Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar as a tribute to OP Nayyar on his Centenary (16 January 1926 – 28 January 2007)
(We have now reached the concluding post of the guest author in the series of tributes to OP Nayyar, coinciding with his centenary. OP Nayyar was one of the most complex personalities of Hindi film music. His personality impacted his music and his relationships to a great extent. Mr Kelkar is an OPN-admirer but he does not let this cloud his judgement of the man. In discussions with him, we agreed that this would be the most befitting tribute to OP Nayyar. Mr Kelkar forces you to rethink your views of OP Nayyar – perhaps such towering talents cannot be judged on the standards of middle-class morality. You feel sympathy that he suffered because of his own hubris. Thank you Mr. Kelkar for helming an excellent series.
Mr Kelkar has been a close observer of OP Nayyar. He has done Masters in Statistics and Computer Science. A retired IT-professional, he is now based out of Pune. – AK)
This is the fifth and final post on OP Nayyar in the celebration of his hundredth birth anniversary which concludes on 16th January 2026. I consider Anil Biswas, Naushad, C Ramchandra, SD Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan and OP Nayyar as the top six music composers of the golden period. Amongst these six music giants, OP stands out because he is the only one to accomplish this without Lata Mangeshkar, who was the reigning deity of the golden period. This made me believe that OP’s birth centenary needs to be celebrated as a fitting acknowledgement.
In this post we will have an overview of OP’s musical career along with other aspects related to his life.
OP’s Childhood
There are many interesting characteristics in OP’s personality that defined the man. The biggest reason behind the sort of person he became was the hardships he suffered in his childhood. It’s a well-accepted premise that the grooming the child receives from the age of 4 to 12 shapes the character of the child when it grows up. OP was born in a family of four brothers and one sister. All his siblings were studious and followed the discipline set by their father. OP was the oddity; he was indifferent towards studies and had in born attraction towards the music. Due to his rebellious nature he would get frequently thrashed by his father. In addition, no family member had any interest in his musical pursuits and he never received any encouragement. His father would frequently comment that OP will end up becoming a street music player asking for alms and this made him even more depressed. All this made OP bitter towards his family and made him extra determined to prove them wrong by becoming a success in musical world. These psychological scars inflicted in his childhood never left him and affected his music career in the long run because of his outlook towards others.
OP’s rapport with Producers
OP’s first producer was DS Pancholi and OP remained grateful to him for giving him the break in films. Guru Dutt, Shashadhar Mukherjee and Sheikh Mukhtar were three other producers whom OP acknowledged for helping him in shaping his musical character. As far as other producers were concerned, he would be business like with them. He would tell them “Pay me my fees, accept my songs and that is it”. Due to this, he was not close to any producer and so there was no question of a producer repeating OP because of his closeness with OP. That’s one of the main reasons that OP scored music for only 78 films in a career span of 42 years. He had a very poor PR unlike many other MDs.
OP’s association with heroes/heroines
OP also was not close with Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar. OP’s association with Shammi Kapoor began from OP’s first film Aasman (1951). Originally Shammi Kapoor was to be the hero and Shammi attended first few musical sittings with OP. Later on Shammi Kapoor was replaced by Nasir Khan. So right from 1951, Shammi Kapoor was a good friend and had great admiration for OP. But he still preferred Shankar-Jaikishan, due to OP’s strong character. This is one more factor as to why OP’s tally of the films is so less. Madhubala considered OP as a good friend and would offer discount in her films if music was composed by OP.
OP’s rapport with lyrics writers
OP always gave enormous importance to the lyrics. In an interview, he has said “I have always been selective and very particular about lyrics because I love poetry. Of course, I have personal fondness for romantic lyrics, so romance in my poetry was very important. The richness of the thought in the poetry of my lyric writers contributed to the making of OP Nayyar”. He worked the most with Majrooh Sultanpuri (125 songs), SH Bihari (94 songs), Jan Nisar Akhtar (84 songs) and Qamar Jalalabadi (74 songs). OP and Majrooh had a fall out about words in two songs of ‘Mere Sanam’ (1965). That film turned out to be their last association. OP stopped working with Sahir when Sahir inadvertently claimed that because of him SD Burman became popular. OP remained in touch with Qamar Jalalabadi till the end. I remember meeting Qamar Jalalabadi in 1993 on OP’s birthday when OP was residing in a remote Mumbai suburb, Virar. At that time, Qamar Jalalabadi also lived in Virar with his daughter.
OP’s bond with his musicians
OP always gave enormous respect to his musicians and treated them very well. He had a great empathy towards them. He was the one who started the procedure of paying the musicians immediately after the song recording was over. He would tell the musicians to avoid travelling in the crowded Mumbai local trains and come by taxi. OP would pay them the fare of the taxi. His only condition was that they should come on time. For anybody coming late, he could be strict and scolded them and in case of repeated offenders would not hesitate to dismiss them. I think he was the first MD to openly name the musicians that participated in his recordings and acknowledge their contribution in the success of his songs. In my last post I have already named most of his musicians. One name missing is that of Babu Sing who played Harmonium in OP’s songs. In OP’s last film Zidd (1993), Ustaad Zakir Hussain played tabla in the song ‘Tujhe pyar kar loon’. It seems Zakir turned up at the recording and requested OP to include him in the recording. OP obliged and made space in the song for tabla. The link to the song is provided here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce3B7_Bier0
OP’s rapport with his singers
In the following photograph we have OP with Rafi and Geeta Dutt.
Everybody knows that OP never used Lata Mangeshkar. (I have already given details about their rift in my earlier blogs). Due to this, OP had to come up with such tunes that unavailability of Lata was not a constraint. This gave his music a different feel and unique appeal. OP added a different dimension to Rafi’s repertoire by giving him romantic, light songs and making him sing with gay abandon. Note that it was mainly from 1957 onwards that Rafi became major singer for many MDs including SD Burman and Shankar Jaikishan, In an interview, OP said “Geeta Dutt’s voice had real character, she had original voice. Shamshad Begum had the best voice, a truly khanakati aawaz. However, over all, Asha Bhosle was the best; she had certain vocal abilities that Lata or even Shamshad never had. I gave my best composing for Asha and she gave all her best singing for me”. Everybody feels that OP’s break-up with Asha in 1972 finished OP’s career. But if one takes a close look at OP’s career, he scored music for just two films in 1969, none in 1970, one film each in 1971 and 1972, and only two films in 1973 (last two films where Asha sang for OP, with songs being recorded before break-up). This indicates that OP was already getting isolated and was not a major force any longer. Note that, from 1970 onwards LP, KA, RD, SJ were scoring music for more than 10 films each per year. Hence my conclusion is that if the break-up hadn’t happened, may be OP would have continued to get a couple of films every year, that’s all.
OP’s family troubles
OP had a weakness for women. I present here a few of his quotes on women, given in different interviews.
“I feel that God created woman and then fell at her feet. Woman is God’s greatest creation.”
“OP Nayyar is a nobody without women. Women have inspired me, helped me overcome many crises like addiction to smoking, drinking. I am ever grateful to all the women who came into my life”.
“I am not a trained musician. I needed inspiration to compose which came always from women, women singers.”
This outlook towards women was the main cause of discord in his marriage. He married Saroj Mohini Arora in 1951. It was a love marriage. In another interview he told, “Before I married, I told my wife that I would always remain a womaniser. She took a promise that I would never marry again”. He had three daughters and one son. He broke up with his family in 1988, 37 years after marriage. At that time, OP was close to a lady less than half his age. His children, who had grown up by that time were fed up with this. The family members took an objection to it. OP threatened to throw them out of house. His wife and children filed a court case. OP was on a slippery ground with his reputation being at stake and was advised to settle the matter out of court. As a result, OP decided to walk out of the house by transferring his property to his wife. He died in 2008; so for the last twenty years of his life he had very minimal contact with his family. His wife passed away within one year after OP’s death. It’s understood that all his children are unmarried and live in the same house as of date. In the following photograph we see OP with his wife and eldest daughter.
OP’s last years
After the break up with his family, he lived in a remote suburb Virar in Mumbai for six years. For the last ten years of his life, OP lived as a PG with a family in Thane, another suburb in Mumbai. He was treated by them as a senior family member of the family and gave him respect and love. Finally he had found peace and lived a contented life with them till his death. OP had always had spiritual streak in him and that helped him in overcoming his family setback. He would tell us without any trace of emotion that his current situation is a result of his bad karma and no one else needs to be blamed, adding that it’s good that he is wiping out his bad karma in this life itself. Financially he himself managed fairly well. Around 1990 RPG bought HMV. In next couple of years, RPG reissued many OP albums on cassette and these were lapped up by his fans. The royalty received from the sale made OP financially comfortable. He also appeared in TVS SaReGaMa shows on TV and would be present in music shows featuring OP songs in various parts of India as well as in some Gulf countries. In Pune, every year there would be one such show where OP in person would grace the occasion. This generated additional income for him. One must give him the credit that till the end he never lost his stature and compromised on his principles. He always appeared in public in white silk attire, Italian shoes and top hat. Do not believe in the stories that he died a pauper; he lived like a king and died by living life on his own terms.
OP and his fan following
OP had a wonderful fan following. Even after being out of limelight for more than a decade, many of his fans would travel to Mumbai to greet him on his birthdays. He had a way with him to make his fans feel at home in his presence. In his musical shows he would always be surrounded by his fans and his shows were always houseful. My friend, Vishwas Nerurkar has compiled ‘Geet Kosh’ of many music personalities including Lata, Asha, Naushad, Madan Mohan, Khaiyyam, OP, RD Burman, Gulzar, etc. and has met and worked with many of them in person during his work. He claims that OP was the most glamorous of all and the kind of reverence and adoration OP received from his fans was unique. I can readily believe this since OP had a magnetic personality and would always stand out in a crowd.
Other talents
Other than music, he had two more outstanding talents. He was a widely acclaimed homeopath doctor. His fans arranged free clinics in cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad where OP treated ailing, helpless patients by giving free treatment. It’s claimed that he cured many hopeless patients of their ailment. I suppose there are many patients still alive who can vouch for this. Raju Bharatan considered him as the finest homeopath. Another talent he developed was that of reading horoscope. Here also there are many stories about the accuracy of his reading of the horoscope of the people who consulted him. But he always felt that it’s not good to believe about your prediction of the future. He would say ‘Stars only indicate, they don’t dictate’. Two other passions he pursued were poetry and spirituality. He adored ‘Saint Kabir’, as can be gauged from the fact that he cut his first record by reciting Kabir vani. I feel, after his family setback, he turned even more towards spirituality.
OP as a person
OP lived his life king-size. He enjoyed to the fullest all the things that he loved like company of women, whiskey, imported cigarettes, expensive watches, American cars, etc. He had strong likes and dislikes. If he liked somebody, he would go all out to help him in his hour of need. On the other hand if somebody had rubbed him on the wrong side, he never forgave them. One drawback was he could be impulsive and this would sometimes land him into trouble and result into souring relationship with others. Towards his fans, he exuded genuine warmth, was very friendly and very open. He was very generous; he would tip the domestic help and waiters extravagantly for the service. He had wild side to him when it came to his passions. On the other hand, he held high moral standards when it came to punctuality, truthfulness, sincerity, honesty and he expected the same from others. This moralistic aspect affected adversely his music career by having conflicts with producers, directors, lyric writers, singers, etc.
Conclusion
As an end piece I quote from an article written by Raju Bharatan which aptly sums up OP Nayyar the composer.
“There were trendsetters before OP Nayyar, there have been pathfinders after him. But OP Nayyar’s niche, in our music, remains his own. We have seen litany of great composers in action, but OP Nayyar’s ‘balancing’ stands out as his own. OP Nayyar’s imitators are legion. But there is one, and only one, OP Nayyar: The Original.
His Mystique; it is unique”.
Now let’s listen to some of his songs. These songs have no common theme. This list represents my varied reflections on many aspects of his career.
Let’s start with two songs inspired from Naushad songs. OP had a great admiration for Naushad, the composer. This can be ascertained from the following incident. Once, a well-known musician came late for rehearsal at OP’s musical room. As OP asked him the reason, he told OP that he had gone to Naushad because he had promised Naushad to give him a tune. He expected that OP will be pleased since this showed Naushad in a poor light as a composer, OP was furious, he sternly told him, ‘Next time come up with a good excuse. Naushad taking tunes from you? What are you talking about?’
The image below shows Naushad and Jaikishan with OP.
1. O leke pahla pahla pyar – Shamshad, Rafi, Asha Bhosle – CID(1956). Lyrics – Majrooh Sultanpuri
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jSE-ZiIkfc
The tune ‘Jadunagari se aya hai koi jaadugar’ is same as that of ‘Necktie waale babu ko bula de koi re” from the song
Dil na lage jiya na lage – Parul Gosh – Namaste (1943). Lyrics – DN Madhok
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ5z83fFjUo
CID songs created a craze and helped OP to consolidate himself as an MD even more firmly. Raj Khosla was the director and in an interview he told a wonderful tale regarding the picturization of this song. He says “I told Dev Anand that he is not going to lisp this song. This shocked him. He asked ‘What am I supposed to do?’ I told him you are to just walk and he did”. The style in which Dev Anand has walked created a sensation amongst his fans. After watching this, many Dev fans started walking in his manner. The heroine Sadhana has also told in an interview that she watched this movie many times just to see the way Dev walks in this song. It’s also a fact that OP had offered this tune to a couple of producers earlier, who rejected it. When he played this tune to Guru Dutt, he immediately approved it and it showed Guru Dutt had a wonderful ear for music, since this song remains one of the most popular of OP songs. Harmonium is the main instrument used in the orchestration of this song and the beautiful harmonium pieces are played by Babu Sing. OP loved this instrument and has used it in numerous songs. I had not included it in my post on OP’s instruments with the intention of including it in this post.
2. Barso re – Asha Bhosle – Phagun (1958) – Lyrics – Qamar Jalalabadi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSCREw1KonM
The tune ‘Aaj kisi ke preet nagar mein lag naa aaye aag’ is same as that of ‘Aaj kisi ki haar hui hai aaj kisi ki jeet’ from the song:
Jhoom jhoom ke nacho aaj – Mukesh – Andaz (1949). Lyrics – Majrooh Sultanpuri.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sppKUfO5Nbw&list=RDsppKUfO5Nbw&start_radio=1
In the OP song, the interlude piece based on high pitched chorus in conjunction with clarinet/flute piece leading to the Antara is exemplary.
3. Ab to tum sang naina laagi – Asha Bhosle – Dhake Ki Malmal (1956) – Lyrics – Jan Nisar Akhtar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXCJ-8dWln8
The interlude of this song is based upon Maithili Dhun. I provide here link to Maithili Lokgeet:
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YrEZDVEDhU
Based on the Maithili Dhun, N Dutta created the song ‘Tere pyaar ka aasra chahata hoon’. Later on OP Nayyar composed another song based on this.
5. Bahut shukriya badi meharbani – Rafi, Asha – Ek Musafir Ek Haseena (1962) – Lyrics – SH Bihari.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2aSBlqu8sk
This is an evergreen duet. Another song where Harmonium is given prominence. Rafi is outstanding in this song. Raju Bharatan has mentioned in the book ‘Down The Melody Lane’ that OP contacted N Dutta and told him that he has composed a song inspired by the song ‘Tere pyar ka aasra chaahta hoon’. However, since OP had used the Maithili Dhun as interlude in 1956 itself, it’s moot point as to whether OP got inspired by N Dutta’s song or not.
(I can’t but wonder at the underlying unity among various genres of music. It is really a small world. In SOY’s 14th Anniversary post, besides ‘Tere pyar ka aasra chahta hun’, I discussed its similarity to Hemant Kumar’s ‘Mohabbat mein meri tarah jo luta ho, mere sath wo bhi gale mile ke ro le’ (‘Shart’, 1954), and Malika Pukhraj’s old ghazal ‘Arey maygusaaro’. And now, OP Nayyar-composed ‘Dhae ki Malmal’ and ‘Ek Musafir Ek Haseena’. While at this, please also see in that post discussions at #45-48 for N Venkataraman’s proof of AK’s conjecture – no harm in playing a professional mathematician. Amidst all this, a constant and the oldest is Vidyapati’s ‘Piya more balak main taruni re’.- AK)
6. Chhota sa baalama – Asha Bhosle – Ragini (1958) – Qamar Jalalabadi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlpJZs0YuK8
This song was based upon a Marathi Natya Sangeet sung by Master Deenanath Mangeshkar (father of Lata and Asha)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnfBk0ZPYD8&list=RDQnfBk0ZPYD8&start_radio=1
7. This song was included in a Marathi film Doodh Bhaat (1952) which was sung by Asha Bhosle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ya4aHAiwbs&list=RD0ya4aHAiwbs&start_radio=1
Asha Bhosle has sung many Natya-Sangeet songs (originally sung by her father), in extremely effective manner and all of them are very popular in Maharashtra. The transformation done by OP in a ‘Chhota sa balama’ is superb; by adding OP touch to it. This amply demonstrates his genius.
It’s my observation that in the golden era, all the great music directors used to get inspired by the wonderful songs being created by their peers. Let’s listen to a few OP songs which I feel OP composed as a sort of salute to his peers.
8. Poochho na humein hum unke liye – Asha Bhosle – Mitti Mein Sona (1960) – Lyrics – Raja Mehdi Ali Khan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sntXTKQiTPI
I think OP was inspired by Madan Mohan’s song ‘Hum pyar mein jalne walon ko’ from the film Jailor, to create a song to match it. Importantly it pitted Asha Bhosle against her sister Lata Mangeshkar in Lata’s domain. Both are superb songs and it’s very difficult to pick which is better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4QYNzsLeTQ
The film Mitti Mein Sona is not available for viewing and the pity is that ‘Poochho na humein’ song was not included in the movie, hence the second stanza of the song is not available, though in music shows on OP this song has been presented in full that includes both the stanzas. I provide link here of one such presentation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH6JbKoXu1k
10. Main khidki mei aaungi – Rafi, Asha – Kalpana (1960) – Lyrics – Qamar Jalalabadi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiWVtO6ZivE
I think OP was highly impressed by the song ‘Jivan mein piya tera saath rahe’ from the film Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959). OP composed this song by using same template. Opening sher by the female singer followed by aalaap by Rafi, then fast clarinet/flute intro piece. Both the songs end with a short clarinet/flute piece. The link to Goonj Uthi Shehnai song is given here for reference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hekj4MgNRG4
The funny thing is that the music pieces of the Goonj Uthi Shehnai song remind you of OP. In the OP song you get the impression that Asha and Rafi are competing with each other as to who sings better. The opening sher and the intro piece are terrific. The interlude music piece reminds you that of the song ‘Humdum mere maan bhi jao’ from Mere Sanam (1965).
11. Jee chaahta hai kheench loon tasveer aap ki – Rafi, Asha – Basant (1960) – Lyrics – Shevan Rizvi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaS1b8-Nx5Y
The opening aalaap by Asha reminds me that of the aalaap by Lata in the song ‘Tere sur aur mere geet’ from the film Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959). The link is provided here for reference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiW-wm7jY58
Vasant Desai and OP were good friends and it seems that OP was highly impressed by his score for the film ‘Goonj Uthi Shehnai’. Coming back to this OP song, it’s so melodious that no wonder that Pt. Shivkumar Sharma called OP as ‘Melodiously Romantic King of Rhythm’. He further emphasized that OP’s melody and romance can never get old, it will remain fresh forever. Notice that this is one of those rare songs which start with antara. There is no doubt that Asha has excelled in this song. The movie ‘Basant’ had 14 songs and it had 10 Rafi-Asha duets which is a record. The film didn’t include 4 of the 14 songs which probably is also a record to have so many songs dropped from the film.
12. Chaand raaton ko nikale – Asha Bhosle – Aisa Bhi Hota Hai (1971) – Lyrics SH Bihari.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTsqyeYLXJU
My contention is that this was OP’s answer to the popular song ‘Chanda hai tu mera suraj hai tu’ from film ‘Aaradhana’. This is another OP song where you have mukhra in Western beats and antara in Indian beats.
O meri gori gori jaan – Kishore Kumar – Aisa Bhi Hota Hai (1971) – Lyrics – SH Bihari
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZePUgFEJQc
Here OP has created a composition to tell the producers that he was perfectly capable to fit in the new tend. This was the time period where Kishore Kumar/RD Burman combination was the current flavor and OP has come up with a song to tell the producers that he can perfectly capable to fit in the new trend.
Now let us listen to two interesting songs.
13. My name is kishori and yours – Asha Bhosle – Dil Aur Mohabbat (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ito9zMPx8Y
This is not a song but a few words and then music and it’s used to ensure Joy Mukherjee loses in the gambling, I can’t help feeling that the words of this song probably inspired Shakti Samanta/RD Burman/Anand Bakshi to create the song with the wording ‘Mera naam hai shabnam’ in the film Kati Patang.
14. O gori sharmaon na – Asha Bhosle, Kama Barot – Shrimanji (1968) – Lyrics SH Bihari
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omFNHPmtJF8
This is another case where the theme of the song is used in another very famous film song ‘Rukmani Rukmani’ in the film ‘Roja’. Again like the last song, this OP song is picturised as a comedy song and the words and their meaning is wasted. However, in ‘Roja’ the lyrics match with the picturisation of the song. Coming back to OP song, it has many interesting features. The opening sher is in typical OP fashion. The song is lisped by four persons, three females and IS Johar (in the disguise of a lady), in the voice of Asha Bhosle. The melodious interludes are based upon the combination of taar-shehnai and flute. No other instrument is used. On top of this, we have accordion used as a counter melody in prominent manner. OP at his experimental best.
Now let us listen to the title music of two films. The MD of these two films is not OP, but still music composed by OP is used. Also, there is no mention of OP in the titles. I have no knowledge about how this can happen. People claim that such music pieces are treated as a stock music and can be used by other producers. I don’t know. May be knowledgeable folks in the SOY family will throw some light on this.
15. Title music of film Preetam (1971)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uyluT270ls
16. I have provided here a link to the film. Watch/listen from the time 1:53 to 4:10 mins. This title music is the same as that of the film Mere Sanam (1965). The link is provided here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5uZS2Rhy5I
Watch/listen from the time 5:40 to 8:10 mins. In the title music of Preetam, the Rafi and Asha aalaaps have been excluded. The title music has OP stamp all over it.
17. Title music of a Marathi film Bayako Maheri Jaate (1963)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFFgbB1sSQM
Watch/listen from 0:25 to 3:37 mins. This music piece was taken from the film Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POnUGNEbFUA
18. Watch from 1hr:44min:50sec to 1hr:47min:20sec. The song ‘Sar par topi’ starts immediately after this background music piece.
Now let’s listen to the last song.
19. Pukarata chala hoon main – Rafi – Mere Sanam (1965) – Lyrics – Majrooh Sultanpuri.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLKBwutnPwA
We have many songs that have been copied from western tunes. This has been done by all our music directors. But this song has the distinction of being copied in a western album called ‘Call Of the Spring’. This was released in 2009.
20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbjv4IfisOw
PS: Let me express my gratitude to AK for allowing me to write these blogs in celebration of OP Nayyar’s hundredth birth anniversary. THANK YOU!!
Now we are entering the thirties, the last stretch going back to when it all began. The first talkie film was made in 1931. Most of the early stars of talkie films carried on from the silent era. The change of era also exposed the shortcomings of many silent film superstars in adjusting to the demands of talkie films, mainly in dialogue delivery and singing abilities. Some made a gradual exit. This also sowed the seeds of professional playback singing. The playback technology had been discovered in 1935/1937, but the constraints of recording technology meant that it was yet to be fully operational in practice. All this turmoil meant that the change of era did not herald a complete transition from silent to talkie era. Silent films still continued to be made for quite a good number of years into the talkie era. The year 1939 was the end of the 30s. Therefore by 1939 the last silent film must have been made a few years ago. Here I am not talking about largely silent films like Pushpak (1987) and Black, which were largely silent because of artistic reasons, just as Schindler’s List (1993) was a b&w film. 
This year, so far we have four posts published on the SOY blog about RD Burman’s orchestration. All by Mr. Ashok Vaishnav with so much depth that I felt inspired to attempt to write a post of similar nature on OP Nayyar. RD Burman belonged to the next crop of MDs after the golden period of Hindi Film Music. Roughly speaking, I consider the years from 1950 to 1970 as the golden period. For me, the golden period ended with the advent of Kishore Kumar from Aradhana and emergence of RD Burman-Asha combination and subsequent decline in the premier position held by Lata and Rafi. 
The musical journey of RD Burman is being celebrated this year on SoY. I am thankful to AKji for giving me an opportunity to pen a few articles on the maverick composer. Today, in my fourth and possibly, the last article in this series, let us discuss the “other” singers that sang for him. So, whom do we consider as his “other” singers? Certainly, all those who sang for him, besides the Big Four – Mohamad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar!
We are now entering the early years of the Vintage Era. The first talkie Alam Ara was made in 1931. And song and dance beame an integral our films from the beginning. However, most of our heritage of the earliest years is lost due to damages in storage or fire or plain apathy. We have seen this in 1940, too. The 
If you look at the broad statistics in my 
As the title indicates, in this write-up, we will go through OP’s selected non-film songs. OP composed 41 non-film Hindi songs. This is a good number. In comparison, SD Burman has 25 and Hemant Kumar has around 35 non-film Hindi songs, though both of them have composed more than 100 non-film Bengali songs. Two other Hindi Film music directors who have composed a fair number of non-film Hindi songs are Khayyam and Jaidev. Though I don’t know the exact number, I like their non-film songs. I think, Pt. Hridaynath Mangeshkar has composed a few non-film Hindi songs, the most famous being ‘Nis din barasat nain hamare’ sung by his sister Lata Mangeshkar. About other major MDs, I have no idea whether they have composed non-film Hindi songs. (Kamal Dasgupta is a very prominent name in NFS. Some of his compositions in the voice of Jagmohan and Talat Mahmood have acquired iconic status. – AK) 
While working for the present series, I observed that R D Burman has extensively used sonic effects of vocals in the orchestration of the music. These vocal usages were different than the very widely used chorus accompaniments that Anil Biswas, Salil Chowdhury, Shankar Jaikishan and other music directors of late 40s and 50 have so extensively and innovatively used in their work.
