Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar

Laxmikant–Pyarelal
Laxmikant (left)- Pyarelal (right)
Background information
Also known as	LP, Laxmi–Pyare
Genres	Film score, Fusion music
Occupation(s)	Composer, music director, orchestrator, conductor
Years active	1963 (1963)–1998

Laxmikant–Pyarelal were a popular Indian composer duo, consisting of Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar (1937–1998) and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma (born 1940). They composed music for about 635 Hindi movies from 1963 to 1998, working for almost all notable filmmakers.

Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar, was born on the day of Laxmi Puja, on 3 November 1937. Probably, because of the day of his birth, his parents named him as Laxmikant, after the goddess Laxmi. He spent his childhood amidst dire poverty in the slums of Vile Parle (East) in Mumbai. His father died when he was a child. Because of the poor financial condition of the family he could not complete his academic education either. Laxmikant's father's friend, a musician himself, advised Laxmikant and his elder brother to learn music. Accordingly, Laxmikant learned to play the mandolin and his elder brother learned to play the tabla. He spent two years in the company of the well-known mandolin player Hussain Ali. He began organising and performing in Indian Classical Instrumental Music concerts to earn some money. Later, in the 1940s, he also learned mandolin from Bal Mukund Indorker and violin from Husnalal (of the Husanlal Bhagatram fame). Laxmikant began his film career as a child actor in the Hindi films Bhakt Pundalik (1949 film) and Aankhen (1950 film). He also acted in some Gujarati films.

Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma (born 3 September 1940) was the son of a renowned trumpeter Pandit Ramprasad Sharma (popularly known as Babaji), who taught him the basics of music. He started learning violin at the age of 8 and practised it 8 to 12 hours daily. He learnt to play violin from a Goan musician named Anthony Gonsalves. The song "My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves" from the movie Amar Akbar Anthony is regarded as a tribute to Mr. Gonsalves (the movie had music by Laxmikant–Pyarelallal). By the age of 12, his family's financial condition had deteriorated, which in turn forced him to earn money by playing in studios. Pyarelal then used to frequent and play the violin in studios such as Ranjit Studios, to earn money for his family.

When Laxmikant was about 10 years old, he once played mandolin in a Lata Mangeshkar concert in Radio Club, Colaba. Lata was so impressed that she talked to him after the concert.