My favourite singers ….by O P Nayyar

My favourite singers ….by O P Nayyar

Apr 07

July 1957 Filmfare – where OP Nayyar saab had talked about his favourite singers. Here is one on Kishoreda…enjoy !

“Unsung and unplayed, the composition is like a beautiful statue or painting inert and static, until the singer with his or her voice breathes life into it”

Now I see children cutting capers on the beach. The toddlers sing in chorus a song made popular by their favourite Kishore Kumar. Which reminds me that this versatile comedian is the only yodeller we have in our films. Kishore’s singing has an ebullience which charges everyone and everything around with the spirit of gay frolic.
He was a singer long before he made the grade as an actor. In fact, I scored the music for his first film Chham Chhama Chham, in which he made his debut as a “leading man”. Kishore is at his infectious best in carefree songs like “Piya Piya” in Baap Re Baap

OPN’s general views on playback :
When a song for which he has composed the tune becomes a hit, the music director is apt to take all the credit and the kudos himself. In the flush of success, he forgets the voice of the voices which have, in more senses than one, given the expression of life to his tune or composition. The composition is the composer’s undoubtedly. He conceived it, gave it shape and form, wove its pattern, hewed and bevelled it to fit the situation and the sentiment, and gave it the flourish and the furbelow which are the final touches of the artist’s craft. So what ? Unsung and unplayed, the composition is like a beautiful statue or painting inert and static, until the singer with his or her voice breathes life into it, imbues it with feeling and expression, and sends it forth into the world to move a million hearts with its sentimental and melodic appeal Often, in moments of relaxation beside the sea – not many, alas, nowadays with a schedule which practically covers the clock – as I gaze into the tumbling waters, there rise before my mind’s eye the figures and faces of the distinguished and deservedly popular singers of the Indian screen who have done just that with my compositions.