22 years Geeta has been off but never away. As for Geeta-Opee’s "Aar Paar", its impact is still fresh in our ears. For "Aar Paar" (1954) was the breakthrough film for Guru Dutt and O.P.Nayyar alike.

It is well to remember that Geeta Roy, in posing an early threat to Lata, had broken through long before Guru Dutt and O.P. Nayyar found public acceptance. Yes, if the Mangeshkar was already number one by 1953, she was "first only among three equals". Lata, Geeta and Shamshad Be-gum. Asha Bhonsle came into the reckoning only after these three and was still struggling in 1953.

But Our theme song here is Geeta going solo in the sultry custody of Opee. And the Geeta solos for Opee in "Aar Paar" may, each, be pinpointed as an ever green; Yeh lo main haari piya, Babuji dhire chalna pyaar mein, Hoon abhi main jawaan and that heart stopper on the obverse of the N50848 Sun sun sun sun zaalima record: Jaa jaa jaa jaa bewafaa. The Sun sun sun sun zaalima duet was a straight lift, but Jaa jaa jaa jaa bewafaa was a mood creation by Opee - epitomised by Geeta in that antithetic idiom that so set off her vim and vitality as a joie-de-vivre performer.

We had a fresh insight into this "other" mood of Geeta as, in "Mr & Mrs 55", without the slightest sense of inhibition, she took on C.H. Atma, under the same Opee, and invested Preetam aan milo with her own vocal persona. Saroj Mohini Nayyar, as the one who wrote the Atma original, was shaky about this Geeta edition.

But Saroj Mohini could feel shaky only until Geeta’s voice came over after that she knew she was listening to a live enactor, not a mere singer. May be Madhubala’s visage was half the battle won. But can you
imagine Madhubala without Geeta in such "Mr & Mrs 55" solo as Thandi hawa kaali ghata? Geeta had this gift of putting her vocal stamp even on Madhubala! On Madhubala as on Cuckoo - Neele aasmaane.

O P. Nayyar’s composing, at this make-or-break stage in this career, had a swinging rhythm that was best captured by mood specialist Geeta Dutt. Look at the way Geeta put over for Opee, in "Musafirkhana" that charming romantic solo on Shyama; Dil dee daala nazrana. It was a simple tune equally simply put across, that is why it was so lucidly picked up by the simple ear and the simple mind.

What was "Choomantar" but a Johny Walker - Shyama - Karan Dewan extension of "Musafirkhana". Before you could say "Chhoomantar", Geeta had established her Opee sway on your heart with Jab baddal
lehraaya jiya jhoom jhoom ke gaaya, Gori gori raat hai taaron ki baaraat hai and Raat nashili rang
rangili mast hawa. What a shame these carefree re-minders of our youth are numbers so little heard today.

Oh, but I have missed out on a film that is current soft-drink coin: "Miss Coca Cola". The Pepsi people could never have found a vocal match for Geeta, had she been living to vivify the fizz in Coca-Cola. Geeta Bali had yet to wed Shammi Kapoor when she was his "Miss Coca Cola" in the film of that name! And how can we forget from "Miss Coca Cola" such Geeta-Opee ear-catchers as Sach sach bol nahin batiyaan bana, Teri kaafir nigah kar gayi dil ko tabaah and Ban dhadkan kajra naina dole re. We rarely get to hear these numbers, will Vividh Bharati and Doodarshan oblige, now that the Coca-Colonisation of India by the USA is in full swing?

"C.I.D", of course, was the Raj Khosla directed Guru Dutt film that brought O.P. Nayyar zooming on as a live challenger to Shanker-Jaikishan in the year (1956) in which that swiftly advancing duo bagged their maiden Filmfare Best music award for "Chori Chori". All the film award entries, I remember, were counted in my editorial charge in the Times Of India building and Lata-Manna Dey, at their best in "Chori Chori", just about managed to edge out Geeta-Rafi at their best in "C.I.D". Shanker-Jaikishan, too, needed to be at their most innovative to snatch that 1956 filmfare award from O.P. Nayyar, who was to beat this duo to it the following year with "Naya Daur" - without Geeta Dutt!

With Geeta Dutt, in "C.I.D", Opee had but one solo - but what a solo! The spell of Jaata kahaan hai diwane abides. Its Kuchch tere dil mein fifi kuchch mere dil mein fifi punchline by Geeta represented O.P. Nayyar’s trendy counter to S.D. Burman’s Tip-tip-tip-tip-tip--tip-tip effect given by the same Geeta Roy on Geeta
Bali in the Dekh ke akeli mohe beguiler of "Baazi". There was a raging in controversy in the letters’ section of Screen about why Geeta’s Jaata kahaan hai diwane was deleted from "C.I.D." Which is the Geeta number you would choose from between Opee’s Jaata kahaan hai diwane and S.D.'s Dekh ke akeli mohe? The choice lies between Geeta Roy and Geeta Dutt!

When he bagged "Mr. Lambu", for O.P. Nayyar it was a dream come true, for the film gave him his first opportunity to compose for Suraiya. At the time, I remember expressing my disappointment to Opee for the way he had scored Suraiya’s two solos in "Mr..Lambu" as Yaad karun tori batiyaan and Soyi hai kahaan jaakar taqdeer mohabbat ki. But today these Suraiya numbers sound pleasant enough. As pleasant as
Geeta’s lone solo in "Mr. Lambu", Aaj jo hum tum mil gaye pyaar mein? Well, for Geeta, Suraiya was no competition. Even Lata was not, for the word "competition" did not exist in Geeta’s vocal lexicon.

That is why Geeta could pack her all even into a below-grade crimusical like "Shrimati 420". There were no fewer than three Geeta-Opee solos in "Shrimati 420" and each was part of a Nayyar wave that then swept our cinema:Meri zindagi ke humsafar phenkna yahaan bhi ek nazar, Hum ko chhod ke kahaan jaaoge saiyyan and Badi rangili zindagi hai ha seen hai dillagi hai. What a great idea it would be if HMV issued a Cassette made up exclusively of Geeta’s OP solos in the 1952-60 phase. For come 1961 and Geeta sadly, is out of O.P. Nayyar’s recording room.

Which then is the timeless number with which Geeta Dutt came closest to matching her own Mera naam Chin-Chin-Choo? We are talking of O.P. Nayyar. so I say it is Chor lootere daaku in "Ustad".
I know Asha successfully grappled with every sironise twist and turn in an Opee tune in later years, but Chor lootere daaku came at a time when Geeta alone could do that for O.P. Nayyar. And whether the number be Chor lootere daaku or Mera naam Chin-Chin-Choo, Geeta had the God given gift of sounding sensuous without sounding salacious. Geeta alone had this knack of never making even an Opee tune sound voluptuous. I concede Asha took over from Geeta in style, yet the fact remains that there is not one
Opee tune you can recall that Geeta coarsened .

"It is sad therefore that a sizzler like Chor lootere daaku represents the phase (1957) in which O.P. Nayyar began the business of banishing Geeta by having ears only for Asha. The solos and duets alike of Geeta, I find, are severely rationed by Opee, starting with "Ustad". In Opee chartbusters like "Tumsa Nahin Dekha" and "Naya Daur", even in Nayyar quickies of this period like "Hum Sub Chor Hain" and "Qaidi", it is Asha almost all the way, barring that almost mandatory interpolation by Shamshad Begum.

With "Phagun", the Madhubala-Bharat Bhooshan all-Pilu musical coming at the fag-end of 1957, Opee’s obsession with Asha is complete - all 11 songs in the film carry her vocals. This I emphasise not as a criticism of Asha, who came up the hard way, but merely as OP not being any longer pre-pared to entertain the idea of resummoning his one time chief artiste, Geeta Dutt. This was when Geeta made that famous phone call to Opee to ask: "What have I done to you that you now don’t send for me at all?" How does Opee feel about such Asha concentration and Geeta inattention today? "Very guilty" says Opee. "But
love knows no reason, only a season!"

Even in such a season, in "Duniya Rang Rangeeli" in which there were six songs by Asha tuned by Opee, Geeta Dutt left a vocal mark, all her own in the sole solo she got in the film: Kya yeh tu ne kiya ishara. From such an occasional Geeta crumb, I conclude that Opee at times suffered from pricks of conscience. It was the call of such a conscience that presumably made Opee offer Geeta such solo sops in 1958
as Bach bach bach kahun sach sach sach in "Farishta" and Channda chaandni mein jab chamke kya ho aa mile jo koyi chham se in "Mujrim".

Yet there was one film in 1958 in which O.P. Nayyar had to settle for Geeta Dutt as his main singer afresh. This, traumatically for Geeta, was the Waheeda Rehnnan Guru Dutt starrer: "Twelve O’Clock". We had here, hoon the still super-supple throat of Geeta three such Opee lilters as Kaisa jaadu balam tum ne daara, Aji o
suno to nahin tum ne humen pehchana and Arre tauba taurba yeh teri ada.
Thus was the "Clock" chimingly turned back to "Twelve" before Geeta Dutt disappeared from O.P. Nayyar’s recording room.

Asha Bhonsle went on to sing for O.P. Nayyar as many as 81 solo plus chorus-backed numbers, but the digits get reversed in the solo case of Geeta to 18. Yet what a watershed these 18 Geeta solos mark in Opee’s career: O. P.Nayyar might have created some sort of a recording by getting Asha to figure in all songs of "Phagun", all 14 songs of "Basant", all 9 songs of "Hongkong", all 7 songs of "Mitti Mein Sona", all 6 songs in the case of each of three films: "C.I.D. 909", "The Killers" and "Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye".

The Chain se hum ko kabhi aap ane jeene na diya collaboration of Asha-Opee may have a pang and a tang all its own. Yet Asha Bhonsle, as a human being first and a imputative being after, will be the first, I know, to spare a Thandi thandi hawa poochche unka pata thought for a Geeta who hid her light under a bushel so that her husband’s might shine the brighter . A husband who, when he went back to O.P. Nayyar for "Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi", knew it had to be Asha it could not be his wife even for a tune right up Geeta’s, alley like Koyi keh de keh de kehde zamane se jaa ke ki hum ghabra ke mohabbat kar baithe....

An Asha shraddhanjali to Geeta, is it not overdue, now that Ms. Bhonsle has sung like a champion for 22 years without any competition from Ms.Dutt?

Here is another article on O P Nayyar, which again highlights the role of Geeta ji in his career :

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2003/feb/04dinesh.htm

The stubborn note of O P Nayyar


Ironically, O P Nayyar is remembered by history as much for what he did not do (record a song with Lata Mangeshkar), as for what he did (compose music for hit films over two decades).

The stubbornly individualistic Omkar Prasad Nayyar was the only major composer from the golden age of Hindi film music to eschew the siren call of Lata's honeyed vocals. Yet Nayyar's robust songs redolent of his native Punjab (Reshmi salwar kurta jaalidar), his characteristic rhythmic beats (in tanga songs like Yun toh hamne, Maang ke saath tumhara) as well as his feather-light melodies (Jaaiye aap kahan jayenge), were immensely popular.

Nayyar had an obstinate streak right from childhood. Born in Lahore in 1926, he was fascinated by music. He was not trained in music, but left home to pursue a career as a composer. The lanky Nayyar got his first break when he composed the background score for Kaneez Famous songs of O P Nayyar

Three years later, D Pancholi gave Nayyar his debut film, Aasmaan (1952), for which he composed the Geeta Dutt beauty Dekho jaadoo bhare more nain. But Aasmaan, like Nayyar's next two films Chum Chama Cham and Baaz, left the box-office cold.

Baaz made Nayyar's acquaintance with director Guru Dutt, now husband of his favourite singer Geeta. This led to Nayyar being chosen, with a little nudging by Geeta, as music director for Guru Dutt's debut production, Aar Paar (1954). Nayyar conjured a memorable score for this hit film. With Geeta's voice for support, he deftly unfurled a range of silken melodies from the ebullient Ello main haari to the sombre Hoon abhi main jawan.

Nayyar and Guru Dutt productions completed a hat-trick of successes with their next two films, Mr And Mrs 55 (1955) and CID (1956).

He was now in demand. Lata was the reigning playback singer. But Nayyar determinedly avoided recording with her as he felt her voice did not suit his compositions. He zeroed in on fledgling chanteuse Asha Bhosle.

Nayyar had used Asha's voice only sparingly in the early years (Man mora from Mangu) preferring to concentrate on Geeta and Shamshad Begum. But from 1957, he sidelined his erstwhile favourites and lavished his best on Asha.

The famous Nayyar-Asha teaming up proved beneficial to both as Nayyar was lifted to an unprecedented high in 1957- 1958 with around nine releases in both years and a string of successful scores like Naya Daur (for which he won the Best Music Director Award), Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Sone Ki Chidiya, Phagun, Howrah Bridge and Ragini.

Nayyar became one of the earliest music directors to command a lakh for a film.

But his decline was as sudden and as steep as his rise. His arrogance and insistence on a high remuneration were famous. Besides his films in the 1959-1960 phase (Raj Kapoor's Do Ustaad, Dev Anand's Jaali Note) did not set the box-office on fire. In 1961, Nayyar had no releases at all.

An emotional Nayyar always credits S Mukherji with the ability to always inspire him. And it was Mukherji's Joy-Sadhana musical hit, Ek Musafir Ek Haseena (1962) that brought Nayyar back into the reckoning.

It was a different, more relaxed Nayyar in the 1960s who did one film a year and crafted exquisite scores for Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Kashmir Ki Kali (1964) and Mere Sanam (1965). His limited musical education did not come in the way of embellishing his melodies with well-chosen instruments like the sarangi which he popularised or the piano which ripples through Aapke haseen rukh pe from Baharein Phir Bhi Aayegi.

Guru Dutt and Nayyar reunited for Baharein Phir Bhi Aayegi (1966), but Asha was singing instead of Geeta in a Guru Dutt film. Nayyar's luck had begun to run out when it came to the box-office. Despite composing some truly timeless melodies like Dil ki awaz bhi sun for Joy Mukherji's Humsaaya (1968), the film didn't do well.

In the late 1960s, Nayyar fell out with his favourite Mohammad Rafi but managed to conjure memorable songs even with Mukesh (Chal akela), Mahendra Kapoor (Lakhon hai yahan dilwale) and Kishore Kumar (Tu auron ki kyon ho gayee).

A major blow was Nayyar's split with Asha Bhosle after the pair had reached a crescendo with the Filmfare Award winning Chayen se humko kabhie in Pran Jaaye Par Vachan Na Jaaye (1974). Nayyar tried recreating the magic with new singers but musical trends had bypassed him by then.

In the early 1990s, Nayyar made a surprise comeback with Zid and the Salman Khan-Karisma Kapoor starrer Nischay, unleashing a wave of nostalgia with his unmistakable tunes. Around the same time, new composer Tusshar Bhatia doffed his hat at the veteran by composing in the Nayyar idiom in Andaaz Apna Apna's Elloji sanam hum aa gaye.

Today, the maestro, still dapper in his hat, is seen as a guest on television shows. But OP's beaming visage hides that characteristic stubbornness that has stood him in good stead and helped him tackle the vicissitudes of fate that has seen him move from his posh Churchgate flat to the distant suburbs of Mumbai and necessitated a profession switch from composer to homeopath.

Another piece of information found on news groups:

This is a rare interview of OPN, in which he tells MANY things about
his various singers ( he talks in DETAILS on Asha, Geeta, Shamshad,
Rafi & C H Aatma. Small comments are those of singers Talat, Manna
Dey, Mukesh, Kishore & UshaM )

This was sometime in July 1957....

Geeta Dutt :


A lovely lady, whose appearance proclaims that she has good taste in
clothes and jewellery. So gaily is she bedecked that, for a moment, I
think a nymph has risen from the swirling waves. But I know, of
course, that the limpid look and that smooth carriage can belong only
to Geeta Dutt !

Cultured, comely and well-read, Geeta could as easily be a leading
lady as she is a top playback singer. But she sincerely believes that
she has found her nische in the realm of ghost-singing. And who will
deny that there is a unique quality in her singing? Give her a
blatantly westernised tune this moment and a complex classical
composition the next, and she will do equal justice to both with an
ease of expression which a singer can only be born with.

She is especially good for songs accompanying boisterous jamborees.
With that tantalising lilt and the fascinating curves she puts into
her singing, she is the ideal choice if it is seductive allure you
want in a song. Remember the gay abandon of those early songs, hits
all of them, which I composed for her : "Jara samne aa" in Baaz and
"Ye lo main haari Piya" in "Aar Paar"? Since then, she has sung many
other hits for me, including the two best selling duets in "CID"
A linguist, sober and serious by nature, of a thoughtful disposition,
very considerate of others, and punctilious to a fault, Geeta Dutt is
an asset to any music director.

Another interesting aspect of the OP story.

http://www.magnamags.com/magnamags/index.p...&Itemid=278

Producer/director Dalsukh Pancholi's Aasman was OP's debut film, as a full-blown composer. The first ever composition of his film career recorded was Is Bewafa Jahan Mein Wafa Dhoondte Rahe by CH Atma (which basically followed the Pritam Aan Milo trail). Two other songs were to be recorded in CH's voice to be picturized on Nasir Khan. There were 4 to be done in Geeta's voice to be picturized on Shyama. For the last of the 8 songs, OP needed a different (softer) voice, which was not to be picturized on the leading lady.The lyrics of all the songs, had already been penned by Prem Dhawan. The last of the 8 songs was Jab Se Pee Sang Naina Laage, was the easiest to sing and for which OP was considering to invite and request Lata personally, rather indirectly through Pancholi. However, Lata was already an established singer by then and when somebody told her that a new composer called Nayyar was about to approach her for a song, which was not going to be picturized on the leading lady, (this was a big deal then as its now), Lata asked who was this Nayyar guy and why she should be singing for him anyway. OP found out about this through a musician and got the fact validated somehow.

On finding that what he heard was true, OP then took a decision which he would maintain the rest of his composing life. Never before or never after did he ever use Rajkumari again, but that particular song was recorded in her voice which went down in the history pages of Indian film music. In the process he showed Lata, that the song which she was going to sing, could be sung by really anyone. OP had his ways of making his point, even when he was only 25 and that too with his very first film.

A lot has been written about the Lata/OP dynamics. OP has been quoted differently too. Without attempting to overly defend him, let me just say that his vertigo, temporary memory loss lapses and disorientation in his twilight years, which I experienced probably more than anybody else during our frequent telephone conversations over many time zones, combined with how many drinks he had taken just before the interview, could swing the pendulum immensely. With time, things between Lata and OP had got progressively aggravated. A puritan Lata harbored this sentiment in her heart always and never really forgave OP for vastly influencing both, the professional and personal life of her younger sister. Aren't we glad that he did!

Bumping up these excellent articles for the benefit of those who have not read them before !

Regards
Parag