My letter in Screen 06.06.08

Laxmi Pyaare

L-P – Melody makers

  Posted: Jun 06, 2008 at 1042 hrs                                                         

Your tribute to Laxmikant on his tenth death anniversary (“Song Of The Legend”, Screen , May 23) was a good gesture. The legend’s personal qualities and the milestones of his Hindi film music were very touchingly highlighted by his near ones-his younger sister Vijayalaxmi and friend, Dr Shukla.

The Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo, also lovingly known as Laxmi-Pyare or just LP, is reported to have contributed to the music of around 500 Hindi movies spanning from 1963 to 1998. LP had worked for filmmakers like Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Shakti Samanta, Manmohan Desai, Manoj Kumar and Yash Chopra. Their first film as music directors was Parasmani (1963), a mythological film and the song Hansta hua noorani chehra still remains a popular number among golden oldies. The success of this film was perhaps what prompted Laxmikant to name his bungalow Parasmani.

Rajshri’s Dosti (1964) became a raving success only because of its lilting music by L-P and soul-stirring songs like Rahi manva and Chahoonga main tujhe. I also recall that Binaca Geet Mala, a popular radio programme broadcast from Radio Ceylon, which used to feature 16 top Hindi film songs every week, quite often included 10 to 14 songs which bore the L-P stamp of quality music of those times.

If music lovers try to list their best musical numbers, they will definitely include chart busters like: Mere mehboob qyamat hogi (Mr X in Bombay) , Aaj mausam bada beimaan hai (Loafer), Hum tum ek kamre mein band hon (Bobby), Ek pyaar ka naghma hai (Shor), Yeh jeevan hai (Piya Ka Ghar) and Sawan ka mahina (Milan).

The death of Laxmikant has left a deep void in the field of Hindi film music. Musicians may come and go but LP’s melodious music will remain forever etched in the hearts of their millions of fans.