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Requiem for a friend

Pyarelal. Click for bigger pic!

Laxmikant of Laxmikant-Pyarelal fame, passed into the ages on May 25. Though the composers had stepped out of the limelight some time ago, Bollywood and thousands and thousands of LP fans were shocked by the sudden death. Worst-affected, of course, was Pyarelal. After a lifetime together, the duo were planning to chart a different course, when tragedy struck. "Now," Pyarelal told Sharmila Taliculam, "I will have to do it all alone."

I am surprised and happy that people appreciate his work. I didn't realise that people think of him now that he is no longer here with us. Still, I didn't know that it would happen so fast. I had gone for a foreign tour alone because Laxmi was not well.

We had planned so much for years ahead... And now I am alone. I won't say what those plans were -- you will come to know anyway. If we were together, it would have been different. Now I have to do it all alone. All these years we have been together. It is going to be difficult to manage by myself...

We met when we were very small. I was 12 and Laxmi was maybe 15 or 16. I used to play the violin when I was eight years old. I started working at the age of 12 because the financial condition in my home was not good. I used to go to Ranjit studios and assist the music directors there. Laxmi used to come there for the same reason.

There were a lot of people like us there and I used to play cricket on the grounds. Once Laxmi came and asked whether he could join us, and we agreed. That's how we first met.

We were the only children in an older group and we stuck together. That's how our friendship grew. We worked together for a lot of music directors. From third row musicians, we steadily came to the first row before becoming soloists. We worked with many good composers and made some good money. We used to get six rupees as lunch money and we used to eat in three rupees -- good, wholesome food. The rest we used to pocket. I used to have a big family with my brothers, sisters, parents. Laxmi also used to be with us.

In 1955, Laxmi was working with Kalyanji-Anandji. They had an assistant who also used to work for Shanker-Jaikishen. Once Shankerji told this assistant not to go for a recording with Kalyanji-Anandji. Laxmi got angry and promptly came to me. He asked me if I would like to take over and arrange the orchestra since I was familiar with the job. I agreed. That's how I began working under Kalyanji-Anandji, along with Laxmi.

Pyarelal with Laxmikant. Click for bigger pic!

In 1960, I got a little fed up and wanted to go abroad to try my luck there. Zubin Mehta had just gone there and I thought even I could do it. We were six of us and we wanted to go to Vienna. I had earned around six and half rupees, out of which I gave five to my family and the rest I saved to use for the trip. That's when Laxmi came and advised me that I shouldn't leave and we should try and become music directors.

Kalyanji-Anandji were very good to us. They would always put our credits along with theirs in every film that we assisted them. It was music directors Kalyanji-Anandji and assistants Laxmikant-Pyarelal. So we had already made a name together. We signed two or three films together, but none of them worked out. Two of them were never completed and the third film, Sindbad, had Ajit as the hero. He didn't want us. So we didn't do music for that film. But the song Hasta hua noorani chehra was composed for that film; it was finally used in Parasmani, the next film we signed on. That was a small budget film. But all its six songs were chartbusters.

Those days to be one of the top songs on the Binaca Geet Mala on Radio Ceylon was a big thing. We had a terrace and in the evenings between 7 and 8 on Wednesdays, Laxmi and I would stroll up there, trying to hear our songs being aired on radio. All the shopkeepers would let out a whoop when that would happen.

But only with Dosti did we become really popular. We got that film only after the Parasmani songs became hits. The period in between was very slack. We continued doing what we were doing at that time. We signed all the films that came our way. Small, big... Though the film weren't hits, our songs were.

We never had any problems with any film-maker -- even with Raj Kapoor. When he first came to us, we refused him initially because Jaikishen had passed away and Shanker was alone. We didn't want to be ungrateful. But (singer) Mukesh told us that if we refused, then somebody else, like Kalyanji-Anandji or R D Burman, would do it and that's how we gave music for Bobby. Raj already had two tunes ready with him -- Jhooth bole kauva kate and Ghe ghe ghe re saiba.

We retained only one song of his in our entire career. The rest were our compositions. The first song we recorded for him was Main shayar to nahin. One nice thing about working for him was that whenever we composed anything, it would be okayed in one go. Many other film-makers would ask us to change a little here and there, but never Rajji. He always liked what we composed at the first hearing itself. We didn't do Ram Teri Ganga Maili because of some internal problems. I wouldn't like to discuss it. But we were good friends with him till the end.

Click for bigger pic!

We never had any problems with sharing the credits. It didn't bother me that Laxmi composed the music and I did the arranging. Sometimes I would compose the music and Laxmi would be very happy about it. If people said anything otherwise, it didn't bother us at all. We were together and that's what mattered. Unlike Shanker-Jaikishen who worked independently despite sharing the credits.

If a producer went to them, he would have to take both of them for the film, but they would compose and record separately. And they would be paid that way too. But we had no such problems. When Shanker worked, he composed and he had a separate arranger. But if Laxmikant-Pyarelal worked on a film, they would finish the film without anybody else being involved.

We had a wonderful relationship with Lataji (Mangeshkar). She sang every song for us other than those for the hero. We didn't like anybody else. If you look at her career, you'll see she's sung the most songs with us. She was a big help when we started off too. She never harassed us. She always sang whatever we composed without saying anything, and she would come for rehearsals when we asked her to.

Rajji also wanted her to sing after Mera Naam Joker. One of the reasons why he chose us was because he thought she would sing for his films again if we were the music directors. She did.

Laxmi was the one who would decide. I just followed his instructions. We used to be together most of the time. I was not educated; I could not study because I had to earn and support a family. So I used to attend evening school. After work, we would stroll down to my school in Mahim. Laxmi would leave me there and go off to the station.

After we became composers, life was much easier. We even went on a foreign tour. In 1968, we got married -- in the same month. I got married on May 22 and he, on May 28. We both have two children -- one son and one daughter and two grandchildren. We earned money together as musicians, assistants and composers.

Nothing was yours and mine --everything was ours. The only difference now is that he is not here anymore and I still am. If we both had gone together, it would have been a nice finale to our lives.

We had our ups and downs with various people, but we were never out of touch with music. We always kept up with the times and tried giving people what they wanted. I wouldn't like to boast, but I don't think anybody has worked together consistently for more than 37 years in the industry like we have. We were very happy the way things were.... The only tragedy is that he is no longer with me. But I know that at least he led a very satisfying life like me.

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We were never close, in the sense that we didn't confide in each other. But we knew of each other's problems because we were together all the time. I admit, though, that we were closer to each other before we married. After that we began giving more attention to our families. In that sense, we weren't very close. But that didn't mean it created any problem for us. We worked like we used to -- always. We had that kind of understanding.

Laxmi was more aggressive; I was the softer one. He would deal with people and I would be satisfied with the back seat. I lose my temper a lot and Laxmi would generally forgive and forget. So we complemented each other very well.

He never caused any tension and did whatever I asked him to. If I didn't like something and I felt very strongly about it, he never refused.

But Laxmi was very vocal too. Like, if he was a little angry with something, he would say it. But he was very cool-headed, unlike me. So whenever there would be anything to talk about, he would do it for both of us. He has this knack of convincing people, saying things that would please them. I would talk straight, but he would put things in such a manner that it would get the other person to do what Laxmi wanted. I used to admire that a lot.

He used to really make things easy for us. We have been really lucky that way. So we worked with Raj Kapoor, then Shashi Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor, B R Chopra, Yash Chopra, Nanabhai Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt... We have done almost over 130 films in the south. We have worked with all generations. We couldn't do Rishi Kapoor's film only because Laxmi wasn't well. So you see how lucky we have been.

When we worked together, our areas of work were clear. Laxmi would compose and I would arrange and record. Initially, both of us used to sit and think about a song and compose them together, but later, when there was a lot of work, we decided to divide the work.

There was a time we had more than 90 films and we couldn't really cope. Those were the days, maybe, that our downfall began. When you have so much work your quality suffers somewhere.

We had then worked out a schedule by which Laxmi would sit on a composition and I would arrange. Then he would go for lunch and I would record. When he came back, I would leave for lunch. After that we would sit together and finish the recording. This would go on day after day. We had no holidays and worked like this for seven months.

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We fought once in so many years of knowing each other. We had perfect understanding. We didn't talk much, but with one look we could understood what the other wanted to say. We had one goal in mind and we only worked towards that. The rest didn't matter.

Earning money and investing was Laxmi's lookout. He would decide where our money would go and I would be quite happy with that. Even when he bought a house, Laxmi wanted me to buy a plot next to his and build a similar bungalow. But I liked my flat so much, I refused. But I did buy a plot in Pune at his insistence.

I came back from a show and the moment I landed here, I went off to see him. He was unconscious. Two days later, it was over.

It is difficult to say which were our best songs. There are so many of them, all of them can be called our favourites.

Lately, though, we were not so taken up with film music. Not that we are not getting as much work as we used to. Despite Deewana Mastana, we have never called up people for work. Laxmi and I kept our lives simple and tension-free. We never refused any work, even television serials. We also made private albums and were planning for the future too.

We were never jealous of anybody. We always had enough work. Even when A R Rahman came along. He made good music but after some time he got a little monotonous. We never felt insecure about competition, because music is above all this pettiness. Both of us felt at peace when we composed a song.

And we hoped to do it till our dying day. Today, we don't have films on our hands, but that's okay. We were thinking of refusing whatever we had because we wanted to do something else.

Now I will have to do it all alone.

Music director Laxmikant dead

Photographs of Pyarelal by Jewella C Miranda