Daily Times

The songs were written by poet Jan Nisar Akhtar. During one of her last appearances with composer and singer OP Nayyar, singer Geeta Dutt sang “Chanda Chandni Main Jab Chamke Kya Ho?” for the film ‘Mujrim’. It’s cast was Ragini, Shammi Kapoor, Shoba Khote and Tun Tun. This film was again a Majrooh Sultanpuri-OP Nayyar combination.

Famous music composer Nayyar who never used singer and composer Lata Mangeshkar for his songs, was actually Geeta Dutt’s fan. On the site rediff.com, Raju Bharatan reveals to Patchy N “OP Nayyar was an amazing composer. I admired him for the fact that he was the only composer who worked without Lata Mangeshkar. Nobody else had the guts. For Guru Dutt’s Aar Paar, he charged only Rs 5,000. But Guru Dutt was not paying him his due. When Nayyar came to Mumbai, he was put up at the Favell Hotel in Marine Drive, with his wife and little kid. His bill ran up to Rs 412, but he did not have any money. IC Kapoor, who was a film distributor, intervened and made Guru Dutt pay Nayyar the money. As Nayyar was leaving Guru Dutt’s music room, Guru Dutt entered and asked him to work in his next film as well. Guru Dutt was very difficult to work with, and OP Nayyar did not want to work with him. But IC Kapoor convinced him and told Guru Dutt to pay him Rs 10,000 for his next film – ‘Mr and Mrs 55’.” O. P. 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 AshaBhonsle. 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 Chiriya, 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, O. P. Nayyar had no releases at all. An emotional O. P. Nayyar always credits S. Mukherji with the ability to always inspire him. And it was Mukherji’s Joy-Sadhana musical hit, Aik Musafir Aik Haseena (1962) that brought O. P. Nayyar back into circulation. It was a different, more relaxed O. P. Nayyar in the 1960s that did one films 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 popularized 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 Dutt in a Guru Dutt film. O. P. Nayyar’s luck had begun to dwindle when it came to the box-office. A major blow was O. P. Nayyar’s split with AshaBhonsle 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. Asha went and joined R. D. Burman’s camp that was many years younger to her and later married RD.

On the success of “Aye Dil Mujhe Bata De Tu Kis Pe Agaya Hai” from the film ‘Bhai Bhai’, as many as 10 songs were composed by Madan Mohan for Geeta between 1956 to 1957. These included “Duniya Ke Saath Chal Pyare” filmed on Nadira for Dev Anand’s ‘Pocket Maar’ and “Shaam Ka Aanchal Dhalka” from the film ‘50 50’. These songs emitted the sensuality of Geeta’s voice. Film ‘Samundar’ was released in 1957 had Geeta singing a lovely duet “Le Gaya Dekho Dekho Dil Bhi Hamara” with Muhammad Rafi and another lovely club song “Dil Ko Lagayen Yeh Gawara Bhi Nahin”.

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