Kalyanji Virji Shah and Anandji Virji Shah made the spellbinding duo music composers - Kalyanji Anandji. They are known for their work on Bollywood film soundtracks, particularly action scripts in the 1970s. Some of their best works of Kalyanji Anandji are Don, Saraswatichandra and Safar. Kalyanji and Anandji were born to a wealthy businessman who travelled from Kutch to Mumbai to start a prospering grocery and provision business. The two brothers began to learn music from an Indian music teacher. One of Kalyanji and Anandji`s fore-grand parents was a folk musician of some distinction. They spent most of their youthful years in the region of Girgaum, which is a district in Mumbai amidst Marathi and Gujarati ambience and also amidst some eminent musical talent that lived in the locality.

Early Life of Kalyanji - Anandji
Kalyanji started his musical career with a new electronic instrument called the Clavioline. This instrument was used as the famous "nagin been" and used in the film Nagin (1954). The musical stalwart Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay had given the music of this film. Kalyanji then along with his brother Anandji started an orchestral group and named the duo as Kalyanji Virji and Party. This team organized musical shows in Mumbai and outside. This was the first endeavour made for holding live melodious shows in India.

Career of Kalyanji Anandji
Kalyanji Anandji`s advent in the Mumbai Film Industry as music composers was a whirling point for the musical industry. The duo created a special niche for them even when celebrated music directors like S.D Burman, Hemant Kumar, Madan Mohan, Naushad, Shankar Jaikishan were dominant in the music world in Hindi films.

Kalyanji Virji Shah had his first hit film was - Nirupa Roy hit, Samrat Chandragupta (1959). The songs of this film include `Chahe Paas Ho` (Lata - Rafi), which is remembered to this day. He did a few more films like Post Box 999 the official joining of Anandji. The official duo Kalyanji Anandji started with the film Satta Bazar and Madari (1959). Chalia (1961) was their major hit in the early days. In 1965 two important scores, Himalay Ki God Mein and Jab Jab Phool Khile, established them as composers to reckon with. Kalyanji-Anandji`s music was full of variety and different kinds of notes. They have done together some of the topmost songs of almost all genres. Both Kalyanji and Anandji worked as music composers for more than 250 films, 17 of which were considered as Golden Jubilees and 39 to be Silver Jubilees.

Apart from music composing, the duo was also engaged in various charitable activities such as organising concerts for various NGOS and several charitable institutions in India and abroad. They worked along with some of the unforgettable names in Bollywood, like Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Rekha, Sridevi and many others

Kalyanji-Anandji are also credited with discovering new talents such as Manhar Udhas, Kumar Sanu, Alka Yajnik, Sadhna Sargam, Sapna Mukherjee, Udit Narayan, Sunidhi Chauhan. They also helped to introduce great lyricists like Anand Bakshi, Gulshan Bawra, Anjaan, Verma Malik and M G Hashmat.

The music compositions of Kalyanji and Anandji from 1970s were launched amidst the Western audience by three albums.`Bombay The Hard Way: Guns Cars And Sitars` was a blended album put together by US DJ Dan The Automator; `Bollywood Funk` was an Outcaste assemblage album put together by Sutrasonic DJs Harv and Sunni. John Lewis compiled `The Beginners Guide to Bollywood` from Time Out magazine.

Kalyanji Anandji worked in close association with Prakash Mehra in films like Zanjeer, Haath Ki Safai, Hera Pheri, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Laawaris, Ghungroo, Imaandaar and Jaadugar. They worked with Manoj Kumar for film including Upkar and Purab Aur Paschim. Kalyanji Anandji also worked with Feroze Khan for films like Apradh, Dharmatma, Qurbani and Jaanbaaz. They were also influential in the contemporary music trends and thus worked with Manmohan Desai for films including Chaliyaa, Bluff Master and Sachcha Jhuta.

On August 24, 2000, Kalyanji expired. His dream of training new and young talents and promoting them is still carried on by Anandji in the name of Little Stars.

Awards and Honours of Kalyanji Anandji

Cine Music Directors Award - 1965 - Himalay Ki God Mein
1st National Award - 1968 - Saraswatichandra
Filmfare Award - 1974 - Kora Kagaz
1st Platinum Disc by HMV - Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978)
1st Platinum Disc by Polydor - Qurbani (1980)
IMPPA Award - 1992 - For Contribution to Films
Padmashree by the Government of India - For Outstanding Contribution
IIFA Award (South Africa) - 2003 - Lifetime Achievement Award
Sahara Parivar Award (United Kingdom) - 2004 - Lifetime Achievement Award
BMI Award (United States) - 2006 - For Grammy Award winning rap song "Don`t Phunk with My Heart"