‘Ours was a pair made in heaven’

“I met Laxmikant in 1951. I used to stay near Famous Studio in Bombay,and we used to play cricket together in the neighbourhood,” recalls Pyarelal, adding,“That’s when we became friends. We were both musically inclined — he played the mandolin and I played the violin. Laxmikant was a disciple of Husnlal (of Husnlal-Bhagatram fame,considered the first music director pair in Indian film industry) and was well-versed with Indian classical music. We were about the same age,and started making music as a duo.”

The duo embarked on a career in music as assistants to music directors. “One of the first music directors we assisted was Kalyanji-Anandji. The credits would mention ‘music by Kalyanji-Anandji’ followed by ‘assistants: Lakshmikant-Pyarelal’,and we noticed there was a ring to the name. If you notice,both our names have the same syllable count,” says Pyarelal.

Pyarelal humbly attributes a chunk of his success to Lata Mangeshkar. “We consider her an avatar of Goddess Saraswati. Today,the pedestal on which Lakshmikant-Pyarelal are placed,the journey up till there has been largely facilitated by Lataji,among others,” he says,adding,“We made music for 54 years and composed songs for over 600 movies. Come to think of it,we lasted really long.”

Pyarelal then recalls an incident,“I visited the Trinity music school in London,and was introduced to a professor by someone who chose to introduce me by mentioning my body of work. The professor remarked,‘You must be 300 years old!’”

What impresses Pyarelal is that as musicians,the duo kept on pushing their limits. “We kept on dabbling with new sounds. We travelled abroad and picked up new styles,which we incorporated into ours to produce something unique,” says Pyarelal,adding “We were fortunate to work with visionary filmmakers who nurtured our efforts.”

He says,“If you consider the music we composed for Raj Kapoor,one can’t find a similarity in the music of Bobby,Satyam Shivam Sundaram or Prem Rog.” He adds,“Raj sahib very lovingly got the music he wanted out of us,not compromising on our creative freedom at the same time. He understood music and complemented it with visuals.” Recalling an incident during the shooting of Bhor bhaye song for Satyam Shivam Sundaram,he says,“Zeenat Aman had to walk out of the fog sensually and Raj sahib demonstrated the walk to her so gracefully,that if his demonstration was a 100,Zeenat’s execution was a 40.”

On the current music scenario in India,he says,“What music composers produce reflect the taste of the audience. After a point,they have to make what people want to hear. So,what we have now is the trend of the times,which I’m sure won’t last very long and will eventually give way to something more glorious.”