IANS

Hindi film's renowned melody-maker O.P. Nayyar died of cardiac arrest Sunday. He was 81.

The great composer entertained the music lovers with his peppy numbers for decades. Some of his evergreen numbers are "Mera naam Chin Chin Choo", "Ek pardesi mera dil le gaya", "Deewana hua badal", "Isharon isharon mein" and "Balma khuli hawa".

Not to forget the "Aaiye meherbaan..." from "Howrah Bridge". Picturised on Madhuabala, the bar song is an all-time favourite among all age groups till date.

Born as Om Prakash Nayyar Jan 16, 1926 in Lahore, he started his career as an assistant with the All India Radio in Jalandhar, Punjab.

Later his love for music forced him to shift base to Mumbai, where he got his first break in "Kaneez" (1949), followed by "Aasman" (1952).

However, he made it big with Guru Dutt's "Aar Paar" (1954) and since then there was no looking back for the composer. Nayyar formed a winning pair with Dutt and churned out hits like "Mr. & Mrs. '55" and " C.I.D".

Apart from that he composed music in films "Tumsa Nahin Dekha", "Miss Coca Cola", "Baap Re Baap", "Sone Ki Chidiya", "Phagun", "Jaali Note", Ek Musafir Ek Hasina"

Nayyar gained popularity for his experimentations and introductions of new sounds. Some of the common characteristics of his music compositions were clip-clop sound and fusion of folk music and modern instruments. For his inimitable compositions he was crowned 'Rhythm King'.

He worked extensively with singers Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi. He was the only music composer who never worked with Lata Mangeshkar.

His last film as a composer was "Jai Bhavani", which came in 1994.