The Vangaurds: Anand-Milind

This music duo, like Husanlal Bhagatram and Kalyanji Anandji, are real brothers. They inherited the legacy of music from their legendary father, Chitragupt. He was the most educated composer of the film industry in the 50's and 60's. He composed one of the most soulful melodies sung by Lata Mangaskar. Unfortunately, he was over shadowed by the top composers of that era, S D Burman, Shankar Jaikishan an others. Lata had great regard for this modest and unsung composer Chitragupt and was instrumental in naming Milind of the Anand Milind duo.

Chitragupt Shrivastava was a lecturer in Patna University. His passion for music was such that he left his lectureship and went to Bombay to try his luck in the film industry. He assisted veteran composer S N Tripathi. Tripathi, impressed by Chitragupt's passion, advised him to compose for films in independently. Chitragupt got his maiden break in Wadia's Lady Robin Hood in 1946. Later, Chitragupt did half a dozen films with AVM Productions. In spite of several hit films, he couldn't get the same popularity as others of his time. He decided that he would keep his children away from Bollywood. But Anand Milind were a chip of the old block. They took keen interest in music – Anand became an excellent piano player and Milind mastered the guitar. When Chitragupt's health started deteriorating and he looked for an assistant, his sons came forward.

While they were assisting their father they got an offer for a film Ab Aayaga Maza in 1984. This film was produced by two top TV serial actors Girja Shankar (Dhritrasthra) of Mahabharata fame and Alok Nath (Haveli Ram) of Buniyaad. The film did fairly well at the box office. Few compositions of Anand Milind became very popular, Solah baras ki kamsin umaria (Kishore/Asha), Gaadi ke neeche aake kat jaungi and 400 volt ki ladki (Udit narayan and Pankaj Mitra). The lyrics were also penned by young lyricist Sameer.

In 1986, Anand Milind gave music in three films Jalwa starring Nasreeduddin Shah, Archana Puran Singh, Saeed Jafiri and Tajeshwar Singh (a popular Doordarshan English News Reader of 80's). The film was again directed by Pankaj Parashar. The film did good business and stood out for Anand Milind's introduction of indi-pop singers Alisha Chinoy, Sharon Prabhakar and Remo. Pop tracks of this film, Let's do it (Alisha Chinoy) Feelling hot hot (Sharon Prabhakar) and the title track Ye hai jalwa (Remo) became extremely popular among the younger generation.

Their next film was Peechha Karo starring Farooq Sheikh, Roma Manak, Anupan Kher, Amjad Khan and Kalpna Aiyyar. The lyrics were penned by Sameer who teamed with Anand Milind and they did several films together. Its number Mujh per goli na chala (Asha) and Rama Rama (Kishore/Asha) and the title track Peechha karo by their favourite Sharon Prabhakar. Tan Badan was the debut film of Govinda. Sameer wrote six hit songs for the film. Its number Gale lag ja (Suresh Wadekar/Anuradha Paudwal) and Krishana krishana (Udit Narayan/Chorus) and Main bhi jawan hoon (Sharon Prabhakar) became chartbusters of that year.

In the year 1988, Anand Milind tasted real success with Qamayat Se Qamayat Tak. The film was a block buster of that year and was Anand Milind's first film with lyricist Majhrooh Sultanpuri. Hits of the film were Akale hum to kya ghum hai, Ae mere hum safar (Alka Yagnik/Udit Narayan). The chart buster and the song of the year was Papa kahte hain bada naam karega (Udit Narayan). Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was on the number one of the top ten films of 1988. This film bagged them their First Film Fare Award. The same year saw their two films being released Shiva Shakti and Wo Phir Aayegi. In 1989, they gave music in Ab Meri Bari.

When Gulshan Kumar decided to launch his first film Lal Duppata Malmal Ka, he entrusted its music to Anand Milind. The film was a super hit and its music became equally popular that year. In the mean time, the duo brought out video albums of pop singer Sharon Prabhakar singing indi-pop Shabash Sharan and Shararat. These albums got a huge response from young pop music lovers. They also did a Telgu film Venella Rani.

In 1990, Anand Milind came back with a bang in Indra Kumar's Dil starring Amir Khan, Madhuri Dixit. The film became a super duper hit because of its melodies. Na jane kahan dil kho gaya in two versions, Dum dum dama dum, Hum pyaar karne wale, Hamne Ghar chhoda hai (Udit Narayan/Anuradah Paudwal), O Priya Priya (Suresh Wadkar/Anuradha Paudwal) Khambhe jaisi khadi hai again in two versions (Udit Narayan). Dil was again on number one of top ten films of 1990. Their two other films, Baaghi was on number six and Swarg on number nine.

Baaghi starring Salman Khan and Nagma had nine songs. Anand Milind's scintillating compositions were Kaisa lagta hai (Amit Kumar/Anuradha Paudwal), Ek chanchal shokh haseena (Abhijeet/Chorus), Tap tap tappori (Amit Kumar/Anand/(Chitra Gupta), Mang teri saja du main (Amit Kumar) and more.

Swarg starred Rajesh Khanna, Govinda and Madhuri. The duo and Sameer gave hits like, Kaise kate din (Mohammad Aziz/Anuradha Paudwal/Chorus), Tum sajna ke ghar (Mohammad Aziz/Amit Kumar/Anupma Deshpande) and more.

The Golden era of music was till the early seventies. Thereafter, the film industry was totally transformed. Sex and violence took the front seat and melody was pushed back. The films of the late-seventies and mid-eighties demanded provocative and intoxicating item numbers. At that juncture, Gulshan Kumar started toying with idea of remixing vintage music. Here, we must mention another name that became a human catalyst in the industry.

The man was Amarjeet Singh Kohli, a highly placed government official who took voluntary retirement to pursue film music. He was in true sense the first impresario of Delhi. He organised more than 500 live shows in the memories of veteran singers K L Saigal, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, to mention a few. Many aspiring young talent were noticed through these shows. Gulshan Kumar used to be the Chief Guest. He heard Babla Mehta, Vipin Sachdeva, Sonu Nigam, Vadana Vajpayee and Priyamvada.

Gulshan Kumar picked some of them to sing his remix version songs. Later, some of them became playback singers. Gulshan Kumar also introduced new voices Anuradha Paudwal, Kumar Sanu and composers Anand Milind and Nadeem Sharvan. All of them dominated the music scenario for more than two decades.

Anand Milind were of course on cloud nine with their musical hits Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Dil.

The 1990s truly belonged to Anand Milind and Sameer. After Dil, they repeated the same performance with Inder Kumar's Beta. Its numbers were Dhak dhak karne laga, Koyal si teri boli, Saiyan ji chupake, Sajna mein teri (Udit Narayan/Anuradha Paudwal) and Khusiyon ka din aaya (Anuradha Paudwal). Madhuri Dixit got the tag of Dhak Dhak Girl after this film.

Anand Milind did several hits with director David Dhawan. In 1993 they gave music in Bol Radha Bol starring Rishi Kapoor, Juhi Chawla. The film had hits like Hawa sard hai (Abhijeet/Kavita Krishnamurthi) Main hun gaon ki gori, Tu tu tu tu tara (Kumar Sanu/Poornima) and its title track Bol radha bol (Suresh Wadkar/Sadhna Sargam). Raja Babu (1994) too had hits – Aaja yaad sataye (Kavita Krishnamurthi/Udit Narayan), Ui amma ui amma (Poornima), Sarkaee lo khatiya (Kumar Sanu/Poornima) and Mera dil na todo (Abhijeet/Poornima).

Coolie no. 1 (1995) starring Govinda, Karishma Kapoor too had popular hits such as Aa jana aa jana (Kumar Sanu/Alka Yagnik) Jeth ki duphariya mein (Kumar Sanu/Poornima) and title track Coolie no. 1 (Kumar Sanu). Hero no. 1 (1997) had popular number like, Main tujhko bhaga laya hoon (Kumar Sanu/Alka Yagnik), Sona kitna sona hai (Udit Narayan/Poornima), Tum ham pe marte ho (Vinod Rathore/Sadhna Sargam) and its cult song UP wala thumka lagaun (Sonu Nigam). Dulhe Raja (1998) starring Govinda, Raveena Tandon, Kadar Khan and Prem Chopra was memorable with the song of the year such as Ankhiyon se goli mare (Vinod Rathore/Jaspinder Narula) and other popular number such as its title track Dulhan to jayagi dulhe raja ke saath (Vinod Rathore/Anuradha Paudwal) and Qawwali song Kahan raja bhoj kahan gangu teli (Sonu Nigam/Vinod Rathore) another popular number was Kya lagti hai, hai rabba (Vinod Rathore).

Besides David Dhawan and Govinda, their film Jigar (1992) also needs special mention. The film had star cast of Ajay Devgn and Karishma Kapoor and was directed by Farooq Siddiqui. Its popular number were Pyaar ke kagaj pe (Abhijeet/Sadhna Sargam), Ek pal ek dil (Pankaj Udas/Sadhna Sargam), Mere dil ko qaraar (Udit Narayan/Sadhna Sargam), Log barso juda ho ke (Kavita Krishnamurthi), Aaye hum barati (Kumar Sanu/Kavita Krishnamurthi).

Anand Milind also had a chance to work with legendary Hrishikesh Mukherjee in his last film and veteran lyricist Anand Bakshi. Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kate (1998) was memorable as was its title track by Shymak Davar and popular number Badi mushkil hai (Vinod Rathore/Udit Narayan/Alka Yagnik/Abhijeet).

In the new millennium they started getting competition from young music composers. They had 214 films to their credit. Anand Milind confessed that fifty films were close to their heart and they enjoyed working with lyricist Sameer (915 songs). They are still active and giving music.