Biography of music composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal out in November

A new biography of music composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal, published by Rupa Publications, is due to be released in early November.

Written by journalist Rajiv Vijaykar, the book details their journey from being young musicians to award-winning composers.

The immortal triumvirate of Lata Mangeshkar and Laxmikant-Pyarelal – Anniversary special

Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma were both talented young musicians who first met at a music academy for talented youngsters run by Lata Mangeshkar and her family. Laxmikant played the mandolin, while Pyarelal was an accomplished violinist.

As rising musicians in the Hindi film music scene, they worked with nearly all the top music directors. Later, they began assisting music composers Kalyanji-Anandji in 1953 and stayed with them for a decade. They also became music arrangers for SD and RD Burman.

Eventually, it was time for them to make the leap and they became music directors with Babubhai Mistry's Parasmani (1963). But it was Rajshri Productions' Dosti (1964) that catapaulted them into the major league and set their musical journey rolling. Working on over 500 films, Laxmikant-Pyarelal won seven Filmfare awards beginning with Dosti and earned another 15 nominations for their albums.

Laxmikant died in 1998 and Pyarelal has taken a step back from composing since then.

Vijaykar, who has been a journalist since three decades, also wrote the biography Dharmendra: Not Just a He-Man in 2018.