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Laxmikant-Pyarelal: The Unique Bond
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 Together, they were spelt L-P, which in musical connotation means a Long-Playing Record - an apt term for them. Their glorious saga ended when Laxmikant succumbed to pancreatitis on May 25 ten years ago, though technically their last releases were Jai Hind in 1999 and Mere Biwi Ka Jawaab Nahin in 2004.
Never mind the current overdrive of their good friend and competitor R.D.Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal remain the most successful, the most enduring (25 years of their 33-year career was as Numero Uno composers), the most versatile and the most prolific composers in the history of Hindi cinema at 487 soundtracks (including six regional across Marathi, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu).
 Most industry sources called the duo the monarchs of film music, others called them a school, while still others considered them as musical institutions. The sustained and unparalleled success that they saw in qualitative terms alone was mind-boggling, and L-P's associations with filmmakers ranged from 5, 10 and more films and anything up to 20 years in time-spans.
Lata Mangeshkar (almost 700) and Mohammed Rafi (about 400) recorded more songs with them than with any other composer, but the point, as always with L-P, was not the quantum but the sheer quality and range they exhibited in their work and the challenges they gave to the singers, like making Lata sing a disco song. They were the only composers to make Kishore sing ghazals, qawwalis and even a mujra.
 Two more standout features about L-P need mention: one, that they have introduced (Shailendra Singh, Narendra Chanchal, S.P.Balasubramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sukhwinder Singh, Roopkumar Rathod) and given career-defining breakthroughs (Anuradha Paudwal, Manhar, Nitin Mukesh, Pankaj Udhas, Alka Yagnik, Alisha Chinai, Ila Arun, Sudesh Bhosle, Vinod Rathod, Mohammed Aziz) to more singers than anyone else. When Mukesh and Mohammed Rafi faced inexplicable career lulls, it was their films Milan and Amar Akbar Anthony that catapulted them back, never to have lulls again.
The second aspect is that more actors have their signature tunes (their first song that comes to mind) or most popular songs with the composers. To give just two examples, Mumtaz is first known for Bindiya chamkegi (Do Raaste) and Kamal Haasan for Tere mere beech mein (Ek Duuje Ke Liye).
Veteran singer Mahendra Kapoor adroitly points out how their greatest quality was "class", despite the fact that during their entire innings they probably gave more mass chart-toppers and heart-stoppers than anyone else. Says the singer, 'L-P's music was never about commonness and never crass. Their greatest hits usually had something new, experimental or innovative to offer, and this was there even in their less-popular songs.'
Young singer Roopkumar Rathod points out how the same musicians would feature in the same studio (every recording studio had distinct acoustics) and play the same instruments but the standout L-P punch just would not come under other composers! 'It was amazing, the magic in their songs, whether it was in Pyarebhai's orchestration or in Laxmikant's composition and vocal nuances.'
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