A lifetime of music

Pyarelal of Laxmikant-Pyarelal speaks to Dr Mandar V. Bichu about their music, his musical show in Dubai and more

On Saturday, Rimjhim Bhagchandani presents Ek Pyar Ka Nagma Hai (a song of love), a musical show that will revive memories of music composers, Laxmikant-Pyarelal aka LP, at Hotel Renaissance Dubai.

Laxmikant is no more but his partner Pyarelal will grace the event.

Taking this opportunity, I call up the maestro at his Mumbai residence to talk about LP's long innings in the Hindi film industry.

Excerpts:

Tell us about your musical background.

My father Pandit Ramprasad Sharma was a famous musician and an expert in Western classical music. He was my first guru.

At the age of 8, I started learning to play the violin. My inspiration was Yehudi Menuhin, the famous violinist.

Later, I honed my skill under Anthony Gonsalves, a musician in Mumbai. Soon I started playing violin at recordings of film songs.

How did you meet Laxmikant?

It was destiny. Like me, Laxmi also started as a film musician. He was a master of mandolin.

So as fellow musicians and being of almost the same age, we gravitated towards each other.

We started spending a lot of time together — working, enjoying and discussing ideas for the future.

At the time, I wanted to go to Vienna to learn Western music but Laxmi suggested we compose music for films.

What we both were interested in was to learn more about the process of composing.

So, like famed composer-pairs Husnlal-Bhagatram, Shankar-Jaikishan and Kalyanji-Anandji, we decided to form our pair in 1960.

How was your initial journey as composers?

All our initial films got shelved. Then in 1963, producer Babubhai Mistry gave us our first real break with the film Parasmani.

It was a B-grade movie but our music was a big success. We composed music for B and C grade mythologicals and stunt movies.

But we did not treat those assignments any differently just because they were B and C grade movies.

We spent from our pockets to get the best singers like Lata, Rafi and Mukesh to render our songs and also got the best musicians for orchestration. We really put our heart and soul into those albums.

Those days most songs were composed in the classical mode — songs like Suno Sajna, Meghava Gagan Beech Jhaanke and Kabhi To Miloge.

Even though we did not have much knowledge of Indian classical music, we always listened to a lot of maestros.

We often modified the bandish (original classical composition) for the movies.

When Lata named our classical song Jeevan-dor Tum Hi Sang Baandhi from the movie Sati Savitri amongst her 10 best songs, we felt proud.

Tell us about Dosti — your first big success.

It was a miracle. The film had no big actors. It was a small budget black-and-white movie in the era of Technicolor multi-starrers. The music proved to be its trump card. Credit also goes to Majrooh Sultanpuri for his lyrics.

Wasn't Chahoonga Main Tujhe, the famous song from Dosti sung by Rafi, originally planned for Lata?

(In a surprised tone) How do you know that?

Yes, that tune was originally planned for Lata for the title song of Piya Log Kya Kahenge but it was not recorded as the film was shelved.

We were not too sure how it would sound in the male voice but Majrooh Sultanpuri insisted and later Rafi also convinced us that it would be a big hit.

You've worked with some great singers. Tell us about them.

Singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Mukesh are gifts of God.

Lata and Rafi have played a major role in making us what we are today. In Inteqam, we made Lata sing a dance number (Aa Jaane Jaan) for the first time using a different slow, soft style.

Director R.K. Nayyar, choreographer P.L. Raj and dancer Helen — also deserve credit for making that song a hit.

Mukesh was our favourite singer, thanks to his childlike innocence and simplicity.

The way he expressed emotions in a song like Mubarak Ho Sab Ko or Ram Kare Aisa Ho Jaaye was great.

Kishore was an all-in-one. We often made him sing differently. Soft songs like Mere Mehboob Qayamat Hogi and Yeh Jeevan Hai were different from his usual fare.

I can't believe Rafi declined after the '70s. After all, life is like air — sometimes windy, sometimes still. It was just one such phase in his career.

In Do Raaste, we deliberately used his voice for the song Yeh Reshmi Zulfen even though Kishore had already become popular as Rajesh Khanna's voice.

You've worked with many famous film-makers.

While listening to our music, you could always make out whether it was for a Manomohan Desai, Manoj Kumar or Subhash Ghai film.

We could change our style to suit their requirement. Raj Kapoor was certainly the one film-maker who understood music better than anyone else but even with him, we always succeeded in getting our way.

What do you think about life after Laxmikant?

Laxmikant's death was a great loss. For years, we were together as composers and as friends. But one has to accept such losses as life never stands still.

In my heart, I always believe that Lami's spirit is always with me. I have not hung up my boots yet. I intend to keep on making new music and I hope that will keep the LP banner flying high.