Kalyanji Anandji

Kalyanji-Anandji
Genres	Film score
Occupation(s)	Composer, music director, orchestrator, conductor
Years active	1954–2000

Kalyanji–Anandji are an Indian composer duo from Gujarat: Kalyanji Virji Shah (30 June 1928-03 November 2000) and his brother Anandji Virji Shah (born 02 March 1933). The duo are known for their work on Hindi film soundtracks, particularly action potboilers in the 1970s. Some of their best-known works are Don, Bairaag, Saraswatichandra, Qurbani, Tridev and Safar. They won the 1975 Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for Kora Kagaz.

Kalyanji and Anandji were children of a businessman who migrated from Kutch to Bombay (now Mumbai) to start a grocery and provision store. The brothers began to learn music from a music teacher, who taught them in lieu of paying his bills to their father. One of their great-grandparents was a folk musician of some eminence. They spent most of their formative years in the Mumbai locality of Girgaum amidst Marathi and Gujarati environs and among some eminent musical talent that resided in the vicinity.

Kalyanji started his career as a musician, with a new electronic instrument called the clavioline. which was used for the famous "Nagin Been," used in the film Nagin (1954) which had the music of Hemant Kumar. Kalyanji then, with his brother Anandji, started an orchestral group called Kalyanji Virji and Party which organised musical shows in Mumbai and outside. This was the first attempt made for holding live musical shows in India.

Kalyanji Anandji's arrival in the Bombay film industry as music composers was a turning point. When big music directors like S.D. Burman, Hemant Kumar, Madan Mohan, Naushad, Shankar Jaikishan and Ravi were ruling the Hindi film music world – and it was a golden period of film music – it was very tough to make a place amongst them. Still they came and won the hearts and minds of Indian people.

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