Page 33 - Seniors Today October 2020

Kalyanji-Anandji: The brothers’ duo Anand-Milind, sons of music director
achieved much of their success in the 1970s, Chitragupt, had arrived with Qayamat Se
with some big hits picturised on superstar Qayamat Tak, though they never maintained
Amitabh Bachchan. The truth is that they success for too long. Nadeem-Shravan ruled
had been very prolific since the early 1960s. the first half of the 1990s with mega-hits like
The 1960 film Chhalia had the hits ‘Chhalia Aashiqui, Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahin, Saajan
Mera Naam’ and ‘Dum Dum Diga Diga’, both and Hum Hain Raahi Pyaar Ke. Though the
sung by Mukesh. success continued, they had to take a break
After the success of Himalay Ki God Mein, The Kamal Haasan debut Ek Duuje Ke Liye was among after 1997, following developments in the
Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s 1980s hits
Saraswatichandra and Jab Jab Phool Khile, Gulshan Kumar murder case.
they got more offers, and even created the music of Laxmikant-Pyarelal reached out to Nadeem-Shravan got good competition in
iconic ‘Mere Desh Ki Dharti’ with singer the masses. the duos department from Jatin-Lalit, who
Mahendra Kapoor in Upkar and the After their debut in Parasmani, they had the hits Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Dilwale
memorable ‘Zindagi Ka Safar’ with Kishore tasted success with Dosti. Both were adept Dulhania Le Jaayenge, Yes Boss and Kuch
Kumar in Safar. Along with Laxmikant- with instruments – Laxmikant played the Kuch Hota Hai. Duos heard in the late 1990s
Pyarelal and RD Burman, they symbolised mandolin and Pyarelal the violin. They were and early 2000s included Dilip Sen-Sameer
the new sound of the late 1960s. hugely influenced by Shankar-Jaikishan, Sen, Sajid-Wajid, Sanjeev-Darshan, Nikhil-
A decade later, the Bachchan hits included and after Jaikishan’s death in 1971, Raj Vinay, Vishal-Shekhar and Salim-Sulaiman.
Don, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar and Laawaris. Kapoor took them on for Bobby. Later, they Jeet-Pritam separated after a few films, and
Add to that Feroz Khan’s Qurbani, and they became a favourite of Subhash Ghai, with Shiv-Hari composed music for eight films but Silsila is today, Pritam is one of the leading names,
probably the best-known
were quite on top. However, the overall Karz, Hero, Ram Lakhan, Saudagar and despite instances of plagiarism. And of
quality of film music fell after that, the Khalnayak. elements. Later, they stopped doing film course, there is the trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.
Kalyanji-Anandji never reached the same The duo also did successful 1980s music to focus on their classical concerts, and Later duos included Ajay-Atul, Sachin-Jigar,
heights as before. soundtracks like Ek Duuje Ke Liye, Naam, both are considered legendary practitioners Meet Brothers and Justin-Uday. However, the
Both brothers were also involved in Mr India, Tezaab and Chalbaaz. Though of their instruments. quality of music has gone down so drastically
encouraging younger artistes. Kalyanji they focused on folk and semi-classical The others: Besides these five, the period in the last three or four years that it doesn’t
passed away in 1998. tunes, they were thorough with western before the 1980s also had other duos who did matter whether the music is composed by
arrangements too, and blended different a lesser number of films. The uncle-nephew a single person or a duo. Though Shankar-
styles effortlessly. team Sonik-Omi had the big hit Dil Ne Phir Ehsaan-Loy and Vishal-Shekhar have
Yaad Kiya, besides actress Rekha’s debut provided the occasional good song, the whole
Shiv-Hari: Classical santoor maestro Sawan Bhadon. They had a string of flop scenario has changed for the worse.
Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and flautist films to their credit too. Raam Laxman used
Pandit Hariprasad played in a lot of film pseudonyms and started as a duo but after
songs in the 1960s. Filmmaker Yash Chopra the death of his partner Surendra (Raam) in
requested them to compose for his 1981 film 1976, Vijay Patil (Laxman) continued to work
Silsila, and they came out with big hits like solo, later having hits like Maine Pyar Kiya
Though they were best known for Amitabh hits in the 70s,
Kalyanji-Anandji had an impressive prior track record with ‘Yeh Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum’, ‘Neela Aasman’, and Hum Aapke Hain Koun.
scores like Jab Jab Phool Khile ‘Dekha Ek Khwab’ and the Holi song ‘Rang Musicians Arun Paudwal and Anil Mohile
Barse’. worked as Anil-Arun, primarily as music
Laxmikant-Pyarelal: With over 750 Shiv-Hari gave music for only eight films, of arrangers. Basu Chakraborty and Manohari
Hindi films between 1963 and 1998, when which seven were for Yash Chopra. Chandni Singh, who played with RD Burman, also
Laxmikant passed away, they were considered and Darr were their big successes. They had formed the duo Basu-Manohari. Among Kalyanji-Anandji’s hits was the immortal Mere
to be the most prolific composers. Indeed, the a unique style using folk and semi-classical The 1990s and beyond: By the late 1980s, Desh Ki Dharti, from Manoj Kumar’s fim Upkar

32 SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #16 | OCTOBER 2020 33