Excerpt: Hindi Cinema’s Legendary Musical Duo
Laxmikant and Pyarelal stopped collaborating over two decades ago, but the composer duo’s melodious work remains immensely popular—and their names are seldom uttered separately. What’s the secret of their success? Movie critic RAJIV VIJAYAKAR sheds light in Music by Laxmikant Pyarelal, which was recently published in India.
The Mangeshkar chapter had begun in the mid-’50s when Lata Mangeshkar had heard Laxmikant play the mandolin while she was performing at the Radio Club. She enquired about this boy whose playing was so beautiful, so polished, and on learning of his poor financial status, heeded his request to put in a word for him. This she did with Shankar-Jaikishan, Ghulam Mohammed, Jaidev (who also introduced Laxmikant to S.D. Burman) and some others.
Meanwhile, Pyarelal began to arrange music for C. Ramachandra, though according to him, his first break was in the 1958 Phir Subah Hogi, which was, incidentally, Khayyam’s first independent film as a composer. And when Kalyanji-Anandji began their careers as independent composers, they employed Shankar-Jaikishan’s arranger Sebastian, but Shankar-Jaikishan objected to this and Sebastian had to leave. Laxmikant had already joined them, and he suggested that Pyarelal be called in, as he was a master at arrangement. Together, therefore, they first worked with the senior duo in Chandrasena (1959), in which Kalyanji was billed as Kalyanji Virji Shah and Anandji as his assistant. Kalyanji liked to work with Laxmikant and Pyarelal, while Anandji preferred Jai Parte, according to Pyarelal. ‘Kalyanji bhai loved us a lot. He would often take us home. We loved the phulkas made there and I would eat almost a dozen! He would also take us to the races,’ he said.
Their joint tenure under Kalyanji-Anandji proved to be fruitful. Though technically their assistants, the two would handle and treat the film almost as their own. Sometimes, Kalyanji-Anandji would leave everything to the two of them.
The term ‘assistant music director’ is a term peculiar to Indian cinema. Abroad, apart from the composer, there are the musicians who actually play the music, while the arranger decides the notes, the type and the number of instruments. The conductor then conducts the orchestra. Here, an assistant may do one or more of these things and even rehearse a singer or compose a tune. The two youngsters would work unflaggingly for them.
In several Kalyanji-Anandji films, Laxmikant-Pyarelal were thus not just billed as assistants but as ‘Associate Music Directors’—Himalay Ki God Mein, Jab Jab Phool Khile and Juari among them. Later, Pyarelal had even stated that if an emergency arose with Kalyanji-Anandji, he would leave his own recording but make sure their music arrangements were looked after.
Pyarelal recalled a long phase when, after working the full day as musicians for others, they would work with the senior duo from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., snatch two hours of sleep and then work the entire day again as musicians! One prominent song wherein Pyarelal played the solo violin was in Madan Mohan’s ‘Main Yeh Soch Kar’ in Haqeeqat. Simultaneously, they would also arrange the music for dubbed Hindi versions of South Indian films and also do extensive work on the background music (BGM) of other films; S.D. Burman’s Ziddi among them.
Between them, as musicians, they worked with almost every composer who mattered. These included Shankar-Jaikishan, Roshan, Ravi, Madan Mohan, O.P. Nayyar, Naushad, Chitragupta, Hemant Kumar, Usha Khanna and, finally, R.D. Burman, for whom they arranged the music of his first two films that were produced by Mehmood—Chhote Nawab and Bhoot Bangla. The last film in which they played was Roshan’s Bahu Begum, which released in 1967, four years after their debut as independent composers. ‘Roshan saab was a strict man in such matters,’ Laxmikant had quipped. ‘And he did not know we were among the musicians!’
The composer stressed that they learnt from all the stalwarts not only what to do as musicians, but more importantly, what not to do as musicians and as people.
And this was probably the secret behind Laxmikant-Pyarelal becoming the darlings of all their musicians, from the Indian classical and Western luminaries who played for them, to the smallest names, as well as singers, lyricists, filmmakers and stars. As Pyarelal put it, ‘I had a quick temper, but Laxmi would look after everything and never lose his equanimity.’
Reprinted from Rajiv Vijayakar’s Music by Laxmikant Pyarelal with the permission of Rupa Publications India. A dentist by training, Vijayakar has been an entertainment reporter for three decades. A long-time Mumbai correspondent for India West, he has also written for several India-based publications.
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