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Laxmi-Pyare Ji werre one of my fav. music directors.Her'z a small profile about them 😃
Laxmikant and Pyarelal have remained one of the most successful music directors for the entire 36 year span (1963-1998) in which they have continiously churned unforgettable hit songs. The legacy still lives on with Pyarelal.
Laxmikant and Pyarelal got an opportunity for the first time to give music independently in the film Parasmani directed by Babubhai Mistry in 1963. Though technically they had given music to 5 films before Parasmani, all these 5 films either got shelved or were never released in theaters! This was because all the 5 were B-graders and had tendencies to run into financial and post-production problems. Since the earlier films were never released, LP faced a lot of flak from within the industry. Certain directors and well known lyricists were not ready to work with them at that time. LP though unhappy about it were undeterred by the same. Music was not compromised on at any cost! On the contrary, it is a well established fact that in spite of the films' financial constraints, LP at their own expense got their tunes sung only from the best( Grade 1 singers).
LP stated the music director's name as Laxmikant-Pyarelal mistook by many at that time to be a single person. (The LP vinyls were not very popular then and were almost unheard of in India) . The rhythmic music given by LP for Babubhai Mistry's B-Grader mythological film Parasmani became immensely popular. Songs like Hastaa Hua Nurani Chehera, Wo Jab Yaad Aaye, Mere Dil Mein Halki Si from this film are hummed by people 40 years later even to this day.
LP did songs in a series of B-Grade films after this such as Tum Gagan Ke Chandramaa Ho and Jeevandor Tum Sang Baandhi from the film Sati-Saavitri; Jyot Se Jyot Jalaane Chalo from the film Sant Gyaneshwar; Mere Meheboob Kayamat Hogi, Khoobsurat Hasina and Chali Re Gori from the film Mr. X in Bombay; Ajnabi Tum Jaane Pehechane Se from the film Ustaadon Ke Ustaad. All these sweet and melodious songs became immensely popular.
However LP got their real big break in 1964 with their film Dosti from Rajshri Productions. The music of Dosti kept LP in the leading position in film music even after 30 years! The film had 2 newcomer boys in the lead role who never really became popular, though the film very much did purely due to its music. It is important to state here that more well known Music Directors had rejected giving music to the film after hearing its story based on the life of two poor friends and new cast. The LP era had now begun even when other older and established music directors of the golden era were still very much active. Unforgettable songs from Dosti such as Jaanewalo Jara, Mere To Jo Bhi Kadam Hain, Chahunga Main Tujhe and Meri Dosti Mera Pyaar led LP to their first Filmfare Award amidst competition as strong as Madan Mohan and Shanker-Jaikishen.
After this victorious feat, LP and success went together without a break or loss of continuity. Names of a few films with hit music such as Anita, Izzat, Aaye Din Bahar Ke, Milan, Abhinetri, Shagird, Jeene Ki Raaha, Do Raaste, Piya Ka Ghar, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Shor, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, Aan Milo Sajna, Meheboob Ki Mehendi, Imtihaan, Khilona, Majboor, Dharam-Veer, Chacha Bhatija, Roti, Prem Kahani, Anurodh, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Amar Akbar Anthony, Gautam Govinda, Aasha, Badaltey Rishtey, Suhaag, Desh Premee, Sargam, Karz, Kranti, Prem Rog, Ek Duje Ke Liye, Ek Hi Bhool, Sur Sangam, Hero, Pyar Jhukta Naheen, Utsav, Aakhri Raasta, Agnipath, Inquilaab, Hum, Tezaab, Naam, Meri Jung, Ram Lakhan, Chalbaaz, Ajooba, Mr. India, Khuda Gawaah, Saudagar, Khalnayak, Bhairavi, Deewana Mastana etc. and many many more are enough to realize the potential of the LP duo to churn out hit music over a continuous stretch in time. The pair gave music to approximately 500 films in the 35 year span they were together. Most of the composed songs carried the fragrance of beautiful melody. From Dosti to Khalnayak LP won Gold Discs for 32 films.
LPs keen observation of the styles of earlier great music directors had not gone in vain. They ere strong admirers of Husnlal Bhagatram, C. Ramchandra and Naushad. The LP style of music in their earlier days was highly inspired by the style of the old music director maestro duo Shankar Jaikishen. In fact Laxmikant was a die-hard fan of Shankar Jaikishen. It is said that Shankar even had changed his orchestration once in order not to sound like LP's! LP in their olden days have even made a few foot-tapping western rock & roll type melodies in films such as Shagird which became immensely popular besides songs based on classical, semi-classical and folk tunes. As the times demanded LP even gave some good disco music in films such as Karz which is still remembered today as the best disco ever composed for hindi films.
Although Laxmikant and Pyarelal both were individually proficient and well-versed with all aspects of composition and arrangement, Laxmi mostly used to take care of the vocal aspect and Pyarelal worked more with the the orchestra arrangement. Both contributed almost equally on the average to the tune, melody and composition. However there were time at which each has taken the other person's role as well. Though both were complete music directors on their own as well, it is worth mentioning that LP never scored music individually as long as Laxmikant was with us. The two never interfered with each others job. This used to give rise to a healthy competition minus jealousy between the two. Probably this must be the main reason for yeilding such good music.
Laxmikant-Pyarelal were primarily responsible for eliminating the dominance of the older music directors such as C. Ramchandra, Naushad, Shankar-Jaikishen etc. LP gave tough competition to other brilliant music directors of their times such as R. D. Burman and Kalyanji-Anandji who were relatively left with lesser work and fewer films. However this did not mean that LP had unhealthy relations with these. In fact R. D. Burman, Laxmikant and Pyarelal were very good friends till the very end.
Big and successful filmmakers such as Raj Kapoor, Manmohan Desai, J. Om Prakash, Manoj Kumar, Raj Khosla, Yash Johar, Subhash Ghai, David Dhavan, Shekhar Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor believed in LP's music. Even Dev Anand, Mahesh Bhat, Vijay Anand, Yash Chopra, Shakti Samanta, Feroz Khan and Sanjay Khan couldn't help turning towards LP. In return LP give them all excellent music. Laxmikant is said to have resolved the small tiff that existed between the two greats Lata Mangeshkar and Raj Kapoor before making Lata sing the songs of RK's film Bobby. Lata had not been singing for Raj Kapoor for some years until Bobby came along.
Unlike most other music directors of their times, LP did not have any reservations about getting songs sung from specific singers only. Singers were selected on the basis of the type of song and the character for whom the playback was to be given. Nobody can ever forget Mukesh rendering the songs of Milan. Reality although has a lesser known story to tell. At that time, Mukesh was undergoing a lean phase, and even producer Barjatya of Rajshree Productions was not very sure whether he liked the idea. All singers such as Lata, Asha, Rafi, Mukesh and Kishore have equally sung for LP. Even Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar and Mahendra Kapoor have performed for LP.
Many of today's successful singers were given big breaks by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. A few such names are Shailendra Singh, Kavita Krishnamurty, Mohd. Aziz, Suresh Wadkar and Shabbir Kumar who have sung many songs under LP's baton that helped them rise in their career. Even the more recent singers who shot to greater popularity in the 1990's such as Sukhwinder, Vinod Rathod, Roop Kumar Rathod begun their successful film singing careers with LP. Others like Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet, Sonu Nigam and Udit Narayan have proudly sung for LP.
The secret of LP's success lied in vast knowledge of Indian and Western Music, Rhythms and Musical instruments, accurate division of work, non-interference in each other's work, simple melodious hummable tunes, a huge orchestra of musicians mostly playing a variety of acoustic instruments, less but appropriate use of electronic instruments and the orchestra conduction that had the unique touch of Pyarelal's beautiful style.
Another reason was the ability to give music that would exactly suit the film and the particular situation being shown on screen. Not all music directors before them and of their times have been capable of this. LP believed firmly that good music was a necessary ingredient in order to make a successful film.
Lyricist Anand Bakshi has worked maximum with LP and written beautiful lyrics for the duo, although LP have also worked with other greats such as Sahir, Majrooh, Rajender Krishen, Pradeep, Gulzar, Jaaved and many others.
Around 1990, a small rift had developed between Laxmikant and Pyarelal that was almost about to split the two of them. This was however prevented from happening by Lata Mangeshkar, Naushad, Subhash Ghai and a few others.
In 1998, music of the film Deewana Mastana carrying LP's music had become popular. Another film directed by Manoj Kumar named "Jai-Hind-The-Pride" also carries music by LP. Laxmikant-Pyarelal were extremely warm and knew the art of professional communication and maintaining suitable publicity.
LP have always successfully faced the challenge of the changing trends of film music.They suitably changed the sound of their music according to the times, leaving the quality of melody intact. They have always believed in making the best of what kind of music the film and its viewers would really appreciate, and accordingly changed their music pattern for every film. However what LP really never understood was the mass coping trend that started to gain strong ground from the mid-nineties. LP were not the kinds who could straight away lift western or Pakistani or south Indian tunes and fit Hindi lyrics on them and call it their own music. LP of-course have on a few occasions composed music based on a western style but they have never ever lifted an entire tune and made a Hindi song out of it. Therefore they were very silent in this phase. Besides this, both L and P were suffering from a few health problems at that time.
Besides that, in these times of A.R. Rahman, Anu Malik, Jatin Lalit, Nadeem Shravan etc. LP seemed to have taken a back seat, but the reason for this this besides those mentioned above is Laxmikant's physical kidney illness. An illness of this nature definitely is not something that would have developed in a short course of time. I but it must have had an intensifying effect over the years. It is this illness which eventually took him away from all of us.
However I firmly do believe that the best of Laxmikant-Pyarelal (as Laxmiji used to always put it) is still to come. We still do have Pyarelal with us. Pyarelalji is a a complete composer/ music director besides having a great knowledge of conducting a large orchestra. No other active music director in today's date can parallel up to Pyarelal in this aspect. Laxmikant is no more, but Pyarelal is no less.
I hope that the Music Industry gives this living legend many more opportunities to compose great melodies for us.
Courtesy:www.laxmipyare.com
Laxmikant and Pyarelal have remained one of the most successful music directors for the entire 36 year span (1963-1998) in which they have continiously churned unforgettable hit songs. The legacy still lives on with Pyarelal.
Laxmikant and Pyarelal got an opportunity for the first time to give music independently in the film Parasmani directed by Babubhai Mistry in 1963. Though technically they had given music to 5 films before Parasmani, all these 5 films either got shelved or were never released in theaters! This was because all the 5 were B-graders and had tendencies to run into financial and post-production problems. Since the earlier films were never released, LP faced a lot of flak from within the industry. Certain directors and well known lyricists were not ready to work with them at that time. LP though unhappy about it were undeterred by the same. Music was not compromised on at any cost! On the contrary, it is a well established fact that in spite of the films' financial constraints, LP at their own expense got their tunes sung only from the best( Grade 1 singers).
LP stated the music director's name as Laxmikant-Pyarelal mistook by many at that time to be a single person. (The LP vinyls were not very popular then and were almost unheard of in India) . The rhythmic music given by LP for Babubhai Mistry's B-Grader mythological film Parasmani became immensely popular. Songs like Hastaa Hua Nurani Chehera, Wo Jab Yaad Aaye, Mere Dil Mein Halki Si from this film are hummed by people 40 years later even to this day.
LP did songs in a series of B-Grade films after this such as Tum Gagan Ke Chandramaa Ho and Jeevandor Tum Sang Baandhi from the film Sati-Saavitri; Jyot Se Jyot Jalaane Chalo from the film Sant Gyaneshwar; Mere Meheboob Kayamat Hogi, Khoobsurat Hasina and Chali Re Gori from the film Mr. X in Bombay; Ajnabi Tum Jaane Pehechane Se from the film Ustaadon Ke Ustaad. All these sweet and melodious songs became immensely popular.
However LP got their real big break in 1964 with their film Dosti from Rajshri Productions. The music of Dosti kept LP in the leading position in film music even after 30 years! The film had 2 newcomer boys in the lead role who never really became popular, though the film very much did purely due to its music. It is important to state here that more well known Music Directors had rejected giving music to the film after hearing its story based on the life of two poor friends and new cast. The LP era had now begun even when other older and established music directors of the golden era were still very much active. Unforgettable songs from Dosti such as Jaanewalo Jara, Mere To Jo Bhi Kadam Hain, Chahunga Main Tujhe and Meri Dosti Mera Pyaar led LP to their first Filmfare Award amidst competition as strong as Madan Mohan and Shanker-Jaikishen.
After this victorious feat, LP and success went together without a break or loss of continuity. Names of a few films with hit music such as Anita, Izzat, Aaye Din Bahar Ke, Milan, Abhinetri, Shagird, Jeene Ki Raaha, Do Raaste, Piya Ka Ghar, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Shor, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, Aan Milo Sajna, Meheboob Ki Mehendi, Imtihaan, Khilona, Majboor, Dharam-Veer, Chacha Bhatija, Roti, Prem Kahani, Anurodh, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Amar Akbar Anthony, Gautam Govinda, Aasha, Badaltey Rishtey, Suhaag, Desh Premee, Sargam, Karz, Kranti, Prem Rog, Ek Duje Ke Liye, Ek Hi Bhool, Sur Sangam, Hero, Pyar Jhukta Naheen, Utsav, Aakhri Raasta, Agnipath, Inquilaab, Hum, Tezaab, Naam, Meri Jung, Ram Lakhan, Chalbaaz, Ajooba, Mr. India, Khuda Gawaah, Saudagar, Khalnayak, Bhairavi, Deewana Mastana etc. and many many more are enough to realize the potential of the LP duo to churn out hit music over a continuous stretch in time. The pair gave music to approximately 500 films in the 35 year span they were together. Most of the composed songs carried the fragrance of beautiful melody. From Dosti to Khalnayak LP won Gold Discs for 32 films.
LPs keen observation of the styles of earlier great music directors had not gone in vain. They ere strong admirers of Husnlal Bhagatram, C. Ramchandra and Naushad. The LP style of music in their earlier days was highly inspired by the style of the old music director maestro duo Shankar Jaikishen. In fact Laxmikant was a die-hard fan of Shankar Jaikishen. It is said that Shankar even had changed his orchestration once in order not to sound like LP's! LP in their olden days have even made a few foot-tapping western rock & roll type melodies in films such as Shagird which became immensely popular besides songs based on classical, semi-classical and folk tunes. As the times demanded LP even gave some good disco music in films such as Karz which is still remembered today as the best disco ever composed for hindi films.
Although Laxmikant and Pyarelal both were individually proficient and well-versed with all aspects of composition and arrangement, Laxmi mostly used to take care of the vocal aspect and Pyarelal worked more with the the orchestra arrangement. Both contributed almost equally on the average to the tune, melody and composition. However there were time at which each has taken the other person's role as well. Though both were complete music directors on their own as well, it is worth mentioning that LP never scored music individually as long as Laxmikant was with us. The two never interfered with each others job. This used to give rise to a healthy competition minus jealousy between the two. Probably this must be the main reason for yeilding such good music.
Laxmikant-Pyarelal were primarily responsible for eliminating the dominance of the older music directors such as C. Ramchandra, Naushad, Shankar-Jaikishen etc. LP gave tough competition to other brilliant music directors of their times such as R. D. Burman and Kalyanji-Anandji who were relatively left with lesser work and fewer films. However this did not mean that LP had unhealthy relations with these. In fact R. D. Burman, Laxmikant and Pyarelal were very good friends till the very end.
Big and successful filmmakers such as Raj Kapoor, Manmohan Desai, J. Om Prakash, Manoj Kumar, Raj Khosla, Yash Johar, Subhash Ghai, David Dhavan, Shekhar Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor believed in LP's music. Even Dev Anand, Mahesh Bhat, Vijay Anand, Yash Chopra, Shakti Samanta, Feroz Khan and Sanjay Khan couldn't help turning towards LP. In return LP give them all excellent music. Laxmikant is said to have resolved the small tiff that existed between the two greats Lata Mangeshkar and Raj Kapoor before making Lata sing the songs of RK's film Bobby. Lata had not been singing for Raj Kapoor for some years until Bobby came along.
Unlike most other music directors of their times, LP did not have any reservations about getting songs sung from specific singers only. Singers were selected on the basis of the type of song and the character for whom the playback was to be given. Nobody can ever forget Mukesh rendering the songs of Milan. Reality although has a lesser known story to tell. At that time, Mukesh was undergoing a lean phase, and even producer Barjatya of Rajshree Productions was not very sure whether he liked the idea. All singers such as Lata, Asha, Rafi, Mukesh and Kishore have equally sung for LP. Even Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar and Mahendra Kapoor have performed for LP.
Many of today's successful singers were given big breaks by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. A few such names are Shailendra Singh, Kavita Krishnamurty, Mohd. Aziz, Suresh Wadkar and Shabbir Kumar who have sung many songs under LP's baton that helped them rise in their career. Even the more recent singers who shot to greater popularity in the 1990's such as Sukhwinder, Vinod Rathod, Roop Kumar Rathod begun their successful film singing careers with LP. Others like Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet, Sonu Nigam and Udit Narayan have proudly sung for LP.
The secret of LP's success lied in vast knowledge of Indian and Western Music, Rhythms and Musical instruments, accurate division of work, non-interference in each other's work, simple melodious hummable tunes, a huge orchestra of musicians mostly playing a variety of acoustic instruments, less but appropriate use of electronic instruments and the orchestra conduction that had the unique touch of Pyarelal's beautiful style.
Another reason was the ability to give music that would exactly suit the film and the particular situation being shown on screen. Not all music directors before them and of their times have been capable of this. LP believed firmly that good music was a necessary ingredient in order to make a successful film.
Lyricist Anand Bakshi has worked maximum with LP and written beautiful lyrics for the duo, although LP have also worked with other greats such as Sahir, Majrooh, Rajender Krishen, Pradeep, Gulzar, Jaaved and many others.
Around 1990, a small rift had developed between Laxmikant and Pyarelal that was almost about to split the two of them. This was however prevented from happening by Lata Mangeshkar, Naushad, Subhash Ghai and a few others.
In 1998, music of the film Deewana Mastana carrying LP's music had become popular. Another film directed by Manoj Kumar named "Jai-Hind-The-Pride" also carries music by LP. Laxmikant-Pyarelal were extremely warm and knew the art of professional communication and maintaining suitable publicity.
LP have always successfully faced the challenge of the changing trends of film music.They suitably changed the sound of their music according to the times, leaving the quality of melody intact. They have always believed in making the best of what kind of music the film and its viewers would really appreciate, and accordingly changed their music pattern for every film. However what LP really never understood was the mass coping trend that started to gain strong ground from the mid-nineties. LP were not the kinds who could straight away lift western or Pakistani or south Indian tunes and fit Hindi lyrics on them and call it their own music. LP of-course have on a few occasions composed music based on a western style but they have never ever lifted an entire tune and made a Hindi song out of it. Therefore they were very silent in this phase. Besides this, both L and P were suffering from a few health problems at that time.
Besides that, in these times of A.R. Rahman, Anu Malik, Jatin Lalit, Nadeem Shravan etc. LP seemed to have taken a back seat, but the reason for this this besides those mentioned above is Laxmikant's physical kidney illness. An illness of this nature definitely is not something that would have developed in a short course of time. I but it must have had an intensifying effect over the years. It is this illness which eventually took him away from all of us.
However I firmly do believe that the best of Laxmikant-Pyarelal (as Laxmiji used to always put it) is still to come. We still do have Pyarelal with us. Pyarelalji is a a complete composer/ music director besides having a great knowledge of conducting a large orchestra. No other active music director in today's date can parallel up to Pyarelal in this aspect. Laxmikant is no more, but Pyarelal is no less.
I hope that the Music Industry gives this living legend many more opportunities to compose great melodies for us.
Courtesy:www.laxmipyare.com
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