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Born Nov 02
Anu Malik has completed 25 years in the Hindi film industry. Not bad for a music composer who started with a B grade film Hunterwali (1978) and literally grew to make music in hits like Vijaypath, Border, Akele Hum Akele Tum, Virasat, Fiza, Aks, Asoka, Filhaal, Khushi and many more (not necessarily in that order).
Anu Malik has often been accused of plagiarism - that he lives by stealing tunes from the West. Looking at the man's career, one must admit that perhaps he did initially and perhaps he doesn't now. Who can refute his original score in Asoka? In Aks? Filhaal? In 2003, his music can be heard in films by reputed banners including Sooraj Barjatya's Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, Madhur Bhandarkar's Aan and J P Dutta's LoC. In short, Malik has arrived.
Malik is thrilled to have worked with the Rajshris in Main Prem Ki Diwani (MPKD). Anu has been a fan of Barjatya ever since his first film Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) was released. Considering that the Rajshris have worked only with Raamlaxman in all their earlier productions, how did Anu manage to usurp him? Persistence paid off for Malik. He chased Sooraj till the latter heard his music and MPKD happened. It was a shot in the arm for Malik who had already lost hopes after he did not get the chance to score the music for either Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham or Devdas. The only condition from Barjatya was that the music be fresh. For MPKD, Malik has selected Ranjit Barot for sound design since they had already worked well as a team in Fiza, Aks and Asoka.
Malik had changed the way he spelt his name and that probably contributed to his luck. He replies that he did try to go the numerology way when things were not working out but has now realized that it is his work and not the spelling of his name that matters. However, during his lean phase, his albums (Kucch To Hai and Khushi) kept him going.
Today, Malik seems at peace with himself and his career. He says that while the music he composes for every project is very dear to him, he does not look back on it once it is over. He prefers to move forward - to projects like Farah Khan's Main Hoon Na, Madhur Bhandarkar's Aan and Rajkumar Santoshi's Khakee among many others. And yes, he is enormously excited about his first international project Gurinder Chaddha's Bride And Prejudice. The film has Punjabi, Hindi and English songs.
Malik says he wants to write for bands like The Backstreet Boys and the biggest names in international music. Apart from his desire to become a composer of international repute, he would also like to compose for period films too. From the looks of it, he seems poised to do just that.
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