Without Lata Mangeshkar, and with Asha Bhosle, O P Nayyar became the king of the charts from the late 1950s right up to the end of the 1960s when he fell out with his muse Asha Bhosle. Together the singer and the composer kicked up a storm in charts. The OP-Asha collaboration started in 1954’s Mangu with the song Mann morey gaa jhoomke. Together they churned out hits after hits after hits all through the the 1960s . It won’t be inapt to say Nayyar carved shaped and sustained Bhosle’s career. It is wrongly believed that both O.P Nayyar and R D Burman gave Asha Bhosle’s career the impetus to supestardom. In fact Burman gave all his best female composition to Lata Mangeshkar, a fact that O P Nayyar made note of . Nayyar and Nayyar alone was instrumental in promoting Asha Bhosle’s voice from the secondary actresses to the leading lady. Yes , she owes her career to this enchanting executioner of chart masala. My list of O P Nayyar’s Top 10

1. Babuji dheere chalna(Aar Paar ; 1954): Before Guru Dutt switched to Sachin Dev Burman O.P Nayyar provided breezy chartbusters for Guru Dutt’s Baaz, Aar Paar and Mr & Mrs 55.Of course the chosen voice was Geeta Dutt .My pick of the OP-GD collection is this swaying undulating unzipped sound of sonorous sexiness.

2. Udi jab jab zulfein teri(Naya Daur,1957): It was only when Vyjayanthimala lip-synced the songs of Naya Daur in Asha Bhosle’s songs that the songstress was promoted to the heroine’s status. With Mohd Rafi by her side Asha created a storm of hits including Maang ke saath tumhara and Reshmi salwaar kurta jaali ka. Udi jab jab was done in that rumbustious full-throated Punjabi style that distinguished OP’s music.

3. Jaane kahan mera jigar gaya jee(Mr & Mrs 55): Another breezy bewitching melody this one with Mohd Rafi pitching in with Geeta Dutt. The playful banter between the two is a rare illustration of how flirty frothy and funny love can be in a song. Only Nayyar knew how to pull off this kind of a convivial canticle.

4. Bahut shukriya badi meherbani: Ek Musafir Ek Haseena(1962): Out of the 10 slurpy chartbusters in this film , Ashaji’s duets with Rafi Saab—Aap yuhi agra humse milte rahe and Main pyar ka rahi hoon—had an enduring charm about them.My pick of the lot is Bahut shukriya where the two singers thank each other for the gift of love.

5. Isharon isharon mein: Kashmir Ki Kali(1964): In his long and illustrious career filmmaker Shakti Samanta extracted the best songs from R D Burman. Samanta’s early films like Howrah Bridge were lip smackingly delectable. Though I love the pensive Rafi solo Yeh duniya ussi ki and the other Rafi-Asha duet Deewana hua badal, it is Isharon isharon mein that makes the maximum ear contact. Looking at Nayyar’s range I am compelled to ask, Bataa yeh hunar tu ney sikha kahaan se?

6. Kajra mohabbat wala: Kismat (1963): Shamshad Begum had sung many hit songs in the past for Nayyar, notably Kabhi aar kabhi paar laga teer-e-nazar(Aar Paar), Boojh mera kya naam re & Kahin pe nigaahen kahin pe nishana(CID). But when Nayyar brought his muse Asha Bhosle together with Shamshad Begum for this thumping dance number, the result was a riot.Interestingly Shamshad sang for actor Biswajeet in drag.By the time Kismat came along,Nayyar had broken ties with Mohd Rafi. The hit Lakhon hai yahan dil wale was sung by Mahendra Kapoor.

7. Chal akela chal akela: Sambandh(1969): Mukesh didn’t sing much for O P Nayyar. This evocative inspirational number penned by Kavi Pradeep(of Ae mere watan ke logon fame) showed the less upbeat more ruminative side of Nayyar’s compositional talent.

8. Chayan se hum kabhi aapne jeene na diya: Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na jaye(1974): One of Asha Bhosle’s consummate ‘swoon’ songs and the last song that she sang for Nayyar before they parted ways. Ashaji herself told me many years ago, “This song was the song of my life. I was going through so much pain it was unbearable. I poured all my grief into this song.” Ironically this Nayyar-Bhosle classic was edited out of the film. Rather, it was never shot.