Year: 2025

OP Nayyar’s favourite instruments and his orchestration

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar in the series of Centenar Celebrations of OP Nayyar (b. 16 January 1926 – d. 28 January 2007)

(Ravindra Kelkar is a well-known OP Nayyar-fan. The grand centenary celebration of Rafi on SOY inspired him to mount a similar centenary celebration for OP Nayyar. Ashok Vaishnav’s articles on RD Burman’s orchestration inspired him to write this exclusive post on OP Nayyar’s unique orchestration. Not every music director developed a signature style of orchestration. You could identify his songs from afar.

I am a reluctant and late admirer of OP Nayyar. Reluctant, because of his complete exclusion of Lata Mangeshkar. Late, because I started noticing his Rafi songs in a new light. Not only solos, duets too, in which Rafi started the song. They were out of this word, and I had no hesitation in putting him among the top five composers for Rafi. But this piece is quite an eye-opener, and makes you look at OP Nayyar’s famous songs with new insight.

Ravindra Kelkar has a double Master’s degree in Statistics and Computer Science. He has been an IT professional. Now retired, he is based out of Pune. I have to thank Mr. Kelkar for an excellent and comprehensive article on OP Nayyar’s unique orchestration. This is going to be his penultimate article in OP Nayyar’s centenary celebrations. This is also the last article in the year 2025. Therefore, I have to also wish a Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings to all, and enjoy your vacation. – AK)

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.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

RD Burman’s singers besides the Big Four

Guest article by Dr Rajesh Deshpande, bringing the curtain down on the series of tributes to RD Burman with his songs for ‘other’ singers

(Dr Deshpande had a big role in anchoring the series of tributes to RD Burman. We have seen in his articles a comprehensive coverage of the theme. That is evident in the concluding article too. In spite of the constraints of total number of songs, Dr Deshpande has been able to cover about 20 singers, and made a passing reference to above half a dozen more singers. Covering over 25 singers in the concluding article is no mean achievement.

I must acknowledge that for some old-timers it was becoming too much of a good thing. Therefore, though Dr Deshpande could have done a couple of more articles, we discussed that let this be the last one. I must thank Dr Deshpande for another excellent article.

Dr Deshpande is a pathologist with blood transfusion as his speciality. He is currently in-charge of Medical Affairs for Asia Pacific and International Region in Fresenius Kabi, a healthcare MNC. Dr Deshpande is based out of Mumbai. – AK)

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!

Kishore Kumar was his favourite and preferred male singer from the 1970 onwards, singing over 550 songs for him. And Asha Bhosle, his dominant female singer, lending her voice to about 840 songs. Elder sister Lata comes second with 360+ songs, RDB’s singer of choice for his special compositions. Rafi was the sole male singer in his first film as a composer and as well as of his first super hit score Teesri Manzil. Had the singing legend survived longer, we would have heard more from the Rafi-RDB combo. Yet, the fact remains that Rafi was his third most prolific singer with around 120 songs.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Best songs of 1940: Wrap Up 4

And the Award for the Best Music Director of 1940 goes to?

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 Overview Post indicates that of the number of songs of which song titles are known, nothing is known about the singes of more than 55% of the songs. Thereafter, I have already done a detailed review of the Best Male Solos, Best Female Solos and Best duets in Wrap Up 1, Wrap Up 2, Wrap Up 3 respectively. Now we are in a position to do the (Final) Wrap Up 4 about the Best Music Director.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Best songs of 1940: Wrap Up 3

The Award for the Best Duet of 1940 goes to?

If you look at the broad statistics in my Overview Post on the best songs of 1940, you would see out of total 351 songs in the year, whose singers are identified, the ratio of male solos, female solos and duets are 1:1.47:1.19. This may not follow the long-term average of male solos to female solos to duets, but it does follow the general trend that female solos far outnumber male solos, and duets too are generally much more than male solos. Whether 19% differential of the duets over male solos is statistically significant or not is best left to the professional statistician. But I have mentioned several times that in music the impact of a particular singer is not necessarily commensurate with statistics. This phenomenon was particularly pronounced in the era of KL Saigal and Pankaj Mullick when their songs pulled their weight much above their numbers.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

OP Nayyar’s Non-Film Songs

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar continuing the series on OP Nayyar’s centenary celebrations (b. 16 January 1926 – d. 28 January 2007)

(Seeing the grand centenary celebration of Rafi on SOY in 2024, a known OP Nayyar fan Ravindra Kelkar proposed to celebrate his centenary, too, appropriately. Coincidentally, his centenary was still a few months away (b. 16 January 1926 – d. 28 January 2007), so I readily agreed. He had already contributed a series of articles on him a few years ago, but he offered to write fresh articles in the present series also. He has already contributed two articles in 2025. This is his third article in OP Nayar’s centenary celebrations.

We all know that the celebrated song ‘Preetam aan milo’ was first recorded as an NFS in the voice of CH Atma, composed by OP Nayyar many years before he debuted in film music. However, Mr Kelkar shows that OP Nayyar composed several non-film songs of incredible beauty, worthy of an independent post. Thank you Mr Kelkar for another excellent article in the series.

As I have mentioned earlier, Mr Kelkar has done Masters in Statistics and Computer Science. Now retired, he is based out of Pune. – AK)      

Before getting into the topic, I would like to share my views about proliferation of YouTube channels related to Hindi Film Music World in the last five or so years. Increasingly, I have seen a trend to come up with content based upon imagination and having no concrete basis. I will quote here a few examples.

1. OP-Rafi break up happened when ‘Dil ki awaz bhi sun’ was to be recorded for the film ‘Humsaya’. After this, Rafi prevailed upon OP to record the song so that the producer Joy Mukherjee does not suffer financial loss. The YouTuber has ensured that all persons involved in the episode are dead.

2. ‘Savere ka suraj’ from ‘EK Baar Muskura Do’ was dubbed by Kishore Kumar and later on it was to be re-recorded in the Rafi’s voice. Again, pure fictional story with no possibility of verification.

3. During the recording of ‘Main pyar ka rahi hoon’ from ‘EK Musafir Ek Haseena’, the rhythm section went on strike and OP still went ahead and recorded the song without them.

4. There are a few more such fictional stories, the best I came across was about the song ‘Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya’ from the film ‘Hum Dono’. The YouTuber claimed that it was SD Burman’s tune and SD Burman asked his son RD Burman to go to Jaidev and give this tune to him.

Amazing, isn’t it? If anybody asks me about these stories, my standard answer is that I am waiting for the development of ‘Time Machine’. Once it is available, I will travel back in time and verify and then conclude. I feel we need to use our judgment so that we don’t get misled by such stories.

Now let’s come to the subject of the post.

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)READ THE FULL ARTICLE

R D Burman and His Orchestration Improvisations: Vocal Experiments

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(We are celebrating 2025 as the year of RD Burman. He was acknowledged for his improvisations in sounds. Our guest author Ashok M Vaishnav has already covered his instrumental improvisations in percussion, string and blow (or wind) instruments. An important part of RD Burman’s orchestral improvisations was his novel vocal experiments. Ashok ji explains that these usages were different from the widely used chorus accompaniments by the Golden or Vintage Era music directors like Anil Biswas, Naushad, Salil Chowdhury and Shankar-Jaikishan. These do not refer to RD Burman’s gruff, baritone voice either, putting in words like “Monica, My Darling!”.

This would be the fourth and the last article by Ashok ji in the present series. He has been a regular contributor to SOY. Earlier he had anchored a series on Arrangers and Musicians. Thus, he was eminently suitable for writing this series on RD Burman. Ashok ji is a retired engineer based out of Ahmedabad and is now a freelance management trainer. Thank you, Ashok ji, for this excellent article as your concluding piece in this series on RD Burman’s orchestral improvisations. – 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.

This is also not about what we now recognised as his ‘signature’ – gruff, baritone – singing style or heavy breath sounds of Mera naam hai Shabnam (Kati Patang, 1970) or Monica or Monica My Darling in Piya tu ab to aa ja (Caravan, 1971) or singing Mere Jivan Saathi, with varying modulations or other lyrical dialogues or odd sounds  in the titles of Mere Jivan Sathi (1972).READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The trio that changed the Hindi film music scene – RD Burman, Kishore Kumar and Rajesh Khanna

Guest article by Dr Rajesh Deshpande in the continuing series on RD Burman, with his songs for Rajesh Khanna on Kishore Kumar’s 38th Remembrance Day (4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987)

(The single most important factor for RD Burman’s fame is his songs for Kishore Kumar lip-synched by Rajesh Khanna on the screen. Therefore, when I started discussing with Dr Deshpande on the themes, we agreed on this date for the combination. But what the man proposes, God disposes. As the day came nearer, I had a scheduled travel from 8th-13th October, and as such, 7th October was a very busy day for me. Therefore, I wanted the article to be in by the 5th October. Dr Deshpande had sudden work-related travel and the vagaries of air travel meant he could touch base on the 7th and he had to catch up with meetings and work. Thus, the most important article in the series of tributes to RD Burman would have almost missed the scheduled date.

As his flight was to land, he must have seen my reminder, and in the course of the day, I kept pursuing him. Without showing any signs of annoyance, he sent the article 7th night, giving me barely sometime to work on it. It is to the credit of Dr Deshpande that in spite of the last-minute scramble, he has not let the quality of the write-up go down. Thank you, Dr Deshpande, for another excellent article.

 Dr Deshpande is a pathologist with blood transfusion as his speciality. He is currently in-charge of Medical Affairs for Asia Pacific and International Region in Fresenius Kabi, a healthcare MNC. Dr Deshpande is based out of Mumbai. – AK)

No series of tributes to RD Burman can be complete without covering his main male playback singer – Kishore Kumar. RDB-KK had forged a musical and emotional bond and an association that went way beyond the usual music composer-singer collaboration. The rise of RD Burman and the resurrection of Kishore Kumar as playback singer also coincided with the superstardom of Rajesh Khanna. It would not be incorrect to say that both the composer and the singer had a major contribution in the creation of the phenomenon called Rajesh Khanna (RK). RK brought the romantic and soulful melodies of RDB-KK alive on screen, so much so that he came to be known as the eternal romantic hero. On the occasion of Kishore Kumar’s 38th Remembrance Day (13th October), it would be a fitting tribute to discuss his songs composed by RD Burman and picturised on Rajesh Khanna. Along with RD Burman, this is also a tribute to the superstar, born as Jatin Khanna (b.29 December 1942 – d.18 July 2012).READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Book Review: Forgotten Artists of Early Cinema and The Same Name Confusion Book 4

Forgotten Artists of Early Cinema and The Same Name Confusion Book 4 Author: Arunkumar Deshmukh Publisher: Professor toofaani publishers, East Lansing, MI, USA Price (Pothi.com): ₹675 plus shipping (Paperback) Copyright: © Arunkumar Deshmukh Pages: 227 This is the fourth book in the series, and I have reviewed all the earlier books on this site. WhenREAD THE FULL ARTICLE

Lata Mangeshkar’s best songs by RD Burman

A tribute to Lata Mangeshkar on her 96th birth anniversary (b. 28 September 1929 – d. 6 February 2006)  with her best songs by RD Burman continuing the series of tributes to him

Lata Mangeshkar’s singing-acting career started in 1942 with Marathi Nritya-Natak and Marathi films, under tragic circumstances, when RD Burman was still a toddler. Her father the famous actor-singer on Marathi stage, Dinanath Mangeshkar, passed away when she was barely 13 years. Dinanath had trained his daughters in classical music and she often performed with him on the stage. After he was no more, Lata Mangeshkar, being the eldest among four sisters and a brother, with a widowed mother, the burden of looking after the family fell on her. After about three years in Marathi films and Marathi dance-drama, she moved to Hindi films in 1945 with small acting-singing roles, but her heart was not into roles in films, her aim was to be a good singer. Within 4 years she burst upon the scene as a tornado and swept away the reigning singers of the time. She emerged as the voice of the leading ladies. RD Burman was ten, when Lata Mangeshkar established herself as the Mighty Empress of playback singing.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

R D Burman and His Orchestration Improvisations: Blow Instruments

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(When I mentioned that I would need help from our guest authors from the SOY-community to dedicate the year of 2025 to RD Burman in a befitting manner, Ashok M Vaishnav offered to write a few articles on instrumental improvisations by RD Burman. He has already anchored a series on Arrangers and Musicians on SOY. Having written on percussion and string instruments in the series, Ashok ji writes on the third major group of instruments: wind or blow instruments, with focus on Manohari Singh.

Ashok ji is a retired mechanical engineer, and now a freelance consultant, based out of Ahmedabad. Thank you Ashok ji for another nice article in the series of tributes to RD Burman. – AK)

The three assistants who played key role in arranging the music for R D Burman were masters of three different instruments – Maruti (Rao Keer) was a percussionist, Basu (Chakraborty) was a cellist and Manohari (Singh) was an ace blow instrumentalist. It would be too presumptuous to judge that these instruments seemed to find major space in R D Burman’s music because of these three artists. In fact, as one scans through the spectrum of R D Burman’s music, quite a wide variety of instruments can be heard, many of them used quite innovatively as well. As I worked for the third article in the present series of R D Burman and His Orchestration Improvisations, with the abundance of material available on the internet, I have observed the presence of a wide range of instruments in the orchestration.READ THE FULL ARTICLE