Anand–Milind

Career

Anand–Milind debuted in Ab Aayega Mazaa (1984) and rose to fame after the success of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988). The film's successful songs include "Papa Kehte Hain","Ghazab Ka Hai Din", and "Akele Hai To Kya Gham Hai". The music for "Akele Hain To Kya Gum Hai" is an exact reproduction of the instrumental number Return to the Alamo by the band The Shadows. The same year also saw the moderate success of the horror flick Woh phir Aayegi.

Collaborations

Their collaboration with Gulshan Kumar yielded several music success's like Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka, Ayee Milan Ki Raat and Sangeet. Sangeet and Dhanwan with director K. Vishwanath, are amongst their finest works. Anand–Milind mostly found loyalists in producers Nitin Manmohan and Nandu Tolani, who repeated them in almost all their projects throughout the 1990s. With Nitin Manmohan, the duo delivered hits in Maha-Sangram, Baaghi, Adharm, Bol Radha Bol, Laadla, Eena Meena Deeka, Army and Chal Mere Bhai. With Nandu Tolani, they worked on hits like Yaad Rakhegi Duniya, Swarg, Raja Babu, Mr. Bechara and Banarsi Babu. They also had a good track record with producer-director Suneel Darshan, for whom they conjured hit music in Lootere (1993) (produced by Suneel Darshan and directed by Dharmesh Darshan), Ajay (1996) and Jaanwar (1999). They also delivered hits with Vashu Bhagnani in films like Coolie No. 1 and Hero No. 1 and were regulars with producer Dr. D. Rama Naidu with hit scores in films like Rakhwala, Prem Qaidi, Santaan, Anari and Taqdeerwala.

They also composed more modern songs for Rakshak: "Shehar Ki Ladki" and "Sundara Sundara". They formed a hit-team with Ashok Honda in films like Anth, Rakshak and Krodh.

Other Directors

Anand–Milind have worked with several big names in their career. These include Pankuj Parashar, Mansoor Khan, Indra kumar, David Dhawan, K Bhagrajya, K Vishwanat, Hrishikesh Mukherji, J P Dutta (shelved film called Chooriaan), Mehul Kumar, Raj Kanwar, Mukul S Anand, Dharmesh Darshan, K Murli Mohan Rao, Priyadarshan, Mohan Kumar, Harmesh Malhotra, Pramod Chakraboty, Prakash Jha, MEHUL KUMAR, Amol Palekar among others

Style

Anand–Milind styled their music mostly based on Indian melodies and folk tunes. Their compositions bore some resemblance to the Laxmikant-Pyarelal school of music, in the early 1990s, resulting in most of their compositions between 1988-1995 being popular in the interiors and rural India, even today. In fact, Laxmikant-Pyarelal loyalists like Mohan Kumar, Harmesh Malhotra, K. Vishwanath, Ashok Ghai, Boney Kapoor, to name a few, opted for Anand–Milind in the 1990s over Laxmikant-Pyarelal for their new projects.

Later, they went on to be influenced by some tunes by maestro Illayaraja, and the beats and style from these songs formed a major part of their arrangements. So much so, that a lot of their tunes began sounding alike. This was one of the main reasons for their downfall in the late 1990s from the immense popularity they achieved during the early 1990s, giving room to new composers and their fresh compositions.

Guest composers

As guest composers, Anand–Milind made an impact with Tanhaai in Dillagi and Saawan Barse Tarse Dil in Dahek. Apart from this, they have also appeared as guest composers in films like Jaanam Samjha Karo, Chotta Chetan, and Rakht.

Telugu cinema

In the south, they created the highly successful and critically acclaimed soundtrack for the Telugu film, Idi Maa Ashokgadi Love Story.

Lyricists (Before 2000)

Anand–Milind and lyricist Sameer created more than 950 songs together. Almost every film had Sameer doing the lyrics, until their fallout (see the Controversy section for details).

The other lyricists with whom Anand–Milind mostly worked were Majrooh Sultanpuri and Anand Bakshi. They created Indian melodies with folkish influences for Raj Kanwar's Jaan (1996). They also created a several love ballads and the popular Shiamak Davar title track for Hrishikesh Mukherji's Jhoot Bole Kauwa Kaate. Anand Bakshi worded both these albums. Other hits with Anand Bakshi included Aazmayish, Pehla Pehla Pyaar and Chhupa Rustam: A Musical Thriller. With Majrooh Sultanpuri, they created the award winning Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Laal Dupatta Malmal Ka, Tum Mere Ho, Naam Kya Hain, Daulat Ki Jung and two songs in Dahek, Saawan Barse which turned out to be popular.

They teamed up with Dev Kohli, Nitin Raikar, Santosh Anand and Deepak Chowdhary as well for many a hit songs.

Govinda and David Dhawan

Anand–Milind continued to write music throughout the 1990s for various directors. However of all their works, they are best remembered for their association with director David Dhawan and actor Govinda.

They collaborated with David Dhawan on several hit soundtracks such as Swarg, Bol Radha Bol, Raja Babu, Eena Meena Deeka, Loafer, Coolie No.1, Hero No. 1 and Chal Mere Bhai. They also composed hits for Govinda in Maha Sangram, Swarg, Jaan Se Pyaara, Baaz, Raja Babu (film), Kismat, Coolie No. 1, Chhote Sarkar, Hero No. 1, Banarasi Babu, Dulhe Raja, Rajaji, Aunty No. 1, Akhiyon Se Goli Maare and Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen.

Madhuri Dixit and Anand-Milind

Anand–Milind have composed some of Madhuri Dixit's popular dance numbers. I Love You (Maha-Sangram), Saal Ke Barah Mahine (Phool), Main Kunwari Hoon (Sangeet) and Chane Ke Khet Mein, Barson Ke Baad and Kolhapur Se Aayi Hoon (Anjaam) are some of the hits they composed for Madhuri Dixit. They also composed Dum dama dum Dil and the smash-hit Dhak Dhak Karne Laga Beta for Madhuri Dixit, though this was a copy of the hit Ilayaraaja song Abbani Teeyani Debba starring Sridevi. They also composed the soul stirring Raat Mehke and the melodious Kehdo Ek Baar Sajna (Mrityudand).

Choice of singers

Unlike their biggest competitor, Nadeem-Shravan (who worked with selected favorites), Anand–Milind worked with and introduced a lot of playback singers. They initially recorded a few songs with Kishore Kumar. They also worked with legends Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. Then in 90 they have worked a lot with singers Kumar Sanu, Amit Kumar & S P Balasubramanyam. It's common knowledge that Anand–Milind re-introduced Udit Narayan and Abhijeet. They also heavily promoted Poornima and worked with Sapna Mukherjee on a regular basis. Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sadhna Sargam and Anuradha Paudwal were regulars. Anand–Milind also continue to work with veterans like Suresh Wadkar. They also worked with S. Janaki, Hariharan and KS Chithra. Chithra recorded her first Hindi soundtrack under the music direction of Anand–Milind (Love 1991). Ghazal singers Jagjit Singh, Anup Jalota, Pankaj Udhas and Manhar Udhas have also recorded few songs with the duo. Anand–Milind also teamed up on several occasions with Amit Kumar (in the early 1990s). Their combination yielded many hits.

Anand–Milind also worked with Vinod Rathod a lot in the 1990s, making him the voice of Govinda in hit songs for films like Raja Babu, Banarasi Babu, Hero No. 1 and Dulhe Raja, to name a few. They also recorded with Jolly Mukherjee, Alisha Chinai and Sukhwinder Singh. Sonu Nigam was a favorite in the late 1990s and they teamed up for many a hit numbers. Anand himself sang a few songs. Pop singers Sunita Rao and Shweta Shetty have also recorded for them on several occasions. The qawali-pop king Altaf Raja recorded a few hit songs (all for films starring Mithun Chakraboty) under their supervision. Sudesh Bhosle has also been behind the microphone for the duo for several films. For the more folksy tunes, their first choice was always Sapna Awasthi over Ila Arun, with whom they recorded just one song. Anand–Milind also recorded a number of songs with the then child artist Aditya Narayan and also worked on many songs with Jaspinder Narula. Anand–Milind also managed to get south maestro Yesudas to record a song for them in the 1997 film Daayra. They also promoted Gayatri Iyer (Gayatri Ganjawala) in films like Loafer, Insaaf, Daanveer, Muqaddar and Tum Hi To Ho.

But Anand–Milind also promoted a lot of new talents whose careers never took off. Sharon Prabhakar is one of them.

Anand–Milind also got a lot of actors behind the microphone. Aamir Khan recited a few lines for the song Papa Kehte Hain (Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak), Aditya Pancholi for Dhak Dhak (Maha Sangram), Anupam Kher joined Amit Kumar for the song Aao Ji Aao (Mera Pati Sirf Mera Hai), Neelam recited a few lines in the title song of the film Ek Ladka Ek Ladki, Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan crooned the title track of the film Chal Mere Bhai and recently Raghubir Yadav recorded a song for the yet to be released film, Yeh Khula Aasman.

Actor Aroon Bakshi also recorded many hit songs under Anand–Milind's music direction, which were mostly picturised on the main hero. Some of these include Tuna Tuna (Adharm), Jhule Jhule Lal (Jai-Kishen), filmed on Akshay Kumar, Mera Mehboob (Gopi Kishen), filmed on Sunil Shetty, Tha Tha Tha filmed on Ajay Devgun (Platform) and Boi Boi (Laadla), to name a few. Actor-Director Sachin sung a song for the duo, for the shelved film directed by him, for ABCL, called Naam Kya Hain. Veteran lyricist Anand Bakshi also recorded a song for the film Jaan (for which he also worded the songs) composed by them.

With changing times, Anand–Milind now opt for the newer breed of singers and have done a good amount of work with KK, Sowmya Raoh, Shaan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal, Kunal Ganjawala, June Banerjee, Monali Thakur, Rahul Seth and Richa Sharma.

Crossover Cinema

Anand–Milind recorded a single for their first crossover film Tie The Knot in July 2013, produced by Sanjiv Kumar and directed by Shuja Paul. This Hinglish number called Don't Tie The Knot, is written by Asif Baig and rendered by Gayatri Ganjawala.

Awards

Television

Anand–Milind composed the title track and the theme music for the popular detective serial Karamchand, which hit prime time Indian television, during the late 1980s. Pankaj Parashar, the director of this extremely popular television series, directed Anand–Milind's music in four films, Ab Aayega Maza, Peecha Karo, Jalwa and Inteqam.

Anand–Milind also composed the theme track for Lehren, a film based video-magazine, which released in several volumes in the late 1980s through the early 1990s. Lehren showcased film parties, film events and also reviewed new film releases. It also covered features on forthcoming films and was hugely successful while it was produced.

Anand–Milind also appeared as judges in a few episodes of India's first singing, talent-based show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, around the final season, before it joined the "voting-by-viewers" bandwagon to compete with Sony television's Indian Idol.

Anand–Milind have also composed the theme music for the period-fantasy drama Chandramukhi, directed by Sunil Agnihotri, who also directed them in films like Jai-Kishen and Ali Baba Aur 40 Chor.

Controversies

Anand–Milind had their share of controversies. When Alka Yagnik's songs in the film Dil were dubbed by Anuradha Paudwal, Alka Yagnik did not work with the duo for almost 2 years, only to patch up in 1993 and record close to 200 songs.

Kavita Krishnamurthy and Anand–Milind have never worked together post 1996. The reason for this was Kavita Krishnamurthy's decision to not accompany Anand–Milind on a musical tour. Neither have confirmed this though.

They copied tunes by south maestro Illayaraja's compositions in several of their films like Love, Dil, Beta, Anari, Taqdeerwala etc. on the insistence of the directors and producers of these films.

Anand–Milind were replaced in two projects. In Jaanam Samjha Karo, Anu Malik replaced them, though one song composed by them was retained (which was sung by Alka Yagnik) and in Dahek, Aadesh Shrivastava replaced them, with two of their songs being retained. They expressed their displeasure to this practice, but the producers insisted on multiple composers. Anand Raj Anand was brought in as a guest composer in two other films composed by Anand–Milind, Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare (also featuring songs by Daboo Malik and Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen) and Jaani Dushman - Ek Anokhi Prem Kahani (which also had one song by Sandeep Chowta). Ironically, despite their protests, Anand–Milind themselves appeared as guest composers in two films, Rakht, which had Anand Raj Anand, Shaan and Naresh Sharma sharing credits and the re-released version of Chota Chetan, which had music by Illayaraja, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Anu Malik, along with Anand–Milind.

After having worked on almost 950 songs, Anand–Milind and Sameer parted ways in 2000 (after Chal Mere Bhai) and a delayed 2004 release of Police Force when Anand–Milind felt that Sameer wasn't giving their films the attention it deserved. During this gap, Anand–Milind worked with lyricists like Ibrahim Ashq, Salim Binjori, Praveen Baharadwaj and Jalees Sherwani. The cold war thawed at Sameer's book release function where the lyricist reminisced about his association with Anand–Milind. "At the event, Sameer mentioned that he had written 950 songs with us and only around 400 with Nadeem-Shravan. I immediately messaged him saying let's add another 50 and make it a thousand; it will be a record. He agreed promptly," says Milind. They re-united with a Bhojpuri film called Sajan Sangh Laagi Laganiya Re and Idiot Box (2010).

Trivia

Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, who worked with Anand–Milind's father Chitragupta, gave Milind his name.

Anand–Milind created a record of sorts by completing 100 films in 1994, most of which were composed between 1990-1994.

Anand–Milind were signed to do the music of Pahlaj Nihlani's ambitious project Indian which was all set to star Sunny Deol and Aishwariya Rai. They even composed a few tunes but the film was shelved. Sunny Deol however, was very impressed by one song Tanhaai sung by none other than Pakistani qawali maestro Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and decided to use the song from Indian in his maiden directorial venture Dillagi.

Dhak Dhak Karne Laga (Beta (film)), composed by the duo, was incorporated in the Rohan Sippy directed film Nautanki Saala(2013). The song was rearranged by Mikey McCleary and sung by Saba Azad, Geet Sagar, Bruno Carvalo, Santosh Sawant as opposed to the original singers Udit Narayan and Anuradha Paudwal, the latter who won the Filmfare award for the best female playback singer for this song in 1993.

Another Madhuri Dixit hit dance number, I Love You from Mahasangram was included in Ram Gopal Varma's Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon.

Anand–Milind worked with ace director J. P. Dutta for a film called Chooriyaan starring Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon. The film was ultimately shelved. However, one song from the film was used in the Sanjay Dutt-Raveena Tandon starrer Vijeta. The song in question is the highly melodious and tuneful duet, Sherrie Main Ho Gaya Deewana, sung by Abhijeet and Kavita Krishnamurthy.

Anand–Milind have worked with internationally renowned director Shekhar Kapur in Dushmani: A Violent Love Story, starring Sunny Deol, Manisha Koirala and Jackie Shroff. Due to differences with the makers, Shekhar Kapur walked out of the project, midway.