Duets of OP Nayyar: Part 2

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar

(Of the 223 total duets composed by OP Nayyar, the most conspicuous are male-female duets in which the male voice is Rafi and the female voice, either Geeta Dutt or Shamshad Begum or Asha Bhosle. These are 119 in number, and were the subject matter of Ravindra Kelkar’s last post on OP Nayyar’s duets. That leaves 104 duets, including 60 ‘other’ MF duets – Rafi with other female singers, and male singer other than Rafi – and 44 duets of mixed type, i.e. male-male, female-female or more than two singers. Thus, in spite of the smaller number, these 104 duets present immense variety. With this second part of the two-part post on OP Nayyar’s duets, Mr Kelkar completes the comprehensive review of OP Nayyar’s duets. Thank you, Mr Kelkar for your painstaking effort. – AK)

In part 1 we listened to Rafi-Geeta Dutt, Rafi-Shamshad Begum and Rafi-Asha Bhosle duets. Now let us listen to some other combinations.

Rafi with ‘other’ female singers

Rafi and Asha Bhosle were the two main singers for OP. Rafi sang just five more male-female duets for OP, one each with Nirmala Arun, Suraiya, Vani Jairam, Dilraj Kaur and Pushpa Pagdhare.

As a representative case, let us listen to the Rafi-Suraiya duet.

1. Tu zara si baat par khafa na ho by Rafi and Suraiya from Mr. Lambu (1956), lyrics by Harsh

Harsh wrote three songs for OP, all of them in this film. I have no idea how many more songs are written by Harsh. Suraiya also worked with OP only in this film and sang two solos in addition to this song. This is a typical OP number of that period. A happy mood song.

Asha Bhosle with ‘other’ male singers

Now, let us turn our attention to Asha Bhosle’s duets with other male singers. Asha Bhosle-Kishore Kumar sang 12 duets, Asha Bhosle-Mahendra Kapoor sang 9 duets, Asha Bhosle-Mukesh sang 3 duets, Asha Bhosle-Talat Mahmood sang 2 duets and Asha Bhosle-Manna Dey sang one duet. I have picked five songs here.

2. Baahon ko zara lahra de by Asha Bhosle and Manna Dey from Kabhi Andhera Kabhi Ujala (1958), lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri

I am quite fond of this song. A typical OP number of that period, with standard rhythm variations. There is no way to know what made OP opt for Manna Dey instead of Rafi. This film is not available on DVD, so no idea on who it was picturized on. Based on the orchestration, my guess is this could be a climax song, or some crime is being committed or about to be committed.

3. Main Bangalee chhokara by Asha Bhosle and Kishore from Raagini (1958), lyrics by Qamar Jalalabadi

There are quite a few memorable duets sung by this duo under OP’s baton. So, it was difficult to pick one song. In this film itself we have three more Asha-Kishore duets. This film was produced by Ashok Kumar. In addition to this film, OP composed music for film Kalpana, which was also produced by Ashok Kumar. During his Lahore days, OP was a great fan of Ashok Kumar. OP was among the crowd who waited at Lahore Railway station for arrival of Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani, to catch a glimpse of them, during his childhood days. So, OP was extremely delighted when Ashok Kumar signed him for this film. Ashok Kumar, in an interview, very generously acknowledged that whatever success the two films achieved was mainly because of OP’s outstanding music. This is a highly entertaining song to listen to as well as to watch. In this film, Kishore Kumar, who is a trained singer loves Jabeen. Padmini, who is a trained dancer loves Kishore Kumar and Ashok Kumar loves Padmini. So a typical Bollywood love story!!!

4. Haath aya hai jab se by Asha Bhosle and Mahendra Kapoor from Dil Aur Mohabbat (1968), lyrics by Shevan Rizvi

Another song picturised on Joy Mukherjee and Sharmila Tagore. Another top-class melody. A short intro piece and suddenly Asha Bhosle starts the singing. Electric guitar is played by Hazara Singh, taar-shehnai by Dakshina Mohan Tagore and sarangi by Pt. Ramnarayan. OP was very fond of this song, especially the romance implied in the lyrics – ‘Roshni Zindagi mein mohabbat se hai, Warna rakkha hai kya chandani raat mein”. Another instance where Mahendra Kapoor enters the song in the second stanza. Mahendra Kapoor has tried his best to sing in OP/Rafi style.

5. Sach bata tu mujh pe fida by Asha Bhosle and Talat Mahmood from Sone Ki Chidiya (1958), lyrics by Sahir Ludhiyanvi

This film was produced by Ismat Chugtai, a very prominent writer. She had written the story of this film and it was claimed that it was based upon the life story of Nargis. This film has the other very famous duet ‘Pyar par bas to nahi hai’, which has already appeared in this blog earlier a couple of times, so I have chosen this duet. A very energetic and breezy song where OP has maintained the same rhythm throughout the song. Standard prelude of OP to build the mood of the song. In the interlude, I feel OP has used the combination of clarinet and accordion. Definitely, it’s not the standard clarinet/flute combo, some other instrument is mixed. In the inter loops you can hear the cut notes of standard clarinet/flute. Use of double bass is quite noticeable. This film turned out to be the last film OP did with Sahir. Actually, both of them were from Lahore and had immense respect for each other. Sahir was once asked ‘Is there a music director who gives more importance to the lyrics than tune?’. He instantly replied ‘OP Nayyar’. This once again confirms how much importance OP gave to poetry in the lyrics and the extraordinary grasp he had of the nuances of the poetry. OP always claimed that the main ingredient behind the success of the film Pyasa was Sahir Laudhiyanavi.

6. Ye dil lekar nazarana by Asha Bhosle and Mukesh from Ek Baar Muskura Do (1972), lyrics by SH Bihari

OP composed three Asha Bhosle-Mukesh duets, one in Miss Coca Cola and two in this film. I choose this because, Mukesh is singing a Bhangra song, which is quite rare. Many songs from this film were popular and the film enjoyed a reasonable success at box office. The music of this film was modern, he used Kishore and Mukesh successfully in this film. It indicated that the creative juices were still well intact. In fact, it seems that he had reached a stage where he was comfortable to use singers with as diverse abilities as Mukesh, Mahendra Kapoor, Kishore Kumar and Hemant Kumar by creating suitable compositions. Earlier he always had this fixation that only Rafi could do justice to his compositions. However, in 1972 itself the break-up with Asha Bhosle happened and this resulted into the ouster of OP from Hindi Film industry for good.

Male Duets

In all, OP composed 19 male duets and Rafi sang 14 of them. Most of the OP’s male duets are comedy songs, with some exceptions like “Tu hai mera premdevata” from Kalpana and Jo diya tha tumne ek din from Sambandh. Here, I have selected three duets, all comedy songs.

7. Hum ko hanste dekh zamana jaltaa hai by Rafi and GM Durrani from Hum Sab Chor Hain (1956), lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri

This was OP’s maiden venture with Filmistan. S Mukherjee was the leading light of Filmistan. When OP was struggling for a break, he had approached S Mukherjee for work. After listening to his compositions, he outright rejected him, telling him bluntly that you are no good. It delighted OP that the same S Mukherjee invited him for this film. After going through the rushes of the film, S Mukherjee predicted that this film will do well at the box office and he was proved right. The film was a runaway success. From this point onwards, OP and S Mukherjee enjoyed excellent relations. OP always held S Mukherjee in high esteem and he had a fund of interesting stories about S Mukherjee. This film was directed by IS Johar. His companion in this song is Majnu, like IS Johar he is a versatile character.

8. Munh se mat laga cheez hai buri by Rafi and Manna Dey from Johnny Walker (1957), lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri

In this comedy song, I feel Manna Dey has matched Rafi at every step. There is an interesting story about how OP signed this film. When producers Ved and Madan approached OP, OP had a lot of films already signed and considering the theme of the film, to put off the producers, OP told them “If you present me Impala car tomorrow morning, I will sign the film”. OP thought he has got rid of them. He was in for a surprise when at 11 am next morning the producers handed over keys of a brand new Impala car and OP had no option but to sign up for the film. The film did a reasonably good business mainly due to some excellent compositions. This song unfolds as a repartee between Johnny Walker and his friends who sing in the voice of Manna Dey, taking turns. The friends are imploring Johnny Walker to abstain from alcohol with Johnny Walker refusing to listen. The song is full of zest and embellished by claps, mandolin, guitar on the rhythm of ride/crash cymbal from drum set with standard change over to dholak for stanzas.

9. Do akalmand huye fikramand by Rafi and Kishore Kumar from Akalmand (1966), lyrics by Aziz Kashmiri

Another hilarious song, with some philosophical musings about poor and rich people, religious priests etc.

Female duets

In total, OP composed 25 female duets and Asha Bhosle sang 24 of these. Almost all of them are excellent and many of them enjoyed a lot of popularity. I present here four of them.

10. Kuchh kuchh hone laga by Asha Bhosle nd Shamshad Begum from Dhake Ki Malmal (1956), lyrics by Jaan Nisar Akhtar

Asha Bhosle and Shmashad Begum sang seven female duets for OP. Out of these, Reshmi salwar kurta from Naya Daur and Kajara mohabbatwala from Kismat are highly popular. However, both these songs were included in AK’s post on Shamshad Begum-OP combination. Hence, I went for this excellent song. Originally, Dilip Kumar was supposed to act in the film, however for some reasons he dropped out and was replaced by Kishore Kumar. However, Kishore Kumar had no songs in the film. This is a very melodious song and Shamshad Begum has sung it wonderfully well with Asha Bhosle. This film is not available on DVD. But I remember watching this song on Doordarshan in the popular programme Chhayageet before the advent of cable TV, with Madhubala looking ravishingly beautiful. Interestingly, this film had one song composed by another composer, Robin Chatterjee.

11. Dil tera diwana o mastani bulbul by Geeta Dutt Dutt and Asha Bhosle from Mr. Qartoon M.A. (1958), lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri

This film was also produced by Ved and Madan and had some highly popular songs including Main main main Qartoon. M.A. here stands for Master of Aloo, referring to Johnny Walker who played the role of a chef in the film.

12. Is duniya se nirala hun main by Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle from Ragini (1958), lyrics by Jaan Nisar Akhtar

Possibly this is the last time Geeta Dutt sang for OP. Asha Bhosle and Geeta Dutt sang 5 duets and all of them are of high quality. As I have mentioned earlier, Asha Bhosle used to copy Geeta Dutt in the earlier part of her career. However, in her duets with Geeta Dutt, OP has ensured that she does not fall into this error and maintains her own identity. This song has a superb sarangi piece played in OP style by the redoubtable Pt. Ramnarayan. In the film, Vinod Mehra as a child artist plays the role of young Kishore Kumar. He has a strict father in Nazir Hussain, who is a prominent classical singer, forcing young Kishore Kumar do riyaaz and keeps a vigilant eye on him. However, young Kishore Kumar manages to escape with his childhood girlfriend. The father is searching for him so that he may discipline him and when this song is sung by the children, the father himself gets mesmerized by the song.

13. Huzurewaala jo ho ijaazat by Asha Bhosle and Minu Purshottam from Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi (1966), lyrics by Aziz Kasmiri

This haunting film was directed by Brij. Brij committed suicide sometime in the eighties. Before that he was in talks with OP about producing a film for which OP had agreed to give music. The music of this film ranks very high for me. This is a fantastic song, it has a huge intro piece and is an evidence of OP’s musical creativity. Here, though this is a female duet, Minu Purshottam just sings in tandem with Asha. The two dancers in the film are Helen and Madhumati. They sing separately one stanza each. However, both of them lisp Asha’s voice. This was a mean trick played by OP and Asha. Asha Bhosle would sing both the portions and when both the actresses are singing together we would have the two singers singing in tandem. This obviously happened after Asha Bhosle started insisting that she will sing all the female songs (from 1960 onwards). There are three exceptions to this. One song in Akalmand, ‘Jab do dil ho bechain’ is sung by Asha Bhosle and Shamshad Begum . This song is picturized on Kishore Kumar and IS Johar, both disguised as ladies, so possibly that was the reason to have two separate voices. Same is the case for Kismat –‘Kajara Mohabbatwala’ where Biswajeet disguised as a lady sings in Shamshad Begum’s voice, while Babita in the garb of a male sings in Asha’s voice. The third song is from Sawan Ki Ghata –‘Khuda huzur ko meri bhi zindagi de de’ which is sung by Asha Bhosle and her sister Usha Mangeshkar. Possibly, Asha Bhosle gave her consent realizing that Usha is no threat to her sovereignty. There is a very nice story recounted by Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma about the recording of this song. He says, “I was at home doing riyaz, when a chorus singer came in an Impala car. He told me, ‘Nayyar saab has sent a car for you and all are waiting for you at the recording’’. I had not received any message of the recording. However, I quickly readied myself and went to the recording. The preparation for the recording was in full swing. I went to OP and told him that I had not received any message. OP with impish smile and twinkle in his eyes, told me, ‘Relax, I have not called you for playing. I was missing you so I asked you to come’. I was touched and happily sat through the recording of the song. It was ‘Huzurewala’ from ‘Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi’. OP was like that. He would tell us ‘Don’t travel in the crowd of the local train. Take proper care of your instrument. Come by Taxi’ and he would pay us separately, the taxi fare. The only condition was that we should be punctual.”

Now to the last part, Mixed songs, which comprise three singers. OP in all composed 14 mixed songs. I have selected two here.

14. Aaj suhani raat re…Tu aa ja re ki dil hai beqaraar by Shamshad Begum, Kishore and Rafi from Naya Andaz (1956), lyrics by Jaan Nisar Akhtar

In this wonderful song, Shamshad Begum has obviously overshadowed both Kishore Kumar and Rafi. The chorus also makes its presence felt. The expressions Shamshad Begum has put in the word ‘beqaraar’ are matchless.

15. O leke pahla pahla pyar by Shamshad Begum, Rafi and Asha Bhosle from CID (1956), lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri

This is the sad version of the popular happy song. Asha Bhosle sings for Shakila. Rafi brings in some variation like singing “Aha” and “Wah wah wah”. Here, all the three singers have sung it equally well.

Acknowledgements:
1. O.P. Nayyar Kya Baat Hai Is Jadugar ki, a coffee-able book by Sateesh Paknikar. The comments from Pt. Shivkumar Sharma are from this book.
2. The Legendary O.P. Nayyar by Vishwas Nerurkar
3. O.P. Nayyar King of Melody by Lata Jagtiani

Tagged as: Best duets