He was the senior half of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo, or L-P, that has done exactly 500 Hindi films (and 10 more regional) in their illustrious and variegated career. Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar, whose 25th death anniversary falls on May 25, was, perhaps, even more remarkable as a man than as a composer.
The above statistic would seem to indicate that his partner and he were money-minded to do so many films (including the background scores for almost all!). But the fact remains that for Laxmikant, it was primarily about a compulsion called work!
Filmmaker Ravi Tandon (with whom L-P did 7 films) recalls going first to another composer for his low-budget first production, ‘Anhonee’. “That man was more interested in how I would manage my finances. When I told Laxmi-ji about my budgetary constraints, he just said, ‘You look after the money. We will look after the music!’ That won my heart!” And ‘Anhonee’’s all-popular score includes the cult ‘Hungama ho gaya’.
Boney Kapoor shares how L-P refused to hike fees despite being Numero Unos for over 20 years. “I forced them to take more money for ‘Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja’ and ‘Prem’. But Laxmi-ji said that every producer cannot afford high fees!”
Lyricist Sameer remembers a crestfallen composer towards the end of the 1990s. “I told him that he had everything—a great house, a great family, fame and all. But he told me, ‘An artiste lives for work. I have made enough money for generations. But I have no work.’ Laxmi-ji died less than two years after that!”
A conundrum was how L-P never let the quantity compromise their quality. When they did scores of the level of ‘Bobby’ or ‘Roti Kapada Aur Makaan’, they had 20 or more films on hand. But Laxmikant, who composed 90 percent of the tunes (for convenience, Pyarelal and he divided their work that way, with the latter looking after the orchestration) would always be thinking music. “He would compose even while taking a bath and would record the tunes!” revealed an assistant.
Amar Haldipur, veteran violinist, remembers Laxmikant spinning five diverse tunes for the same lyrics within half an hour, each perfect for a situation and actor. This mystery is solved by the fact that Laxmikant would always place his fingers on the notes Sa and Pa, the only achal (fixed) notes in the sargam, on his harmonium, and not actually play it. “With this, a musician is freed from the 12-note scale of the instrument and can freely access all the 22 shrutis constituting the Indian music scale in his ear to come out fast with diverse tunes!” explains Deepak Raja, eminent musicologist.
Laxmikant’s dedication to his art was such that he went to his music room even immediately after his wedding, and had no honeymoon! But this uneducated man, who rose from being a slum dweller to be one of the few music makers in Hindi cinema to own a bungalow, laid a big premium on education. He had learnt to speak functional English, and when he made a 10-minute speech in Singapore, where L-P had staged a show, he described it as his “greatest achievement in life!
I was not reading from any paper. I was speaking what I was feeling!” he revealed with pride. And when his daughter Rajeshwari became the star student of her school, he was beside himself with joy and pride.
Laxmikant’s friends went beyond associates, to include eminent doctors, professionals, sportsmen and politicians. He was always warm and cordial and never badmouthed even those who had wronged them. Totally secure in his field, he was also selfless enough to want to present L-P’s assistant Rajesh Roshan in a film that, however, did not take off. And whenever I met him, he would always talk about everything from family to the latest showbiz gossip and ignore wife Jaya’s call to go in for a timely dinner!
His take on Pyarelal was uniquely respectful. “Pyare is the only complete composer in this industry!” he once told me. “He can read and write both Indian and Western notations, compose, arrange, conduct and record music. With minor tweaks, he could convert my 25-paise tune to a one-rupee song!”
Laxmikant would be the epitome of encouragement to newbies, especially singers. This creator of limitless classics and ‘signature tunes’ (the first song that comes to mind on thinking of an actor or actress) and the leader even today in re-created songs, was a pure artiste who had worked up from rags to riches. And so he never learnt to graciously give in when it was time for others to take over, after L-P had ruled for 25 years! He took everything to heart and did not have the foresight to adapt to a fact of life.
After all, the legend lived for his music. And 25 years down, his music lives on.