Melodies & Memories

Some memories make songs. Some songs make memortes. Music director Anandji, of the Kalyanji-Anandjt duo, handpicks such compositions in conversation with Farhana Farook

- Farhana Farook

A nandji Vir Shah of the legendary Kalyanji-Anandji duo is in his early 90s. Yet his recall is as sharp as his wit. While Anandji misses his brother Kalyanji, who passed away in 2000, he’s glad their compositions have tremendous replay value. Known as Bade Miyan and Chote Miyan, between the ’60s and the ’80s, the pair had many firsts to their credit. They were the first to use the clavioline to play the nagin Been. They were also the first to introduce rap in Hindi music with Tumko humpe pyaar aaya (Jab Jab Phool Khile, 1965) and the first to stage music shows. Their brilliance lay in their miscellany, from the folk-based music of Saraswatichandra (1968) to the club beats in Laila o Laila (Qurbani, 1980) and Amitabh Bachchan’s Don (1978). Kalyanji-Anandji defied genres to create their own.

“When people say our music has influenced their lives, it’s a happy feeling,” says the musician, also loved for his mimicry. “We take life light-heartedly; a sense of humour is in our genes,” smiles Anandji, who’s self-confessedly emotional. “My reading of philosophy helps me in tough situations. You have to compromise in life. Samjhauta gamon se karlo,” he quotes from their inspiring track in Samjhauta (1973). The untimely loss of his daughter, Rita Valambia, in 2021 is one such tragic turn in the musician’s life. The grief has been so irrefutable that it left a million fans moved when his wife, Shanta Ben, broke down while listening to a poignant rendition of Akele hain chale aao (Raaz, 1967) on a TV show. The boundaries between art and heart melted into each other. Here, Anandji, who believes that life inspires art and art imitates life, looks back at the bittersweet moments that gave birth to certain mukhdas, antaras, and melodies…