O. P. Nayyar Vs Lata Mangeshkar – The story of a musical cold war

A musician who mesmerized musical fans for more than three generations, who composed more than 500 songs for 70+ Hindi movies – O. P. Nayyar. A gifted voice and a musical legend who dominated Hindi film music for many decades – Lata Mangeshkar. Though both these extremely talented artists had the peak years in the 1950s and 1960s, why they never worked together?

Nayyar, who has been linked with Lata’s younger sister Asha Bhosle promoted her most, and played a magnificent role in building her musical career. Yet why didn’t he record at least a single track in Nightingale’s voice? He used her song Saari Saari Raat Teri Yaad Satayein from the 1958 film Aji Bas Shukriyawas in the 1973 Hindi film Taxi Driver, where he donned the role of a composer. But the truth is, he never recorded any track in Lata’s voice. Both these unparalleled artists never met at a single point, even when both remained very successful in their respective careers in the classic era of Bollywood. Why?

Her voice never suit my sensuous and romantic tunes – says Omkar Prasad Nayyar

This question has been asked to both the artists multiple times – Why they never worked together? Repeatedly Nayyar states – Her voice never suit my sensuous and romantic tunes, though I agree she is an excellent playback singer. Lata states – He never calls me for recordings. That void never filled even after decades, though Nayyar composed songs till 1990s. Was ego the game changer, which never allowed two legendary artists to come under one umbrella? In the magic world of cinema, no one is a friend or enemy forever and relations keep changing. Yet why the equation between these two never changed?

Lata didn’t record a song for Nayyar’s first film which changed things forever

Producer Dalsukh M. Pancholi, during partition reached Mumbai from Lahore. He left everything behind and was struggling hand to make a mark in Hindi cinema. After Nagina, he started the pre-production work of Aasman (1952). A Punjabi guy O. P. Nayyar got the first chance to compose music for the movie. Prior to it, he did the background score for Kaneez (1949) – his only experience in films. He got this offer exactly on his wedding day, and the following day he started to Mumbai along with his wife.

Within a few days, Nayyar composed all songs for Aasman. He recorded 3 songs in the voice of C. H. Atma and 4 in the voice of Geeta Dutt. He reserved the last song for Lata Mangeshkar, who was enjoying the top position that time. He intimated Atma and decided the date and time of song rehearsal.

They prepared everything for rehearsal. But the female playback singer didn’t turn up. As recording of another song went too long, I couldn’t attend – Lata gave justification. They postponed the rehearsal for next day, but same events repeated. She replied – I didn’t notice how time passed by, when I was in a recording studio. It continued for a few more days.

Nayyar was well-known as a stubborn person in the industry, even during his early days. He felt like Lata insulted him, and took an oath that he will never work with Lata Mangeshkar. For the next 2 decades, O. P. Nayyar remained one of the top and most successful Bollywood composers. Yet he kept his promise throughout his life. Nayyar later recorded the song ‘More Nindiya Churaye Gaya…’ in Rajkumari Dubey’s voice, professionally known as Rajkumari.

Songs of K. Amarnath’s Mehbooba continued the saga

Nayyar’s musical journey after Aasman was fabulous. Though his first three films flopped at box office, its songs got noticed. Aar Paar released in 1954 which included the hit track, Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar gave him the first major break as a composer. Same year K. Amarnath gave him the opportunity to record a few songs for Mehbooba. He had a drift with legendary music composer Roshan who had already recorded half of the songs, and he assigned the remaining work to Nayyar. Roshan had recorded 4 songs in Lata’s voice then.

Because of hurt ego, Lata Mangeshkar denied to record remaining songs with Nayyar. The composer replied that, he never asked Lata to sing his songs. She even raised her voice against Nayyar at Music Directors’ association, headed by Anil Biswas then (Lata’s mentor). Lata was already an influential name in the industry while Nayyar had just begun to get noticed. Already many composers were restless with the growing graph of Nayyar, and they stood with Lata.

Nayyar was banned from recording and none of the leading female playback singers came forward to record his songs. He approached Shamshad Begum and she agreed. She was already burning in mind when her offers got snatched and given to Lata and hence she supported Nayyar. Nayyar recorded not just remaining 4 songs of Mehbooba, but also numerous music gems in her voice. Though the controversies ended that time, just like a megaserial, their cold war stood many decades.

Nayyar rejected Lata Mangeshkar Award in 1990

In year 1990, Madhya Pradesh government chose O. P. Nayyar’s name for Lata Mangeshkar Award. 1 lakh Indian rupee was a huge amount that time. By that time, the composer had already past his glory and was going through financial problems. With the arrival of new composers, offers also started drying. Only source of income was the royalty of his old compositions. At a time, only Nayyar and Lata were the only two artists from Bollywood who received royalty. Interesting?

Though Nayyar was in need of money, he rejected the award stating that such awards should be given in the name of gone artists, not alive ones. He even went on to say, when a music composer is honoured, it should be in the name of some composer, not a playback singer.

Lata Mangeshkar’s voice doesn’t suit Nayyar’s style. Do you believe so?

Nayyar has told several times that Lata’s voice never suits his style of compositions. How extent this statement is true. Yes, we can’t deny, Asha Bhosle adds sensuality to her songs, while Lata has drawn a line to create a boundary. She never goes beyond that. If we are asked, can Lata sing Nayyar’s songs like Aao Husur Tumko and Yeh Hai Reshmi Zulfein (in fact both the tunes look similar in treatment and rendition), my answer would be definitely ‘no’. Yet what I feel is Nayyar has composed many memorable romantic and non-sensuous songs like Ude Jab Jab Zulfein and Jaayiye Aap Kahan Jayenge. He could have used Lata’s voice to record a few romantic songs belonging to this genre.  

Interestingly O.P. Nayyar never work with Suman Kalyanpur either, except “Mohabat Karlo Ji Barlo” of Aar Paar, as far as I believe. Correct me if I am wrong. She also recorded the cover version of the title song. Though known for his westernized fusion songs most, he has also tuned a few ghazals. Yet he never used Lata’s voice. Only truth is that, because of the ego between two legends, we, music fans lost a great opportunity to listen to their combo songs. Was there any other reason?

Interestingly whenever we talk about the composer, his cold war with Lata always finds a space in the list. Some voids will never be filled and some tales remain untold! That’s the real mystery.

Also visit my page dedicated to Lata Mangeshkar. Click on the images in the page to read corresponding post.