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 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. Career 1975–1984: Early years 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