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 surprise. Mr Kelkar had written a series of six articles on OP Nayyar starting from his 10th death anniversary on 28.1.2017. The old-timers remember him as an OP-expert. Perhaps he had an epiphany when he saw the centenary celebrations of Rafi on SOY. As OP Nayyar’s centenary falls on 16 January 2026, Mr Kelkar approached me to celebrate his centenary likewise, and also offered to write a number of guest articles on him culminating on his Centenary Day.
OP Nayyar’s earliest superhit song was in the voice of Shamshad Begum, ‘Kabhi aar kabhi paar laaga teere-e-nazar’. Her contribution to OP Nayyar was immense – when he was facing boycott, she stood by him and gave one superhit after another. Yet, after giving some great songs with Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum, OP Nayyar gradually shifted wholesale to Asha Bhosle, with Rafi remaining a constant. The story is well-known but Mr Kelkar gives some critical insights. Though an unabashed fan of OP Nayyar, Mr Kelkar does not mince words when discussing his personality flaws. Similarly, in this provocative write-up there is no trace of malice when he concludes that finally it was a complete takeover by Asha Bhosle leading to his sharp downfall as he could not maintain the boundary between the professional and the personal.
Music is a matter of personal choice and you may disagree with Mr Kelkar with many of his observations. But according to me, this is a worthy article to launch OP Nayyar’s centenary celebrations. Shamshad Begum maintained a dignified silence all this while. This article coincides with her birthday (14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013), so it is befitting to pay our tributes to her. This day is also a joyous occasion in many parts of the country – Baisakhi (Punjab), Bihu (Assam), Vishu (Kerala), Gudi Parwa (Maharashtra) and so on. Wishing the readers the very best on this happy day.
Mr Kelkar is a post-graduate in Statistics and Computer Science and was an IT professional. He has since retired and is based out of Pune. Thank you Mr Kelkar for returning with an excellent article on OP Nayyar, who despite some personality flaws, gave us joyous music. I am happy to launch his centenary celebrations on a joyous occasion. – AK)
After reading the title, the question that comes to the mind is, was there really a transition to Asha or a takeover by Asha Bhosle? In my view, it was both, transition as well as a takeover. Was it the first time that a composer shifted from singer A to singer B? Of course not! When Lata Mangeshkar, who had debuted a few years earlier, created a storm in 1949-50, within no time there was a complete takeover by her. The reason was obvious. The sheer quality of Lata’s pure, melodious and sweet voice, so completely different from the then prevalent voices, along with her inborn musical intelligence and flawless rendering made it a virtual walk over. All the major composers en masse shifted to Lata. Nothing like this happened in Asha Bhosle’s case. OP Nayyar’s first film was Aasmaan (1952), in which Geeta Dutt sang for the first time; and Asha Bhosle and Shamshad Begum sang for the first time in OP Nayyar’s second film Chham Chhama Chham (1952), So, by the end of first two films itself, OP had used all the three singers.
Now another significant event happened during the songs recording of Aasmaan, which contributed to OP’s ultimate total shift to Asha Bhosle. One song, “Jab se pi sang naina laage tab se…Mori nindiya churaye gayo” was to be recorded. If you listen to this song, rendered by Rajkumari, it is apparent that OP had created the tune for Lata. Lata was contacted to sing the song. But for some reason she didn’t turn up. One version of the story claims that Lata had sinus problem, another version says that when Lata came to know that the song was to be picturised on a side heroine, she refused to sing it. The third version says, a messenger was sent to Lata, asking her to sing this song. At that time, sending a messenger was a standard practice to book singers as well as musicians. Lata told the messenger that, she won’t sing the song for any Nayyar, Vaiyyar. Messenger gave the message to OP verbatim. The third version seems to be more authentic because later on this was sort of confirmed by none other than Rafi himself. A new MD asked Rafi to sing a song and told him that he won’t be able to pay his full fee, still Rafi readily obliged to his request. When asked as to why he accepted to sing in spite of being paid much less, he said ‘You know what happened when Lata refused to sing for OP when he was a nobody”. However, the end result of this was that a permanent rift happened between OP and Lata.
OP Nayyar grooming Asha Bhosle for 7-8 years
By 1952, Geeta and Shamshad were already well established singers, while Asha was still taking baby steps to get a firm foothold. According to OP, when he first worked with Asha in ‘Chham Chhama Chham’, he quickly realized the enormous potential in Asha. He was quite clear in his mind that he needed to groom Asha to make her into a capable playback singer to nullify the effect of Lata not being available to sing his songs. According to OP, Asha had inferiority complex when it came to Lata, Geeta and Shamshad. OP had to do a lot of hard work to remove it. It also needed a good deal of patience and persistence. In my opinion, it was 1959-60, when Asha finally became a very confident and competent singer in her own right to be free from Lata, Geeta and Shamshad hang-up. So it took almost 8 years of transition. It’s quite interesting to study how OP moulded Asha in these 7-8 years of transition. There is a widespread belief that the success of Naya Daur (1957) triggered this transition which is simply untrue. The success of Naya Daur, closely followed by Tumsa Nahi Dekha (1957) just hastened the complete takeover. This can be substantiated by the number of songs sung by Asha (93 songs), Geeta (52 songs), Shamshad (30 songs) for OP Nayyar till the end of 1957. This shows that Asha had already sung more songs than the combined tally of Geeta and Shamshad. This also means that the transition was already taking place. By the end of 1960, the transition was complete and Asha became the sole female voice in OP’s music.
OP Nayyar ultimately completely ignored Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum
The question still remains as to why did OP go to the extent of totally ignoring Geeta and Shamshad? It can’t be denied that this was gross injustice to Geeta and Shamshad and ungratefulness shown by OP. OP’s first super hit song was ‘Kabhi aar kabhi paar laaga teer-e-nazar’ sung by Shamshad. It was Geeta, who recommended Guru Dutt to sign OP for ‘Baaz’ and subsequently for ‘Aar Paar’. Everybody knows, it was the super success of ‘Aar Paar’ on which OP’s musical career was established. It also needs to be remembered that Shamshad fully supported OP by singing songs for the film Mehbooba (1954), when all the singers were asked to boycott him because he had replaced Roshan for the film (Please refer to my earlier post ‘OP-Geeta Dutt: A peerless combination’ for the full story). The only explanation possible is that OP was infatuated with Asha and could no longer deny any demands of Asha. That was the price OP had to pay for the 14 years long relationship with her. Raju Bharatan very correctly explained this as ‘Love has no reason, only a season’. In the long interview given by OP to Vividh Bharati (Daastan-e-Nayyar), he narrated that “Geeta once rang me and asked me why I am not asking her to sing his songs. I told her that from the time Asha has come into my life, she insists that she will sing all the female songs and nobody else”. He also stated in the same interview that he will carry the guilt of the injustice done by him to Geeta and Shamshad till the end of his life. Ironically, OP, who used to believe that the song is more important than the singer, himself went against his belief by giving all his songs to Asha irrespective of the merits of the song, from 1959 onwards till their break-up. It’s worthwhile remembering that OP gave one solo song to Krishna Kalle in the film Taxi Driver (1973). The song was ‘Pyaar karte ho yaar’ and immediately after this Asha decided that she won’t sing for OP any longer.
To support my theory, I have attempted here to present a few songs, sung by Asha which I feel were at least as or more suitable in the voices of Geeta or Shamshad. This list is purely based upon my assessment of the songs sung by Asha, by trying to imagine in my mind how the song would sound if sung by Geeta or Shamshad. It was great fun. In this exercise, I also found a few songs which could very easily have been sung by Lata, not a surprise to me. I know this exercise is purely hypothetical but definitely worth it. Even Lata was tempted to do it with her ‘Shradhanjali’ series. Also, I recall there was a prevalent trend of version songs in 1950s and 1960s, where popular songs were sung by other singers and these records were published.
Analysis
Before we go to the songs, I have a few more observations to make.
1. It’s my contention that, during the transition period, Geeta and Shamshad songs became more popular than those sung by Asha. Take a case of ‘Howrah Bridge’. ‘Mera naam chin chin chu’ became more popular than ‘Aaiye meherbaan’. In the musical hits of ‘Aar Paar’, ‘Mr and Mrs 55’ there was no Asha Bhosle. In CID (1956), ‘Leke pehla pehla pyar’ sung by Shamshad-Rafi was more popular than the sad version sung by Asha Bhosle. In Chhoomantar (1956) it was ‘Garib jaan ke’ that turned out to be number one song. In Musafirkhana (1956), Rafi-Shamshad duet ‘Thoda sa dil laga ke dekh’ turned out to be the chartbuster. Asha sang all the female songs in Baap Re Baap (1955), Hum Sub Chor Hain (1956) and Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957), whether solo or duets. In ‘Baap Re Baap’, it was the duet with Kishore Kumar which was a super hit. In the film Hum Sub Chor Hain, ‘Hum ko hanste dekh zamana jalta hai’ became number one song. In ‘Tumsa Nahin Dekha’, Rafi songs were more popular.
2. Up until 1956, OP had done splendidly in managing the distribution of female songs amongst Geeta, Shamshad and Asha, keeping in mind the intention of grooming Asha. Prime examples of these are the movies ‘Miss Coca Cola’, ‘Chhoomantar’, ‘Musafirkhana’, ‘Shrimati 420’, ‘Johny Walker’ in which Asha had 13 songs, Geeta had 17 songs and Shamshad had 6 songs. Ideally, he should have continued with this throughout his career. It would have resulted in more variety in his songs and avoided his total dependence on Asha to the point of no return.
3. It needs to be noted that, most probably, due to her marital problems, Geeta Dutt’s focus on her singing career was getting adversely affected. Probably due to this, her output of songs gradually decreased from 1960 onwards. So, not only OP but many other MDs were starting to ignore Geeta Dutt as well.
4. Also note that SD Burman didn’t work with Lata in the period of 1957-1961 (approx.). During this period if you look at the distribution of songs between Asha and Geeta, the ratio is similar to that of OP. So it seems, SD also believed that Asha was the better option. If there was one composer who was truly professional in his choice of singers, with no room for sentimentality, it was SD Burman. For SD also, Asha sounded like Geeta in quite a few songs, for example, ‘Aaja panchhi akela hai’ in Nau Do Gyarah (1957), ‘Chaand sa mukhada kyun sharmaya’ in Insan Jaag Utha (1959)’ and ‘Haal kaisa hai janab ka’ in Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958).
Let us now listen to the songs that I have short listed.
Part 1: Songs from period of transition – 1954 to 1960 (I describe this period as a period of transition when OP Nayyar seems to be giving songs to Asha Bhosle to boost her confidence. My hypothesis is these songs would have sounded perhaps as good or better in the voices of Shamshad Begum and Geeta Dutt.)
In this period, in addition to the songs listed below, there are quite a few songs sung by Asha where you feel that OP gave those songs to Asha to boost her confidence.
1. Man more ga jhoom ke – Mangu (1954) – Though Asha has done a very good job, still I feel this song was very well suited to Geeta. In all the songs where I mention Geeta as the more natural choice, it is mainly due to her natural ability of throw of words in sync with the beats. Here she remained unmatched throughout.
2. Oh Mr. Banjo – Hum Sub Chor Hain (1956) – Geeta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKtAXLoS_bQ
3. Antam phantam chhod de Babu – Hum Sub Chor Hain (1956) – Well suited to Shamshad for the ‘khanak’ in her voice.
4. Aaye hain door se – Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957) – Geeta. Rafi-Geeta duets always had a corroborating feel to them. With her inherent complex, Asha always tried to put competitive element in her duets with Rafi.
5. Do nigahen teri – Mujrim (1958) – Geeta
6. Shokh shokh aankhen – Phagun (1958) – Geeta
7. Main Bangali chhokara – Ragini (1958) – Though Asha has sung this very well, Shamshad would have done equally well, adding her own flavour
8. O Assalam Alekum – Kalpana (1960) – This should have been Asha-Shamshad duet instead of Asha-Sudha Malhotra
Part 2: Songs after transition – Post 1960 (Asha Bhosle’s take-over of OP Nayyar)
1. Hong Kong China Mina – Hong Kong (1962) – A song almost tailor made for Geeta. Hong Kong movie was quite clearly inspired by the success of Howrah Bridge. It had the same hero – Ashok Kumar, the same supporting actor – Om Prakash and music by OP. This song was created with the intention of replicating the success of ‘Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu’. Listen to the end of the song where Asha is made to sing in a soprano voice. There is another song in this movie, ‘Dekhati hoon jidhar’ composed, by keeping ‘Aiye Meherban’ in mind.
2. Tumhari adaaon se – Hong Kong (1962) – Shamshad
3. Kahiye janaab-e-Ali – Do Dilon Ki Daastan (1966) – In this song, Asha is clearly imitating Geeta Dutt, trying too hard and as a result sounding artificial. This movie got delayed for some reason. The songs were probably recorded prior to 1960.
4. Woh hans ke mile hum se – Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi (1966) – The demand of the tune for particular throw of words makes it suitable to the natural ability of Geeta Dutt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXdzHNX79Ds
5. Dil to pahle hi se – Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi (1966) – For the same reason as mentioned above, Geeta would have done an equally good or better job.
6. Aaja mere pyar ke sahare – Humsaya (1968) – Ideally suitable for Geeta
7. Balam harjayee – Taxi Driver (1973) – Geeta
PS: This write-up is not meant to demean the enormous contribution of Asha Bhosle in OP Nayyar’s music. It was the quality of OP’s tunes and Asha’s singing from Ek Musafir Ek Hasina (1962) onwards that resulted in OP receiving critical acclaim from all and sundry. The fact also remains that Geeta (possibly due to her marital problems) and Shamshad were ignored by all music directors from 1960 onwards. So the choice mostly was either Lata or Asha.
My take on Shamshad is that, she was capable of singing any type of song and put her unique stamp on it. Take the case of the songs ‘Boojh mera kya naav re’, ‘ Kahin pe nigahen kahin pe nishana’ from CID (1956) or ‘Raat rangili gaaye re’ from ‘Naya Andaz (1956)’. She retained this quality throughout. You just need to listen to ‘Kajra mohabbatwala’ from Kismet (1968), where she matches Asha with ease. It’s well known that she was short charged by C Ramachandra, Naushad and SD Burman, after the emergence of Lata, in spite of giving many hit songs in their earlier part of musical journey.
So to put the thing in nutshell, the total takeover by Asha resulted in OP losing the plot once the split with Asha happened.
Acknowledgement and Disclaimer
Song links have been embedded only for the listening pleasure of music lovers. Neither this blog nor the author has any commercial interest, nor do they suggest or claim any copyright over these songs which vests in the concerned copyright holders.
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
AK ji
My comments are not on the blog..but on a small error in your introduction. Gudi padwa was on 30th March this year and generally coincides with Ugadi celebrated as new year in Andhra Pradesh , Telengana & Karnataka. Today, i.e Baisakhi generally coincides with Tamil new year , Vishu in Kerala, alongwith other regions like Bengal, Assam etc.
It is however one step forward that people started knowing terms like Vishu , Ugadi etc for those North of Vindhyas for whom in yesteryears all was just one large chunk of Madrasi or Madrasi!! Just in lighter vein….
Sivanandamji,
You mean comments on this post, or all your comments have disappeared? I doubt very much. Thanks a lot for correcting the dates of Gudi Padwa. Now I know I have to double check about other cultures.
Sorry..now I have to be careful in my words! When I wrote my comments are not on the blog..I meant it was not on this blog about OPN but a small nitpicking on gudi padwa date. There is no issues on my comments being present in the blog.
Wishing all a very happy Baisakhi , Tamil
new year, Vishu, Bihu…
Will go thru Kelkar ji’ s blog and add if anything comes to my mind. And once again sorry for picking out small things!!
Will go through
Both Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum have sung several songs for OP Nayyar. The transition as it is referred here was somewhere in the late fifties after which it was only Asha Bhosle and a few singers like Kamal Barot for support. Shamshad Begum sang as late as in KISMAT (1968) but Geeta Dutt ended as Asha Bhosle took over in the late fifties with movies like MUJRIM and TUMSA NAHIN DEKHA . Only remembered that both were present in movies like CID (1956) and even 12 O Clock (1958) and gave excellent music not to forget HOWRAH BRIDGE and CHOOMANTAR (1958) when all the three were present.
Kelkar Ji
Interesting article , with many songs less heard , at least by me…Your observations on which song would have sounded better for Shamshad or Geeta are spot on.
Some of the songs do not seem to have the links to them. However I searched in You tube and listened to them.
Man Mora Gaa Jhoomke -yes , sounds absolutely like Geeta Dutt. I think Asha emulated Geeta Dutt to a great extent in her early years. I have never heard this song and was under the impression till now that there could not be a unknown song of OPN , given the fact that most of his songs are great hits! I was surprised to note there were still unknown songs ….
All these songs Antam phantam chhod de Babu , Do nigahen teri, Shokh shokh aankhen ( the tune reminds me of Hoon Abhi Mein Jawan Ae dil from Aar Paar sung by Geeta) , O Assalam Alekum, Hong Kong China Mina , Tumhari adaaon se , Kahiye janaab-e-Ali I am hearing for the first time. I personally found all these songs bit mediocre compared to what we normally expect in an OPN composition and may that is the reason why they remained relatively obscure.
As far as Aaja Mere Pyar ke sahare -Humsaya although you have mentioned ideally suited for Geeta , songs of this type were tailor-made for Asha-OPN combination . I would rate Asha’s songs for OPN as her best followed by those for SDB, Ravi and N Dutta , not in any particular order.
You have been kind enough to say “This write-up is not meant to demean the enormous contribution of Asha Bhosle in OP Nayyar’s music” –while it is true , wish she has the same magnanimity in acknowledging the contribution of Ravi & N Dutta ; of course we know why she never talked about OPN . Still could not understand why she ignored Ravi & N Dutta and for that matter even the senior Burman.
Fascinating article. Thanks a lot Mr Kelkar.
The story that I heard in my teens, when I had just begun to learn about OP Nayyar, was that he wanted to make a point about succeeding without Lata. I learn from this article that it was most likely a rebuff from Lata that precipitated the split.
Good selection of songs and a wonderful write up.
KB #4,
As mentioned in my write up, till 1958 , Geeta and Shamshad were part OP female singers team. After 1960, only two duets with Asha where Shamshad sang. You are right there are many OP albums before 1960 where Asha, Geeta And Shamshad all have sung. Anyway, thanks for your comments,
Shivanandam, #5,
Thanks for your comments. Yes I noticed that links are not given in case of a few songs. I assure that it will be attended to. One purpose of the article was to point out injustice done by OP towards Geeta and Shamshad. Second aim was to show that Asha was work in progress till 1959-60, where OP gave her songs to boost her moral and confidence. That’s is the reason why we have only 39 OP-Shamshad songs and only 64 OP-Geeta songs. By 1960 Asha had realised her full potential, still OP should have provided some room to include Geeta and Shamshad also.
Subodh Ji, #6,
Thanks for nice words. There definitely was a rebuff from Lata.
Shivanandam, #5,
It really doesn’t matter whether Asha acknowledges X, Y, Z or not. The songs are there as evidence. So we need to move on. I remember a special LP of Lata was published by HMV some time in 1970s as a tribute. It contained 12 songs, but there was not a single song composed by C Ramachandra!!
What I.likec was according to me an objective analysis of OP as well as the kegendary singers without demeaning any of them. The Geeta, Shamshad talent has also been precisely explained sometimes through an example of a song. It actually built a scenario prevailed at that time. This blog is perhaps slightly different from earlier blogs written by the the author as it is more forthright. The whole transition had been explained in a excellent manner.
Shashank Joshi,
Welcome to SOY and thanks a lot for yor appreciation. I am sure Mr Kelkar would appreciate your comments. And I entirely agree with you, whether you agree with his observations or not, his analysis is not demeaning to any artiste.
Dear readers,
Some readers mentioned the missing links. Mr Kelkar with great perseverance sent me the 9 missing links. After I had done two links, my computer started behaving whimsically. I could not post the remaining 7. But now you have good number of links. For the rest, let me give you the raw links, you may try to play these on YT. If these work this is the best jugaad I could do without breaking my head forever.
Do Nigahen Teri – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wbue_VX8ZI
Shokh Shokh Aankhen – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K5cEuK0Dzc
O Assalaam Alekoum – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb8cHcy-nbg
Tumhari Adaaon Pe – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJZS-oHrEP8
Kahiye Janaab-E-Ali – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_6bpIsVV6s
Dil To Pahle Hi Se – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG6gBfYzARU
Balam Harjayee – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6g8glD_HPc
Dear readers,
I had a long chat with Mr Melkar about the final break up between OPN and Lata Mangeshkar. Her rebuff was not the only or prime reason. It was a cumulative effect of a number of episodes. Mr Kelkar has mentioned the episode of the film Mehbooba (1954) in which the producer wanted to replace Roshan mid-way with OPN, who had become a sensation with Aar Paar (1954). Along with the music directors’ protest, she also lent her voice about the unfair treatment meted out to Roshan.
About Aar Paar too there is an interesting story. It is said that when it was in the making, Guru Dutt went over to OPN with a stack of western records and the two heard all the records. While leaving, he told OPN this is the kind of music he wanted in his films. OPN remodelled his music to westernised beats. Lata Mangeshkar is said to have commented sarcastically, Ab to sunane mein aya hai ki producer log western records lekar music director ke paas jaate hain ki isi ki nakal karo..
On these incidents OPN’s view was this was a matter between the producer and music director and why should a mere singer poke her nose into it. OPN was an egotistic person and in his reckoning MD had a higher status than a singer. The reality was that by then Lata Mangeshkar had become a Mighty Empress and producers and music directors literally lined up before her. To understand her psychology, life and the industry had given her a raw deal. Hers was a story from riches to rags; after her father’s death the entire burden of maintaining the family fell on her shoulders when she was just 13. When by dint of hard work and talent, her fortune turned during 1949 to early 1950s, she had not forgotten all the slights, real or imagined, she had faced in her struggling days.
Please don’t go by this pop psychoanalysis. We don’t even know if these stories are apocryphal or exaggerated. In these matters even the first person account has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Just take it as a perspective of what might have happened.
AK Ji
#14…as you say, we do not really know what really happened. But one thing we all can see is that many artists have gone through even greater hardships, poverty, insults etc . Even after achieving humungous success these two sisters did not have the magnanimity to acknowlegde the contribution of so many for their success. They even ridiculed some co-artists who had by then passed away and were not there in the Earth to defend themselves… One can condone saying that is their prerogative…but then only as an artist we respect them ..not as…..I leave it at that.
Shashank Joshi #11,
Thanks for liking the post. I think it’s important to appreciate Geeta and Shamshad in OP’s music, Hence this post is more about the roles of Asha , Geeta and Shamshad in OP’s music and not the actual songs per se.
Sivanandam #15,
Let’s enjoy the songs of Lata and Asha rather than lamenting about their character flaws.
Kelkar ji
Yes..I enjoy songs by almost all the singers, music directors & lyricists, barring a few .
In fact for me , personally Lata is eternal favourite and I can keep listening to her songs for hours together.
The very nature of your blog is not about musical aspects of OPN & Asha songs and refers to how Lata rejected OPN and how Asha dominated OPN etc. Plus there was sort of ‘ justification’ by AK ji for Lata’ s behavior and so I commented.
SOY does talk about manipulations of some artists etc…
Just for your information I also have my own blogsite where I write about all artists of Hindi & Tamil music and I have even written about those who are not my personal favourites. Writing about these artists has given me a wider perspective to appreciate good music irrespective of the artists & personal bias.
To conclude , there can be many good artists, but great artists are those are also good human beings and they will be admired for centuries.
Dear Ravindra,
Just finished reading your piece on OP’s transition from Shamshad Begum & Geeta Dutt to Asha Bhosle—and I’ve got to say, it was such an enjoyable read. You’ve got a real knack for blending research, insight, and genuine love for the music. It felt like sitting down for a long, nostalgic chat with you.
I especially loved how you walked us through the shift in OPN’s musical journey without making it feel like a comparison war between the singers. The song choices were spot on and the commentary around them added so much depth—made me want to pull up each track and listen to it all over again, this time with your lens on it.
It’s a beautifully written, well-thought-out piece that stands out for its warmth and insight. I really think it could become a go-to article for people exploring that era of music. Great work, and I’m looking forward to reading more from you!
Cheers!!
Pravin Walunjkar,
Welcome to SOY. I am sure Mr Kelkar would soon respond to you.
Pravin, #19
Many thanks for the kind and appreciative words. It has been fascinating to analyse the contribution of Geeta Shamshad and Asha in OP’s music. In case of most of the MDs in golden era, 90 percent of the great female songs are sung by Lata. So there is not much to analyse. In the case of OP it’s a different matter due to Lata’s absence in his music.
I 100% agree with Shri Kelkar’s assessment that “Rafi-Geeta duets always had a collaborating feel to them. With her inherent complex, Asha always tried to put competitive element in her duets with Rafi.” Most of the time Asha Bhonsle seems to forget that it is a duet not a duel.
Ravindra Kelkarji has done a marvelous job of identifying songs that would have suited a particular singer.
Such an exercise not only need a critical capability but also courage.
Kelkarji’s writing amply provides evidence of both these qualities. so OPN Centenary should be a very interesting series to look forward to.
Roma Prakash #22,
I am happy that you agree with my observation of Rafi duets with Geeta and Asha. Sadly, Asha Bhosle still continues to have inherent complex with Rafi, if one goes by her comments on Rafi duets with her!
Ashok M Vaishnav #23,
Many thanks for liking my post. As I have written, it was challenging as well as exhilarating to prepare such a list. It was well worth it.
Kelkar ji,
OPN was one of the first music directors whose songs I heard extensively during my growing up years. His unique style made one want to listen to his music. The man himself was a maverick of sorts. I guess by the time realization dawned on him, it was too late to make any amends. In any case, putting all eggs in one basket is never the right thing to do!
Anita
Anita Ji!
You are right. Similar situation was faced by C Ramchandra after Lata stopped singing for him. C Ramchandra at least had Asha and Suman to fall back upon. OP was in even worse condition since he had no fall back options, after the break up with Asha.
A very interesting thing I observe here..most talk about the personal bias of X music director depending on Y , A depending on B etc , but when I commented on similar lines , I was ” advised ” to just listen to their songs and enjoy( which i definitely have been doing and will continue to do)
My honest & frank opinion is the blog is a mammoth work of AK ji and other guest authors ‘ years of painstaking & commendable effort and is an encyclopedia . Salute that…
But comments by new comers are not liked and so I will be a passive reader henceforth.
All the best to everyone here….
Ravindraji
Your opening salvos on OPN and Asha Bhonsle camaraderie is very interesting and commendable. It reveals your in depth research for this article. It exhibits your articulate abilities. Your novel idea of how the songs listed by you could be equally sung well by other singers is the crux of the article.
OPN was indeed devastated by the desertion of Asha Bhonsle. In later days he had quarreled with his family and lived away from them. He composed a masterpiece sung by Asha Bhonsle for the film
Pran Jaye Per Vachan Na Jaye (1974) penned by S H Bihari –
Chain se humko kabhi aapne jeee na diya
https://youtu.be/78jydy6jXgg?t=13
The song garnered Filmfare award for best song category in 1974. The song was not used in the film at all. Asha Bhonsle never bothered to receive it in person. OPN collected the award and when returning to his residence with S H Bihari threw it into the Napean Sea in utter frustration/dejection.
He passed away on 28th January 2007 in Mumbai.
Mr Kelkar,
A very nice opening article for OPN centenary. It provides an overall preview of his three main female singers in good detail and also some perspectives from the personal view point of OPN. You have expressed your opinion very frankly which I like very much. I would also like to express my opinion on some of the issues.
First of all I think the stories about Lata being invited by OPN is not correct. I have heard that OPN categorically stated he did not like Lata’s voice and he did like Asha from the outset. This is also clear from the fact that he used Asha from the start. I have read somewhere being said that OPN changed his style from the second film Chham Chhama Chham after the music of Aasman was not liked. This is also not true. Both these films got censor certificate in October just 13 days apart. This means he was composing music for both the films almost simultaneously.
OPN and Asha are my top favourites despite their personal shortcomings. Similarly Shamshad and Geeta are almost universal favourites. OPN was unique who never used Lata and this is the reason there are lot of negative narratives in circulation. This story about OPN boycott by singers is another fake story. First thing, such replacement of music directors was a very common thing.
I will relate a few examples relevant here. CR had replaced Basant Prakash in Anarkali in just the previous year. In 1954 OPN replaced Roshan in Mehbooba and Shafi in Mangu. In 1955 OPN replaced CR in Baap Re Baap and was himself replaced by Nashad in Sabse Bada Rupaiyya. OPN gave music in Mangu and Mehbooba simultaneously. He used Shamshad in Mehbooba and Asha and Shamshad in Mangu. Five of his films came in 1955. Naturally, side by side he was composing for some of those films too. In those films too all three Shamshad, Geeta and Asha sang besides Nirmala in Musafirkhana and Suhasini Kolhapure in Sabse Bada Rupaiyya.. On the male side besides Rafi, Mukesh, Durrani, Kishore and Balbir gave their voice to OPN films of 1954 and 55. So who was the singer who boycotted OPN. And who will boycott on the call given by Lata who herself was trying to destroy the careers of others.
Another fact relevant here is that Shamshad lost her husband in a road accident in 1955 and stopped singing for more than a year due to which she lost touch with Hindi cinema and moved towards Panjabi cinema where she was the queen. This can be seen from the fact that Shamshad who had averaged more than 80 songs per year from 1946 to 1957 had just 65 songs from 1958 to 60. So OPN can not be blamed too much in the matter of Shamshad. On the other hand he brought her in for the Kismat duet ‘kajra muhabbat wala’ which he could have easily done with any other singer. He had shown it earlier in ‘hujurewala jo ho ijajat’ (Asha, Minu Purushottam) that he can create magic with any singer.
About Geeta you have already hinted about her family problems. Besides that Asha may have thought she had a role in keeping out Asha from Guru Dutt films. So she might have made efforts for her ouster from OPN songs.
to be continued….
…contd….
Now coming to the claim of OPN that he groomed her for 7-8 years to make her a capable singer. You have also agreed to his claim. I think such claims are an insult not only to an artist like Asha as also to a horde of composers who contributed to her career. There were a number of songs where she gave enough evidence of her talent before OPN. I would give here the example of Boot Polish. SJ were Lata Centric and even for her emergence the impact of Barsaat was the greatest among her 1949 ‘toofan’. In Boot Polish Asha had 6 songs out of which one was solo and 5 duets. Her modulation for Chand Burke, to Naaz and to Ratan Kumar were all great. The subtle variations for an adult female and a girl child and then a male child were a superb exhibition of her talent. Lata could not show such modulations for child artist even at a later stage. Her child songs were essentially Lata songs. Next year in Jagriti she had the desh bhakti song ‘de di humen azaadi’ which became a cult song filmed on Ratan Kumar and she had two versions of her song ‘chalo chalen maa’ for him. ‘De di humen azaadi’ was sung by a child on school stage and the other song to his mother privately. Both songs show different modulations. We can not ignore the MDs of these films. She had also great songs in Laila Majnu too. Her song ‘ae ghame dil kya karun’, a twin song with Talat was greatly rendered, coming so close to his version though the song was in a genre of his strength. I can give other numerous examples but I stop here.
Asha Bhosle supposed to be taking baby steps had sung 899 songs by the end of 1955 which were more than what Geeta Dutt had sung till that. In numbers she surpassed Shamshad by 1956 end. By these numbers I do not claim she had got a better status than both of them, but the numbers make it clear that she was being used by a number of MDs. By then 87 composers had given her songs. Chitragupta had given 71, Vinod 57 and Avinas Vyas 52 songs. These composers were all in their own way had a status of their own by that time. In 1955 the two other Asha musketeers Ravi and N Dutta had joined the Asha bandwagon and by 1960 – the so called transition time of OPN – Ravi had given her 96 songs and N Dutta 57 songs. You can see the summary of Asha with them in my articles on them in SOY.
You have put up a disclaimer at the end as P.S., but your article and other comments show a negativity about Asha. You have particularly mentioned some of her songs getting less popular than others. You said ‘mera naam chin chin choo’ was more popular than ‘aaiye meherbaan’ which is true, but are these relevant. Asha was all over Howrah Bridge and each of her songs were hugely popular. Geeta has only one song. Normally this happens in other films too. In Aar Paar Shamshad’s ‘kabhi aar kabhi paar’ was her only song and was the most popular. Does that mean Geeta’s songs were in any way less. All of our examples show a general bias against Asha. In Baap Re Baap you have ignored ‘raat rangeeli chamke taare’, in Hum Sab Chor Hain ‘gayi jaan jalima’ and ‘antam phantam’. In Tumsa Nahin Dekha all songs were popular and Asha had no solo. The most popular song of that film was ‘sar pe topi laal’.
You have also said she had inferiority complex. My question is who does not have this. Everyone suffers from this from time to time. Lata even after reaching the top showed her jealousy towards other artists which exhibited inferiority complex. I will not go into her examples here.
This has already got too long. So I stop here.
Sivanandam, @ 28
I think you should continue with SOY. I had also said that which was a mistake. As other friends said, particularly Mumbaikar8, that swimming against the current is difficult and, in her words, is a rare species. Mr Kelkar should not have said what he said to you because all his article is about negative things. He would not have made a list of songs which were best with other singers if he had enjoyed the original songs. So of Asha’s songs which he wants to replace are top class songs and were highly popular.
Shri DP Rangan #29,
Thanks for your appreciation. You are right about the story of ‘Chain Se Hum Ko Kabhi”. However, OP in his later years of isolation always took a philosophical view about the hardships he faced in that period and he always maintained that he himself is responsible for it and never blamed others.
Shri Hans #30
1) Lata was contacted to sing the Aasman song is a true story.
2) Shamshad came to the aid of OP to sing the songs in Mehbooba is also a fact stated by OP himself. The episode of other singers refusing to sing was only for that film. There have been other instances where a couple of MDs have scored music for one movie. e.g. for the film Sub Se Bada Ruppaiyya, OP left the film as he was having trouble with PL Santoshi and then Nashad took over. Similarly for Baap Re Baap, C Ramchandra left the film and then OP came in. In case of Mangu and Mehbooba the situation was different. The producer dropped the original MD and replaced them with OP. So it was considered as unethical on OP’s part to agree to compose the music. Refer to my earlier blog on ‘OP-Geeta A peerless combination” for the full story, OP himself had narrated it in an interview given to Amin Sayani’. I have the complete audio of it which I will try to share it some time later. So don’t confuse the issue, the boycott was for only Mehbooba / Mangu. Other films for which music was composed by OP in 1955 have no relation to this. About Anarkali I have no idea. If in case of Anarkali, Basant Prakash was dropped by the producer and replaced by C Ramchandra, then it was unethical action by C Ramchandra. However Lata sang all the songs in Anarkali, So probably Basant Prakash had already left the film.
3) Comparison of “Huzurewala” with “Kajara Mohabbatwala” is totally wrong. In Huzurewala, Minu Purshottam sings only those lines where both the female singers are singing. There is no independent line given to Minu to sing alone. This was the standard ploy worked out by OP/Asha. Other examples of such songs are “Dhadka To Hoga Dil Huzur’ , ‘Tera Nikhara Nikhara Chehra’ from CID 909 where Kamal Barot give company to Asha. All the solo lines are sung by Asha. Please refer to my earlier blog on OP Duets where I had explained this . Kajara Mohabbatwala is different where OP needed the second female singer to sing solo lines and hence went to Shamshad.
Shri Hans #31
1) It’s my claim that it took 7-8 years for OP to groom Asha to become a fully competent singer. OP hasn’t claimed it. He mentions the work he had to do on Asha to make her realise her full potential and I stick to it. I feel in many songs that she was copying Geeta till almost 1960. You need to listen to Asha’s songs for SDB in the period when he was not using Lata. In many songs she sounds like Geeta.
2) If you claim that Asha was already well established and on par with Lata, Geeta and Shamshad, (in 1951-52) then you are welcome to it. You have your opinion and I respect it.
3) I also find many wonderful songs Asha has sung for other MDs in those 7-8 years. She had the in born potential being born into Mangeshkar family. Obviously, any singer worth his salt keeps on improving his craft all the time. So I am sure Asha was becoming better and better singer with each song that she sang. But my view remains that she lacked confidence/maturity / self-assurance till 1960.
4) In my write-up I have not made any negative comments on Asha. You have rightly mentioned good songs of Asha in the films Howrah Bridge, Tumsa Nahi Dekha, Hum Sub Chor Hain etc. OP being the MD knew that these are good tunes so Asha can sing them quite well and it will boost her confidence , so no need to go to Geeta/Shamshad. However I stick to my view that up till 1960, OP should have used Geeta and Shamshad a lot more than he did with possible better results.
# 35 S D Burman and C Ramachandra also gave great songs to Asha Bhosle ,especially late fifties onwards.
Shri KB #36,
Quite true. Why only there two ? You will find many good songs that Asha has sung for many other MDs in that period.
It is good that OPN centenary is being celebrated as he was a popular musician . This post has set the stage for interesting discussions. Almost all the conjectures in the post have been contested and rejected I guess .
OPN certainly put in efforts to bring up Asha. I would say that during this period, both Shamshad Begum as well as Geeta Dutt were on the decline across the industry but in respect of OPN , there was also the unequal agreement between Asha and OPN . Why OPN did not ask Asha to sing only for him and none else is surprising. So there was nothing unusual about the transition to Asha. But that unequal agreement led to the downfall of OPN ultimately. Wisdom dawns too late.
One point that has not been discussed is about the high song fees of Shamshad Begum .
It is only a personal view that some songs by Asha could have been better for other singers. This is also nothing but comparison of artistes of such stature which is not good .
Today you can convert any song into the voice of any other artiste. Also , GROK could answer many of the questions raised in this post . Recently I have come across a YouTube post (not connected with OPN) where GROK has been used , the link …
https://youtu.be/jgS3S800P7w?si=oJ5MzY-G5kS8pE7N
Shri S Joseph #38,
The AI intrusion into music is a different subject. Many conjectures that I have put forward have been debated and that is expected, so no problem at all. OP is always a controversial subject,
Ravindra Ji
Kudos to you for such a wonderful article and more so for accepting divergent views so gracefully.
So much has been said about A factor in OPN’s carrer that there is hardly anything new I can add.
However, it can be said that Rafi’s absence from 1968 hastened OPN’ decline.
Shri Rahul Muli #40,
Thanks for kind words. You are right. Rafi’s absence was definitely a big factor!
Shri Kelkar, @ 34
Your claim about Lata’s story being true is not correct. I reproduce here the relevant excerpts from his interview given in 2003, where he categorically says what I said about not liking her voice. I have also given the link to the whole interview which any one interested may read. He has reiterated the same thing multiple number of times because I read it long back. The questioner mentions Lata.s claim that she was stuck in the traffic. In another interview, available on youtube, she claimed she was ill and due to that she could not record the song. So there are two versions of her story. One can understand her psychology because not singing for OPN was huge blemish on her all conquering tale.
…..
Now – the eternal question. Why didn’t you ever use Lata’s voice in your music? Wasn’t she supposed to have come for the Aasman song that was finally sung by Raj Kumari? In Harish Bhimani’s book on Lata, she claims to have been held up by rain and being not able to come for the recording.
“ It’s all humbug! I never ever summoned her for any of my songs. I needed a powerful, full- throated, sensuous voice and she had this thin, thread-like voice, which was not at all suitable for my music.
…..
http://www.cinemasangeet.com/hindi-film-music/interviews/o-p-nayyar-an-intimate-interview.html
You have given strange logic in the matter of the boycott of OPN. The first thing to understand is that unlike the singers, the MD works under a contract under which he has to compose music as given by director/producer. The producer has every right to engage another MD. You will find hundreds of instances of more than one MD in a film. So there is no ethical or moral responsibility of OPN here. If MD is removed he is to be paid the full amount agreed upon. No MD can leave on his own because then he would have to compensate the producer. So your argument that this one or that one left on his own has no meaning. In the examples quoted by me, you will find that for each of the MD removed at least one or more song was kept which fulfilled the legal requirement of the contract. Four of Roshan’s songs were kept for Mehbooba, three of Shafi’s songs were kept for Mangu and naturally their full fees were paid. These were the two films where OPN came in for which it is stated that a boycott was announced. You said first in your comment @34 that “The episode of other singers refusing to sing was only for that film.” Then you, in the same comment said “So don’t confuse the issue, the boycott was for only Mehbooba / Mangu. Other films for which music was composed by OP in 1955 have no relation to this.” Though you accuse me of confusing the issue, you are actually confused, because somewhere you say it was only Mehbooba and then say it was Mehbooba and Mangu both.
I have gone through your article on ‘OPN-Geeta’. There are a number of facts which would stand a scrutiny, but I would not go into them. I only quote your statement which is relevant here. You said, “In due course of time, of course, Geeta and Asha saw through Lata’s game plan and came around.” Even this is wrong because Asha sang along with Shamshad in Mangu. This also shows that there was no general boycott and was only Lata centric thing and she tried to influence films other than these two films. Lata’s ire was natural because she had sang all 4 songs composed by Roshan.
I never compared ‘huzurewala’ and ‘kajra mohabbatwala’. I only said it was possible for OPN to create magic without Shamshad, which is proved by the other songs you mentioned. And yes I know the difference in construction of ‘huzurewala’ and ‘kajra mohabbatwala’ which you have kindly tried to teach me. I have been listening to music for about 60 years.
Hans,
Thanks a lot for sharing this interview. It corroborates many folklores about OP Nayyar, his self-conceit and capacity to make everyone his enemy. On Asha Bhosle he corroborates the central theme of Mr Kelkar’s article, about OP Nayyar’s helplessness in allowing himself to be in such a grip of Asha Bhosle.
Just added one more story of OPN-Lata spat or his never taking Lata Mangeshkar – he did not find her singing suitable to his style of music. Yet he is more than generous in praise of Lata Mangeshkar’s supreme singing ability. Interesting man.
Shri Kelkar @ 35
1. In the first sentence you say it is your claim that “it took 7-8 years for OP to groom Asha to become a fully competent singer.” Then you go on to say that OPN only mentioned “work he had to do on Asha to make her realise her full potential”. Is there any difference between what you say or what he said. There are a number of interviews where he made the claim. You can find something to the same effect in the interview link I gave. CR also had done the same thing with Lata. After his break up with Lata he started calling her a tape recorder which did what he asked to do. These are sour grapes. Both of them got involved personally and faced the consequences.
Regarding Asha copying Geeta that is no big deal. Geeta herself was copying Asha in some songs. It was part of some camaraderie or one-up man ship. I give here link of Geeta Manna Dey duet ‘saanjh dhali dil ki lagi’ from Kala Bazar in which Geeta is clearly copying Asha.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsfdZy1EiuI
In AK’s article on Chitragupta-Lata someone posted a Lata song ‘mera dil baharon ka wo phool hai’ from Aadhi Raat Ke Baad on which AK said Lata sounded like Suman Kalyanpur to which I agreed and also posted a Rafi Lata duet ‘ik baat hai kehne ki’ from Samson in which Rafi sounded like Mahendra Kapoor and Lata like Suman. That link also I am posting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsfdZy1EiuI
Did that mean either Rafi or Lata were poor singers. When Mukesh sang ‘dil jalta hai’ like Saigal did any body say Mukesh is a bad singer. Manhar was lauded for ‘aapse humko bichhade hue’ and not criticised. Nobody castigated Subir Sen or Dwijen Mukherjee for sounding like Hemant. Sudha Malhotra could modulate her voice like Asha or Lata and there are songs she has done that. Does that mean she is not a singer. I know other songs where Asha has sung like Geeta or vice versa. I do not give importance to such talk.
2. I never said anything like that Asha was at par with any of them. If you are trying to put your words in my mouth to score a point, it is very unfortunate. When I said she surpassed Geeta and Shamshad numbers in 1955 and 56 I even said that this fact does not mean she acquired a status equal to them.
3&4. You have given your opinion and I have no comment to make. It was OPN’s decision to whom he gave songs. Anita has also said it was wrong for him to put all eggs in one basket and I fully agree with her. If I was asked a wish I would say I would have liked to listen some Lata songs composed by such a great and innovative composer.
AK, @ 43
Actually in my opinion OPN is even worse as a person than what appears in the interview. I read the whole interview and found that it is very representative of his character so it should be posted for those who want to know. I have read and heard a few other interviews but they were not wholly representative. This was the best. Look at his audacity in talking about looks of Lata. How that matters and he talks as if Asha was a Miss World or Shamshad’s looks inspired him to create great tunes. In Haryana about such a person who talks non-sense it is said ‘iske moonh pe kulhadi bandhi hui hai’. I remembered this saying instantly when I saw the interview.
About praising Lata also he may not be genuine, because he never said those things when Asha was with him. He would only say he would make another Lata which he later changed into ‘Asha is better than Lata’. He also said he would make another Rafi out of Mahendra Kapoor. Mahendra Kapoor gave him a number of great songs which became hits also but now he is calling him besura.