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On January 16, 2026, his centenary was celebrated by his fans. Omkar Prasad Nayyar, known to us all as O.P. Nayyar, was the ultimate musical maverick, who broke all convention and still scored big time. He passed away on January 28, 2007, leaving behind a timeless legacy of over 70 albums in film music, a few private albums, and a Telugu film soundtrack.
Untrained because he walked out on hometown Lahore’s leading music teacher who once scolded him for something, the disciplinarian would quietly remove any musician or even a giant singer like Mohammed Rafi (for over two years) if they reported late for a recording. The man who experimented with beats and rhythm also scored highest with non-top lyricists, though he did excellent work with Majrooh Sultanpuri and Sahir Ludhianvi.
Nayyar’s forte were musicals, and he thought nothing of composing eight, nine or more songs in a single film and churning hits out of most or all of them. His ace musicals were legion:, Ek Musafir Ek Haseena, Humsaya, Kismat, Mr & Mrs 55, Sambandh and Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon among them.
Let me choose his six crème-de-la-crème albums: C.I.D., Ek Baar Mooskura Do, Kashmir Ki Kali, Mere Sanam andTumsa Nahin Dekha.
C.I.D. / 1956 / Majrooh Sultanpuri & Jan Nissar Akhtar / Starring: Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman and Shakila
The 1956 Raj Khosla blockbuster produced by Guru Dutt had evergreen hits like Leke pehla pehla pyar (Rafi-Asha Bhosle-Shamshad Begum), Aankhon hi aankhon mein (Rafi-Geeta, the only song written by Jan Nissar Akhtar who is Javed Akhtar’s father), Ae dil hai mushkil (Rafi)—the cult Johnny Walker hit, and Shamshad’s two aces, Kahin pe nigahen and Bujh mera kya naam re. The unusual Geeta Dutt solo, Jaata kahaan hai deewane, was recognized later. The music contributed in a huge way to make the film India’s first to earn Rs.1 lakh per territory when ticket rates were less than Rs. 2!
Ek Baar Mooskura Do / 1972 / Indeevar, S.H. Bihari & Shevan Rizvi / Joy Mukerji, Sharmila Tagore & Mala Sinha
This was OPN’s qualitative swan song. Directed by Ram Mukerji (father to Rani Mukerji) in 1972, the atypical but brilliant score was a Kishore Kumar-fest (Savere ka suraj, Kitne atal they tere iraade, Tu hamari thi, Roop tera aisa, Ek baar mooskura do), the Mukesh-Asha duets Chehre se zaraa aanchal and Yeh dil lekar nazrana and the haunting Rafi masterpiece, Zamane ki aankhon ne. This all-hit score came in a cinematic disaster!
Kashmir Ki Kali / 1964 / S.H. Bihari / Shammi Kapoor & Sharmila Tagore
Legend had it that Shakti Samanta wove the story of this romance after selecting 9 of the 52 songs offered by Nayyar, but Nayyar dismissed this as journalistic sensationalism. Shammi Kapoor, however, stated that he had offered him eight tunes in four hours! Sharmila Tagore’s debut was an all-popular 9-song soundtrack led by Rafi’s Yeh chand sa roshan chehera and Hai duniya ussiki, Rafi-Asha’s Deewana hua badal and Ishaaron ishaaron mein and Asha’s Balma khuli hawa mein.
Mere Sanam / 1965 / Majrooh Sultanpuri / Biswajeet, Asha Parekh & Mumtaz
This was a eight-song score where almost every song was a heavyweight. Rafi’s Pukarta chala hoon main, Humdum mere maan bhi jaao and Tukde hain mere dil ke, Asha’s Jaiye aap kahaan jayenge and Yeh hai reshmi zulfon and the Asha-Rafi duet Roka kayee baar maine led the illustrious roster. The 1965 Biswajeet-Asha Parekh film was a musical hit.
Naya Daur / 1957 / Sahir Ludhianvi / Dilip Kumar-Vyjayanthimala
O.P. Nayyar was termed the “real hero” of the film by The Times of India then, and this put off filmmaker B.R. Chopra.
The film was released after Pyaasa, and Nayyar, in turn, was infuriated when common lyricist Sahir claimed the lion’s share of the credit for the success of that film’s songs, and threw him out of six films! Nevertheless, the film unleashed a deadly cocktail of songs in an all-hit album dominated by Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle, led by Rafi-Asha’s Maang ke saath tumhara, Saathi haath badhana and Ude jab jab zulfen teri, Asha-Shamshad’s Reshmi salwar kurta jaali ka, Rafi’s Main Bambai ka babu and the song the maestro himself chose among his 10 best ever—Rafi’s devotional, Aana hai to aa.
Shammi Kapoor again stated that Maang ke saath tumhara was a smart rework of a Naushad song that no one remembers! And incidentally, it was the pioneering work of Nayyar that had his later-to-be-famous ghoda-gaadi (horse-cart) beats!
Tumsa Nahin Dekha / 1957 / Majrooh Sultanpuri & Sahir / Shammi Kapoor-Ameeta
So effervescent were the compositions that Shammi Kapoor, then a flop hero, told me that he danced to the songs on his terrace! The tour-de-force was Jawaniyan yeh mast mast, but the title-track by Rafi, his Chhupnewale saamne aa and Aaye hain door se, and his Asha duets Sar par topi lal and Dekho kasam se made up for a delectable ensemble of melody and rhythm. Little wonder then the film was Shammi’s big breakthrough as a ‘Rebel Star’. The title-song, Tumsa nahin dekha by Rafi was penned by Sahir Ludhianvi.
The songs in Bold font above are personal favourites apart from being hits. And here are 10 other timeless songs from his oeuvre that remain all-time perennials for me.
- Aanchal mein saja lena kaliyan / Singer: Mohammed Rafi / Film: Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon / Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
- Aao huzoor tumko / Asha Bhosle / Kismat / Noor Dewasi
- Aap ke haseen rukh / Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi / Anjaan
- Badal jaaye agar maali / Mahendra Kapoor / Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi / Kaifi Azmi
- Chal akela / Mukesh / Sambandh / Pradeep
- Dil ki awaz bhi sun / Mohammed Rafi / Humsaya / Shevan Rizvi
- Mera pyar woh hai / Mahendra Kapoor / Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi / S.H. Bihari
- Tu hai mera prem devta / Mohammed Rafi & Manna Dey / Kalpana / Qamar Jalalabai
- Yaar badshah / Asha Bhosle / C.I.D. 909 / Shevan Rizvi
- Yehi woh jagah hai / Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi / S.H. Bihari
