OP Nayyar’s association with Mahendra Kapoor

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 number of articles culminating on the D-Day. This is Mr Kelkar’s second article in his second innings.

Mr Kelkar had close personal contact with OP Nayyar as his admirer, yet that does not cloud his judgement. Mahendra Kapoor was an important male singer for OP Nayyar in his post-Rafi phase, though Mr Kelkar acknowledges that he was not a match for Rafi. My view is somewhat nuanced. A famous song by any singer gets etched in our memory, and it is difficult to imagine it in any other voice, even in a superior singer’s voice. That would apply to some of Mahendra Kapoor’s songs by Ravi and OP Nayyar, and I have written posts on my favourite songs long ago. Mr Kelkar takes a more comprehensive look at OP Nayyar-Mahendra Kapoor combination.

Mr Kelkar has done Masters in Statistics and Computer Science, and he was an IT professional. Now retired, he is based out of Pune. Thank you Mr Kelkar for another nice article. – AK)

In my last series on OP Nayyar (6 posts in total) I had not written on this topic. I am making amends by writing this post. On the SOY blog, we already have quite a few posts related to Mahendra Kapoor, including one by AK on two songs of this combination, those songs being ‘Tumhara chahanewala’ from the film ‘Kahin Din Kahin Raat’ and ‘Mera pyar wo hai’ from film ‘Ye Raat Phir Na Aayegi’.  In the SOY family we have many Mahendra Kapoor admirers. I am impressed by their in-depth knowledge of many obscure and rarely heard Mahendra Kapoor songs. This also means that we need to include Mahendra Kapoor in the category of Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Talat Mehmood, Mukesh and Manna Dey. The Mahendra Kapoor and Ravi combination is very popular thanks to BR Chopra and on SOY this aspect is already covered in great detail. But in my view, the quality of OP Nayyar and Mahendra Kapoor songs is even better. Though I am not a Mahendra Kapoor fan as such, I do enjoy listening to many Mahendra Kapoor songs. In my view, he did a very competent job as Rafi’s replacement in OP’s music. But for me, Rafi was in a different class all together. Mahendra Kapoor was a hardworking, sincere singer and did his best in every song that he got to render. He was also a very soft spoken person and never had any ill word for anybody, like his guru Rafi.

How did it begin?

OP’s association with Mahendra Kapoor began after OP’s rift with Rafi. By that time, OP had already worked with many other male singers like CH Atma, Talat Mehmood, Mukesh, Manna Dey, GM Durani and Kishore Kumar. So, he had a fairly good idea about their singing talents. Though strictly speaking, except for Dev Anand, Kishore Kumar hadn’t established himself as a great playback singer for other actors as yet.  But OP opted for Mahendra Kapoor. This indicated that OP considered Mahendra Kapoor as the best bet to sing his songs that will come closest to what OP got from Rafi. Not too surprising, since Mahendra Kapoor was a disciple of Rafi and had the voice to resemble that of Rafi to some degree. How the rift of OP with Rafi happened is well known. Still I will repeat it here to complete the picture. According to OP, Rafi came one hour late for recording of a song. When asked why he came late, Rafi, who was a simple, guileless man replied that he got stuck in the recording of a song for Shankar-Jaikishan. OP was furious and told Rafi that you had given me the time and that time you gave to Shankar-Jaikishan, henceforth OP won’t have time for Rafi. OP called pack-up and cancelled the recording. Here we need to take into consideration a couple of points. OP and Rafi had very good and friendly relations. In the book on Rafi, Rafi’s daughter-in-law mentions that OP was the only music director, with whom Rafi would have open, candid conversation about any subject and confide all he wanted to. This being so, Rafi didn’t anticipate this reaction from OP, otherwise, I think he could have given some excuse like a family contingency or something like that. This decision of OP was a bad mistake and he suffered the consequences. When the day started, OP had Rafi to sing his songs and when the day ended he had no Rafi to sing his songs. It can’t be denied that in OP’s success, Rafi was the most valuable contributor, from male side. OP had a very natural tuning with Rafi, both being from Lahore. All the romantic emotions that OP would put into his tunes, Rafi would flawlessly render them and with something extra. OP was aware of it, but still he did this on the dictates of his ego and arrogance and impulsiveness. The rift was healed four years later when Rafi on his own visited OP and apologized. Both of them embraced each other and shed tears, OP candidly told Rafi ‘You are a greater human being than me. I couldn’t overcome my ego, but you did’. In one of the earlier posts(on some other subject) on this blog, the author hinted that probably, Asha forced OP to ditch Rafi, Asha being envious that Rafi’s songs were stealing the limelight from her. Now this is really a wild imagination fit to fall into Raju Bharatan category.

When did this happen?

My calculated guess is sometime during last quarter of 1965 OP had a few movies lined up for release in 1966. He had one film released in each of the last four years, starting from Ek Musafir Ek Hasina (1962), Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Kashmir Ki Kali (1964) and Mere Sanam (1965). This was not because he had suddenly started to follow Naushad model, but the plain truth was that these were the only films he could get. The tremendous popularity as well as quality of the songs of these four films, along with the success of these films at the box office, created a new demand for OP. OP had 7 films released in 1966. Out of these, all the male songs for the films, ‘Akalmand’, ‘Do Dilon Ki Dastaan’ and ‘Love And Murder’ are in the voice of Rafi (Kishore has sung his songs in ‘Akalmand’). This means OP had already recorded the Rafi songs in these films before the rift happened. Out of these films, the case of ‘Do Dilon Ki Dastaan’ is interesting. Actor Pradeep Kumar had signed OP for two films. Out of that ‘Mitti Mein Sona’ got released in 1960. The second was ‘Do Dilon Ki Dastaan’. This film was directed by Pradeep Kumar himself. The songs were recorded long back, possibly during 1960-1961 and the film got delayed for some reason. I must mention here that the film has some really wonderful songs. Unfortunately, both these films are not available on DVD. The remaining four films of 1966, have male songs shared by Mahendra Kapoor and Rafi. This clearly reflects that the rift happened all of a sudden and Rafi’s loss turned out to be Mahendra Kapoor’s gain. These films are ‘Bahaarein Phir Bhi Aayengi’ ‘Sawan Ki Ghata’ , ‘Mohabbat Zindagi Hai’ and “Ye Raat Phir Na Aayegi’. Mahendra Kapoor has sung  6 songs in these four films. The only other film that has voices of Rafi and Mahendra Kapoor was Humsaya (1968), the film though started in 1965 got delayed. Two Rafi songs had already been recorded before the rift and later on one duet was recorded in Mahendra Kapoor’s voice.  OP continued to use Mahendra Kapoor as his male singer till Sambandh (1969). After the patch up with Rafi, OP didn’t use Mahendra Kapoor till Rafi was alive. After Rafi’s death, OP again used Mahendra Kapoor for his next two films, both unreleased. Mahendra Kapoor in all sang 43 songs for OP, 32 out of these are due to OP-Rafi rift and 11 after Rafi’s demise. These included 22 solos and 13 female duets. He was the second most prolific male voice for OP after Rafi. A close third is Kishore Kumar with 38 songs.

What was the first song OP recorded for Mahendra Kapoor?

As per information given by Rohan Kapoor (Mahendra Kapoor’s son), it was ‘Badal Jaaye Agar Maali’ for ‘Bahaare Phir Bhi Aayengi’. In the same article (reference – ‘OP Nayyar King Of Melody’ a book by Lata Jagtiani), an interesting episode is shared by Rohan Kapoor. Mahendra Kapoor had gone with his family to Mahabaleshwar – a popular hill station in Maharashtra. He received a phone call from OP Nayyar (it is quite amazing that OP managed to locate him). OP requested him to come to Mumbai next day for urgent recording. Mahendra Kapoor started early next morning, reached the studio on time and recorded the song. The song was the beautiful number, ‘Mera Pyaar Wo Hai’ from ‘Ye Raat Phir Naa Aayegi’.

What did OP think of Mahendra Kapoor as a singer?

Now let us check OP’s assessment of the singing abilities of Mahendra Kapoor. It’s not very flattering to say the least. In an interview given to Ameen Sayani, OP flatly said that though Mahendra Kapoor is a good singer, Rafi was Rafi, Mahendra doesn’t have the special abilities of Rafi. In another interview he was asked ‘What do you think of Shankar Jaikishan using Sharda as a singer?’ OP replied ‘It is stupidity. But I did the same when I used Mahendra Kapoor instead of Rafi’. Here you get a very clear example of OP’s lack of diplomacy. Where was the need to downgrade Mahendra Kapoor to the level of Sharda? Okay, agreed that, OP here is mainly cursing himself for not using Rafi. Still, he should have shown some modicum of gratefulness towards Mahendra Kapoor for filling up the Rafi gap, in adequate fashion.

During one of my visits to OP on his birthday (most probably 16^th Jan 1986), one of his fans asked OP, ‘Is it true that you are trying out Shabbir Kumar to sing your songs in the forthcoming film?’. It was in the news that OP had signed a new film. OP replied angrily ‘What are you talking about? I used to reach at my wits end in trying to get Mahendra Kapoor sing the song the way I wanted and you are talking about Shabbir Kumar?’ All this points towards the fact that Mahendra Kapoor was never OP’s first choice till Rafi was alive. Ironically, OP did use Shabbir Kumar to sing some songs later on.

Coming back to the songs, OP was in great form and still creating wonderful tunes, when Mahendra Kapoor got to sing for OP. This is obvious from the quality of the songs of OP-Mahendra combination. Let us now listen to some of the songs. I have tried not to include the songs already posted in different earlier posts.

Before we actually go to the songs, though as mentioned above, the first OP Song by Mahendra Kapoor was ‘Badal Jaaye Agar Maali’, there is an earlier recording of Mahendra Kapoor for OP that is available. As is well known, Mahendra Kapoor won the ‘All India Murphy Metro Singing Competition’ in 1957. It was probably an unwritten rule that the winner will be given an opportunity to sing at least one song in films by all music directors. So as a part of the deal OP used him to sing a couplet in the film Do Ustad (1959) which went as Do paiso par do tukdon par imaan khareede jaate hain. The couplet is played in the background at the start of the movie. Raj Kapoor and Sheikh Mukhtar are brothers and in their childhood they get separated when this soundtrack is played in the background.

First recording of Mahendra Kapoor for OP Nayyar from the film Do Ustad (1959)

Now we come to the songs.

Let’s first listen/watch three songs from the film ‘Kahin Din Kahin Raat’, released in 1968. It had a great musical score by OP. In addition to the songs included below, it had the fabulous duet ‘Tumhara chahanewala’ (covered in a post devoted to this song by AK) and ‘Mohabbat ho gayi jinse’ by Asha Bhosle, a superb song.

1. Kamar patli

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e7pyGjgFJk

This song became quite famous. It has full one minute intro piece. Most of the orchestration is based upon western instruments. Picturization is typical, though I think the idea of wearing colored wig by Biswajit was not good. Lyrics by SH Bihari.

2. Yaaron ki tamanna hai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJx7PboBsAo

A great Tonga song picturised on Johny Walker and Malika. Though well sung by Mahendra Kapoor, you cannot say the voice suits Johny Walker the way Rafi’s voice suited. The highlight of the song is the second interlude piece comprising of mandolin, and clarinet. Don’t miss it. You feel the OP magic, due to the surprise element. One of the few songs where OP has used clarinet after reinventing his musical style from 1962 onwards. Lyrics by Aziz Kashmiri

3. Tumhare ye nakhre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hiJW9pbOZw

A beautiful song, though not included in the film. Mahendra Kapoor has rendered it wonderfully and has come within touching distance to Rafi. The interlude music has a feel of Salil Chowdhury. I remember that on 16^th Jan 1985, Mahendra Kapoor visited OP’s house to wish him on his birthday. Mahendra Kapoor was very humble, soft spoken and sat at the feet of OP. Someone played this song on the cassette player. Mahendra Kapoor was overwhelmed with emotion when he heard this song, probably after many years. Lyrics by SH Bihari.

Now let us listen/watch two duets from the film ‘CID 909’, released in 1967. The song album has three Asha Bhosle solos and three Mahendra/Asha duets. All the six songs are of high quality and have a stamp of OP.

4. Jaan-e-tamannaa kya kar dala

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8b4tpo

This is an extremely melodious duet based upon Raag Kedar. As in many OP songs, you get a surprise element in this song also. There is no interlude music. No intro piece which is also a rarity in OP’s case. Interludes are provided by Aalaaps from Asha and Mahendra. There is minimal orchestration. Some rhythm instruments and a violin interface. That’s all. But still the effect is magical. The strength of the song is the throw of words in typical OP fashion. Lyrics are by SH Bihari.

5. Tera nikhra nikhra chehra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh6d0PfIwcE

Actually in the song we have two female voices, Asha Bhosle and Kamal Barot. As a standard trick of OP, when a single female voice is singing it is Asha Bhosle. Kamal Barot sings only when both the female singers are singing. As is the case in many OP duets, Mahendra Kapoor enters suddenly into the song in the second stanza, till that time you have no idea that it’s a male-female duet. The video song available ends abruptly, hence I have provided audio link, which allows you to listen to the full song. This is a terrific rhythmic song, with a very catchy intro harmonium piece. The rhythm king is in full flow here. In the interludes, listen to rhythm variations carefully. In this song too, there is no expansive orchestration. Lyrics are by Shevan Rizvi.

The third duet in the film ‘Dhadka to hoga dil zaroor’ is equally good, but has already appeared on this blog previously.

6. Tum sab se haseen ho – Mohabbat Zindagi Hai (1966)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8rlu5JfRCw

Another excellent duet with Asha Bhosle. A typical breezy intro piece with claps and mandolin, sets the happy mood of the song. Though this is a bhangra song, OP keeps his tradition of springing a surprise by having a superb sitar interlude in the first and third stanza, played by Rais Khan. The end piece is also in place, though no aalaps by Asha and Mahendra. I personally feel absence of Rafi in this song, due to which possibly OP has given Asha two stanzas and she over-shadows Mahendra. Dharmendra is ill at ease in enacting this song. Lyrics by SH Bihari.

Now let us listen/watch three songs from Naseehat (1967).

There is an interesting story as to how OP agreed to give music to two Dara Sing movies, one was this film and the other was The Killers (1969). Both of them were typical Dara Sing movies. When Dara Singh approached OP Nayyar, the latter told him he charges hefty sum for his music. Dara Singh told him, ‘No problem, I am the king of wrestling and you are the king of music, so I will pay you your fees’. OP was flabbergasted and had to agree. Needless to say OP gave wonderful music to both the films.

7. Ya ki tum par meri jaan shabaab aa gaya – Mahendra solo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BGgeI1QkXU

This is a comic song, picturised on Mohan Choti. The interlude is based on clarinet piece and then taar shehnai piece fused in a seamless manner. Lyrics by SH Bihari.

8. Zara dekhiye meri saadgi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEQBZmcUdm8

Another Mahendra solo. A nice melodious classical based song. The orchestration uses many Indian classical instruments, like sarangi, sitar and sarod. Just proves the versatility of OP who was accused of giving hybrid westernized songs. Extremely well sung. The He-man Dara Singh is enacting this romantic song. Is it not amazing? The Hindi Film world is full of such anomalies!

9. Teri aankhon ne in aankon se

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lve-k9bYKhg

A duet with Asha, though there is a third voice in Kamal Barot. The intro piece starts with guitar and then shifts to bhangra. A fusion of western music with Punjabi folk. All successful ingredients of OP are in place. In typical OP fashion, the male voice appears in second stanza. The end piece is as per OP’s pet template set by ‘Sar par topi’. All in all an exhilarating song that keeps you fully engrossed. You are confused as to where to keep the focus; the fusion or the rhythm variations or the singing or the intro piece or the interludes or the postlude. OP always tried to keep the listeners engaged in the various elements of the song and ensured that the song is never dull. Majority of the times he succeeded in that endeavor, this song is a prime example of that. Lyrics by SH Bihari.

10. Kahan se laayi ho jaaneman – Dil Aur Mohabbat (1968)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzkE2IoEaRw

There are two duets and a solo of Mahendra Kapoor in this film. The other duet (Haath aaya hai jab se tera haath mein) which is more famous and I had included in my post on OP Duets. So I have included this duet here. Strictly speaking it’s not a real duet, Asha just has one aalaap in each of the two stanzas. This is a very melodious and sweet song. It gets you into a mellow and soothing mood. Very minimal orchestration, that includes drum beats, double bass, santoor, sarangi and base violin. Now, what’s the surprise element here? It’s the beautiful sarangi piece in the stanza that takes over the Mahendra Kapoor line seamlessly! Possibly, Asha insisted to sing aalaaps, otherwise I feel it was a santoor piece and hence a solo song. I have provided an audio link here, since video was not good.  Lyrics by SH Bihari and are  so simple,  ‘Tumhari soorat hi saamane ho, tumhi ko bas dekhata hi jaaun’

Now let us listen to two Mahendra Kapoor’s solos from the film Kismat (1968). This film was directed by Manmohan Desai. The only film where OP worked with Manmohan Desai. It had some great songs like Asha’s famous solo ‘Aao huzoor tumko’ and ‘Kajra mohabbatwala’ in addition to these two very melodious solos. In both these songs the rhythm is simple drum beats along with excellent guitar pieces. Lyrics are by SH Bihari.

11. Lakhon hain yahan dilwaale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARpBV3ya2ag

12. Aankon mein qayamat ke kaajal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVf02JaHr20.

13. Badi mushkil se kaboo mein – Humsaya (1968) – Duet with Asha. I am giving here both, audio and video links, since the video doesn’t have the intro sher.

Audio link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT0hmOGtbHc.

Video link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uOSbaaC1pw

This is an interesting song having four stanzas and all are different. Not a typical OP song, but full of twists and turns as per the demand of the film situation. Joy Mukherjee has killed his Chinese look alike (Mala Sinha was engaged to him). Mala Sinha as well as the Chinese military is under the impression that the Indian look alike (betrothed to Sharmila Tagore) has been killed. Watch the song with this information in mind. OP has done a brilliant job. Note that Asha has sung for both Sharmila as well as Mala Sinha. The question is why did OP not use Geeta or Shamshad to sing for one heroine and Asha for the other? This aspect of Asha’s dominance in OP’s music has been dealt with in detail in my last post. Lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri.

Now let’s listen/watch two songs from Sambandh (1969). OP was extremely proud of his musical score in Sambandh which allowed him to showcase his composing talent for an extremely emotional subject. The only film where he worked with Kavi Pradeep and the lyrics are top class.

14. Kisi se ab mera rishta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntgP768ZjNs

This song is full of feelings, excellently sung by Mahendra Kapoor. Very minimal orchestration. The second part of the song starts immediately after this and is sung by Hemant Kumar. ‘Apni mata ke dulare bachche’–

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZLi46j86dE

When you watch these two songs together you feel the richness of the words and the genius of OP in tuning these words so effectively. Probably, due to the quality of the words and the tune, Pradeep Kumar is forced to emote for a change.

15. Jo diya tha tum ne ek din: Providing audio link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHGpTzRzdNM

This is a duet with Hemant Kumar. Hemant Kumar dramatically enters into the song in the third stanza. This is the only film where OP used Hemant Kumar’s voice. Again a very emotional song. The tune moves from low notes to high notes in typical OP style.

Now, in the end, let us listen to three songs from OP’s two unreleased films. OP came back to Mahendra Kapoor for these films after the demise of Rafi.

16. Kya ke mumkin hai from the film ‘Muqaddar Ki Baat’

https://youtu.be/NQ4PkOfhH7c

This is a duet with Pushpa Pagdhare. The songs were released in 1983. A mellifluous song. Typically it has very good opening sher and Mahendra Kapoor enters in the second stanza.  Lyrics by Indivar.

17. Mere pyar ka faisla from the film ‘Muqaddar Ki Baat’ – A Mahendra Kapoor solo. The song has no rhythm like ‘Chain se humko kabhi’. The two stanzas have different tunes. The orchestration is superb. Lyrics by Bimla Khaitan.

https://youtu.be/xOR-AdHDKBs

18. Kitab-e-ishq ka padhana from the film ‘Jaane Mehboob’(1988) – A solo song.

https://youtu.be/8o9EMvYsB-0

An excellent song, beautifully sung. The piano pieces are wonderful. It’s claimed that this song was pitcurised upon Rohan Kapoor (Mahendra Kapoor’s son). Lyrics by Noor Devasi. The tune reminds me of ‘Aap ke haseen rukh’. Strangely, Mahendra Kapoor’s voice sounds much better in this song than the last two songs which were recorded 5 years earlier.

Though OP composed music for 4 more films after this film, he didn’t use Mahendra Kapoor’s voice and opted for Amit Kumar, Mohammad Aziz, Shabbir Kumar and SP Balasubramaniam as male singers.

Notes and Acknowledgement and Disclaimer
1. The picture of OP Nayyar with Mahendra Kapoor you see on the YouTube link of Do paison par do tukdon par imaan khareede jaate hain (Do Ustad, 1959) was clicked by the author’s friend, Sateesh Paknikar, when they met Mahendra Kapoor at OP Nayyar’s birthday. On my request they put it out in public domain only yesterday for use in this article. Thus the readers can realise the historical importance of this recording and efforts to put it out on Songs Of Yore.

2. The song links have been given only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. Neither the author nor this blog has any commercial interest, and do not in any manner directly or indirectly suggest copyright over these which rest with the respective rights owners.