Kalyanji Virji Shah (30 June 1928 – 24 August 2000) was the ''Kalyanji'' of the Kalyanji-Anandji duo. He and his brother

Anandji Virji Shah Anandji Virji Shah (born 2 March 1933) is an Indian music director. Together with his brother he formed the Kalyanji-Anandji duo, and won the 1975 Filmfare Award for Best Music Director, for ''Kora Kagaz''. In 1992, Anandji Shah received ...

have been famous Indian film musicians, and won the 1975

Filmfare Award for Best Music Director The Filmfare Best Music Album Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to the best composer/arranger of a soundtrack. This category was first presented in 1954. Naushad Ali was the fi ...

, for ''

Kora Kagaz ''Kora Kagaz'' ( translation: Blank Paper) is a 1974 Indian Hindi-language drama film produced by Sanath Kothari and directed by Anil Ganguly. The film stars Vijay Anand, Jaya Bhaduri, A.K. Hangal, Achala Sachdev and Deven Verma. The film's mu ...

''. He is a recipient of the civilian honour of

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

(1992).

Birth and early life

Kalyanji was born to Virji Shah, a Kutchi businessman in Kundrodi, Kutch, Gujarat, who migrated from Kutch to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

to start a ''Kirana'' (provision store). His younger brother and his wife are the husband and wife duo

Babla & Kanchan Laxmichand "Babla" Virji Shah and Kumari Kanchan Dinkarrao Mali-Shah were an Indian husband-wife musical group best known for work in the chutney music and Desi Folk music genres. They performed together for forty years until Kanchan died in 200 ...

. He and his brothers began to learn music from a music teacher, who actually knew no music but taught them in lieu of paying his bills to their father. One of their four grand parents was a folk musician of some eminence. They spent most of their formative years in the hamlet of Girgaum (a district in Mumbai) amidst Marathi and

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

environs — some eminent musical talent resided in the vicinity. Kalyanji's breakthrough was with the theme entitled ''Been music'' from the film '' Nagin'' (1954).Carlo Nardi (July 2011). "The Cultural Economy of Sound: Reinventing Technology in Indian Popular Cinema". ''Journal on the Art of Record Production'', Issue 5
, .

Filmography

Before joining Anandji Veerji Shah as

Kalyanji–Anandji Kalyanji–Anandji are an Indian composer duo: Kalyanji Virji Shah (30 June 1928 – 24 August 2000) and his brother Anandji Virji Shah (born 2 March 1933). The duo are known for their work on Hindi film soundtracks, with many evergreen songs ...

Samrat Chandragupt (1958) Post Box No.999 (1958) Bedard Zamana Kya Jaane (1959) Ghar Ghar Ki Baat (1959) Oh Tera Kya Kehna (1959) Delhi Junction (1960)

Family

Kalyanji's son, Viju Shah, is also a music director based in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

References

External links

* 1928 births 2000 deaths Filmfare Awards winners People from Kutch district Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Hindi film score composers Gujarati people 20th-century Indian composers Indian male film score composers 20th-century male musicians {{India-film-bio-stub