O P Nayyar

The man, more than his music. A book I read has a chapter devoted to O.P. Nayyar, the music director from Lahore. He had a unique style of composing, and he was most known for his songs sung by Asha Bhosle. Also for the hoofbeat rhythm, that he used a lot.

There are anecdotes (as narrated by him to the author) about Guru Dutt, and many film-makers like S. Mukherjee (a bigwig in those days, and the father of Deb Mukherjee, a terrible actor even in his evaluation-the father's), Pancholi (this one's from Lahore), B.R. Chopra, and many others like Madhubala (who fell out with Dilip Kumar over a court case by B.R. Chopra because she refused to go outdoors for shooting his film-probably Naya Daur). Guru Dutt gave him some Bing Crosby records which inspired him to create a few songs in his film Aar Paar, he admits.. I think Ja ja ja ja bewafaa is one of those.

He was also a unique person, who liked style. A hat and natty clothes were his trademark. But he is very open about (and critical about) many things, including his own negatives. But he says, having gone through Partition after 1947, and a forced shift to Amritsar from Lahore, nothing could shake him.

Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, and their films made by New Theatres (Calcutta), he says, brought in a whiff of a different sensibility in the earthy Punjabi folks at Lahore, and they looked forward to their new films.

There are references to his fights with family members, and tiffs with film people including Guru Dutt, and producers. But he acknowledges the role played by many of them, as well as his friends in the industry in giving him breaks. He was a man who lived by his own rules, and did not regret it one bit. Worth a look (this book is in Marathi, by Ambarish Mishra, a journalist. It also has chapters on Shobha Gurtoo, Saadat Hasan Manto, and others).