OP Nayyar

OP Nayyar: The Composer Par Excellence

Thumbnail image for OP Nayyar: The Composer Par Excellence January 16, 2026

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 […]

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OP Nayyar’s favourite instruments and his orchestration

Thumbnail image for OP Nayyar’s favourite instruments and his orchestration December 20, 2025

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 […]

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OP Nayyar’s Non-Film Songs

Thumbnail image for OP Nayyar’s Non-Film Songs November 4, 2025

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 […]

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OP Nayyar’s association with Mahendra Kapoor

Thumbnail image for OP Nayyar’s association with Mahendra Kapoor May 27, 2025

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar in OP Nayyar centenary series (Ravindra Kelkar wrote a series of articles on OP Nayyar eight years ago. The grand centenary celebrations of Rafi on SOY inspired Mr Kelkar to mount a similar tribute to OP Nayyar whose centenary is on 16 January 2026. He also offered to write a […]

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OP Nayyar’s transition from Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt to Asha Bhosle

OP Nayyar with Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle April 14, 2025

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar launching OP Nayyar’s Centenary Celebrations with a tribute to Shamshad Begum on her 106th birth anniversary, and also wising a very Happy Baisakhi, Bihu, Vishu and similar festivals across India (Ravindra Kelkar is another once-an-SOY-regular who has woken up after a deep slumber. This time it came as a bigger […]

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OP Nayyar unlike OP Nayyar

OP Nayyar December 14, 2017

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar (OP Nayyar lived life king size. Even when he was in financial difficulty in his later years, he was immaculately dressed and had a regal bearing; there was no dent in his famous pride – he refused the Lata Mangeshkar Award for music, which carried a substantial cash award for […]

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Duets of OP Nayyar: Part 2

OP Nayyar December 3, 2017

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 […]

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Duets of OP Nayyar: Part 1

OP Nayyar November 23, 2017

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar (SoY readers would recall that Ravindra Kelkar has been making valuable contributions on OP Nayyar through his guest articles and, thus, filling up a gap in SoY. He has contributed three articles so far: ‘Three distinct phases of OP Nayyar’; OP Nayyar-Geeta Dutt: A peerless combination’; and OP Nayyar’s influence […]

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OP Nayyar’s influence on other Music Directors

OP Nayyar August 31, 2017

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar (OP Nayyar was a craze for some years from the mid-50s. Every music director was imitating his style, composing OP-type songs from time to time. If you thought it was simply a bandwagon effect, our OP Nayyar-expert Ravindra Kelkar unravels several factors that were at play. Some did it voluntarily, […]

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OP Nayyar-Geeta Dutt: A peerless combination

OP Nayyar-Geeta Dutt July 20, 2017

A tribute to Geeta Dutt on her 45th death anniversary (23 November 1930 – 20 July 1972) by guest author Ravindra Kelkar (A general grievance against SoY is that Geeta Dutt has not been given her due place on the blog. There has been one exclusive post on her best songs by SD Burman which, […]

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