Anu Malik Indian Director Known for Bride and Prejudice

Early life

Anu Malik was born on 2 November 1960 in Mumbai. He attended Mithibai College in the city before moving fully into the Hindi film music business, where he would spend the rest of his working life as a composer, singer and television judge.

Career

Malik's name first appeared on a film soundtrack in the late 1970s, when he contributed a single song to Hunterwali 77 under the spelling Annu Malik. His first complete soundtrack followed with Poonam in 1981, and he continued to take assignments through the early 1980s, among them Aapas Ki Baat, Mangal Pandey, Paagal Premee and Ek Jaan Hai Hum. In 1983 he recorded his first playback song, "Beete Huay Lamhe", for the film Nigahen.

The album Aasmaan (1984) drew the first real attention to his work, and Sohni Mahiwal, released later that year, brought his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. He released an independent pop album, Jadoo, in 1985 with Alisha Chinai as its vocalist, and in the same year the songs of Manmohan Desai's Mard gave him his first mainstream hit. In 1987 he began singing regularly after he recorded "Julie Julie" for Jeete Hain Shaan Se, a song that became popular with audiences. Around 1990 he changed the style of his compositions, and the new sound carried him through the early part of the decade.

The turning point came in 1993 with Baazigar, whose soundtrack sold in very large numbers and made him one of the leading film composers in India. Over the following years he scored a long run of widely heard albums, including Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Border, Judwaa, China Gate, Soldier, Biwi No. 1 and Baadshah. He often sang on his own compositions, rapping or performing full songs in titles such as Judwaa and Deewane Huye Paagal, and he released several pop albums of his own in the 1990s. After the death of R. D. Burman, Malik completed the music for three of Burman's unfinished projects: 1942: A Love Story, Gang and Ghatak.

The year 2000 brought Refugee, Fiza, Josh and Hera Pheri among other releases, and further well-known scores followed with Yaadein, Asoka, Ajnabee, Ishq Vishk, LOC: Kargil and, in 2004, Main Hoon Na. His credits with international reach include the film Bride and Prejudice (2004) and Rock On!! (2008). His workload shrank after the middle of the 2000s, although later projects included Kambakkht Ishq, Yamla Pagla Deewana, Shootout at Wadala, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Begum Jaan and Sui Dhaaga.

Recognition

Malik won the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for Baazigar at the 1994 ceremony and a second time for Main Hoon Na in 2005. In 2001 he received a Filmfare Special Award for his work on Refugee, and the same score won him the National Film Award for Best Music Direction. For Main Hoon Na he also won a Zee Cine Award for Best Music Director in 2005, and he received another Zee Cine Award later for Dum Laga Ke Haisha. He has been nominated many times for the Filmfare music prize over his career. Later honours include a lifetime achievement award for contribution to music in 2014 and a Sur Jyotsna National Music Award special award in 2026.

Public roles

Besides composing, Malik became familiar to a wide television audience as a judge on the singing competition Indian Idol on Sony Entertainment Television. He joined for its first season in 2004 and stayed until the format moved to a junior edition in 2013. He returned when the main series came back in 2016, left in October 2018, rejoined as a judge for the eleventh season in 2019, and stepped away again after a few weeks. In 2021 he appeared as a guest on the twelfth season and later sat in as a replacement judge. He also served on the panel of the children's show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs in 2022, and he was the only Indian judge on Asian Idol, representing the Indian Idol winner Abhijeet Sawant.

Personal life

Malik is married to Anjali Vasudev Bhat. They have two daughters, one of whom is Anmol Malik.