One of the most celebrated composers in Bollywood has died with Vijay Patil, better known by the stage name ‘Raam Laxman’ that he shared with his music partner Surendra. He passed away following a heart attack early Saturday at his home in Nagpur. He was 78.
The news was confirmed by his son Amar Patil, who addressed the media. “He had taken second dose of Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, six days ago. There was no problem at that time but when he came home, he developed weakness. His parameters were dropping. Doctors were attending at home. He passed away at around 2am on Saturday. He had a cardiac arrest,” he told PTI.
As the Raam Laxman duo, Patil and Surendra composed music for many notable Hindi and Marathi films over four decades, including several films of Salman Khan, including ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’, ‘Hum Apke Hain Kaun’ and ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’. They also gave music to movies such as ‘100 Days’, ‘Hum Se Badhkar Kaun’, ‘Agent Vinod’ and others.
After Surendra passed away 45 years ago, Patil refused to drop the ‘Raam’ name and continue as ‘Laxman’, choosing to make music under the unified stage name the duo had created. Several members of the film fraternity mourned his loss, including Khan.
“Ram Laxman, music director of my successful films like maine pyaar kiya, patthar ke phool, hum saath saath hain, hum apke hain kaun has sadly passed away. May his soul rest in peace. Condolences to the bereaved family,” posted Khan.
Playback legend Lata Mangeshkar also mourned Patil’s death, posting a message in Hindi on Twitter. “I have come to know that the extremely talented and popular music composer Raam Laxman ji (Vijay Patil) ji has breathed his last. I’m extremely saddened to hear this. He was a very nice person. I’ve lent my voice to several of his songs that became very popular. I pay my humble respect to him.”
Mangeshkar was often the chosen female voice of Raam Laxman’s music including tracks such as ‘Aate jate’, ‘Kabootar ja ja ja’, ‘Dil deewana’, ‘Didi tera dewar’, ‘Maye ni maye’ and more.
The Indian Film and TV Producers Council also tweeted their sorrow. “Deeply saddening news of supremely talented legend music composer Vijay Patil a.k.a Laxman of the iconic #RaamLaxman duo passing away. Our deepest condolences to the family and friends.”
