Anu Malik

Anwar Sardar "Anu" Malik (born 2 November 1960) is an Indian music composer, singer, music arranger and score composer.

He is an Indian National Award and Filmfare Award winning musician, who primarily composes music for the Hindi film industry.

He is the son of Sardar Malik.

As a music director, he has composed music for various genres of films, and has created several commercially successful songs for the Hindi (Bollywood) film music industry.

Malik is also known for the use of the tabla in some of his songs, including "Taal Pe Jab"' and "Mere Humsafar" from the film Refugee, "Tumse Milke Dilka Jo Haal" from Main Hoon Na, "Eli Re Eli" from Yaadein and "Baazigar O Baazigar" from the film Baazigar.

Malik's song "Chamma Chamma" from China Gate was used in the Hollywood film Moulin Rouge! starring Nicole Kidman.

Malik originally composed music in the same style as other music composers during the 1970s and 1980s.

Malik began his career as a music director in 1975 for comedian-turned-filmmaker Mohan Choti's film Hunterwali 77 (1977) with the stage name Annu Malik.

Malik's father Sardar Malik composed songs for the film, with Anu composing only one song "Zulm O Sitam Par Itrane Wale" for the film, sung by Asha Bhosle.

The soundtrack went unnoticed but it marked the beginning of his lengthy association with Bhosle.

He would then get his first full soundtrack for Harmesh Malhotra's film Poonam (1981) on the recommendation of playback singer Shailendra Singh, whom Malik befriended after listening to the music of Bobby.

The film failed at the box office but some songs were noticed, namely "Main Hoon Haseena", "Mohabbat Rang Laye Gi" and "Aa Zara Mere Humnasheen", featuring his rare collaborations with singer Mohammad Rafi, who passed away within days after recording the songs.

Malik continued his collaborations with Harmesh Malhotra with films Aapas Ki Baat (1981) and Mangal Pandey (1982).

He also composed music for other films like Paagal Premee (1982) and Ek Jaan Hai Hum (1983) but the films were box office failures.

A few songs of the latter film "Dil Lagana Tum Kya Jano", "Aasmaan Pe Likh Doon" and "Yaad Teri Aayegi" received some recognition.

In 1983, Malik sang his first song as a playback singer "Beete Huay Lamhe" for Nigahen (1983), with music composed by his father Sardar Malik.

Anu Malik gained his first exposure in 1984 with Aasmaan which featured catchy tracks such as "Banke Nazar Dil Ki Zubaan" rendered by Kishore Kumar and "Time Bomb" rendered by Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar, which received critical acclaim.

His next soundtrack for the film Sohni Mahiwal released later that year was a huge success and earned him his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.

Malik began getting more recognition and more work after his success in 1984 as he got more soundtracks throughout the mid-1980s but was unable to find a footing in Bollywood due to the rule of Bappi Lahiri, R.D. Burman, Kalyanji-Anandji and Laxmikant-Pyarelal at the time.

During his struggle phase, Malik composed his first Indipop album Jadoo (1985) featuring the vocals of playback singer Alisha Chinai as her first private album.

Later that year, Malik got his first mainstream breakthrough with Manmohan Desai's film Mard which got Malik noticed in Bollywood for the first time.

Malik introduced playback singer Mohammad Aziz in Mard and Aziz frequently collaborated with Malik in his various soundtracks.

As a result, Malik received more offers to compose songs for films.

During this phase, his song "Apno Me Mai Begana" from Begaana became a hit and gained a cult following.

In 1987, Malik began full-time playback singing while recording a song "Julie Julie" for Jeete Hain Shaan Se when Kishore Kumar did not show up for recording the song.

Kumar's son Amit Kumar was then called for the song but he did not arrive as well and then the film's lead actor Mithun Chakraborty recommended Malik to sing the song.

He recorded two more songs for the soundtrack, "Salaam Seth Salaam Seth" and "Rab Roothe Roothe".

This soundtrack also marked the first time that he collaborated with Kumar Sanu to record a version of "Julie Julie" with Kavita Krishnamurthy which was not included in the film.

However, it would lead to several collaborations with Sanu in the future.

"Julie Julie" became a huge hit and the film emerged as a major success at the box office.

He had many soundtracks throughout the following years without much success.

He earned acclaim for his music in Awaargi (1990) which featured the famous ghazal "Chamakte Chand Ko Toota Hua" sung by Ghulam Ali.

However, in 1990, Malik began changing his music style on the recommendation of Anuradha Paudwal which would become his trademark style.

Early songs in that trademark style included "Maa Hi Mandir" by Mohammad Aziz and the hit song "Aaine Ke Sau Tukde" by Kumar Sanu from Maa (1991), "Hum Nahin To Tum Nahin" and "Teri Zulfein Shaam Si Roshan" from Ramgarh Ke Sholay (1991), "Jaanam Jaanam Jaanam" from Virodhi (1992) and "Choone Se Tere" from Dil Ne Ikraar Kiya (1992).

Other hit songs during that period included "Dil Diwane Ka Dola Dildaar Ke Liye" from Tahalka (1992) and "Is Pyar Se Meri Taraf Na Dekho" from Chamatkar (1992).

It was during this era that he also modified his name to Anu Malik.

The year 1993 marked a turning point in Malik's career as it was the most successful year of his career at that time.

Malik was a judge on Indian Idol from its first season in 2004 until 2018 when he left after "Me Too" allegation.

He returned as a judge for the show's 11th season in 2019, but left after three weeks, and he was one of the judges for part of the 12th season.

He also was a judge for the children's reality singing show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs 2022.