Anu Malik

Anwar Malik, better known as Anu Malik  is a music director in the Hindi (or Bollywood) film industry. He has won the National Award for his work in Refugee. His song "Chamma Chamma" from China Gate was used in the English movie Moulin Rouge, starring Nicole Kidman, and "Chunari Chunari" from Biwi No.1 was used in Monsoon Wedding. With his work in crossover films like Bride and Prejudice, he is among the few with international projects to his credit.

The son of veteran composer Sardar Malik, Anu Malik (Anwar Malik) made his debut in 1981 with Poonam. He composed for various films like Sohni Mahiwal and Ganga Jamuna Saraswathi, but he did not get the required attention, or recognition. One of the only producers that always returned to him were FC Mehra's Eagle Films.

Anu Malik's time came in 1993. With Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Ayee, Jaanam, Sir, and Baazigar, Anu Malik had arrived. The next year, he won the FilmFare Award for Baazigar.  In 2001, he exhibited his versatility, when his work was used in movies like Aks, Fiza, Filhal and Mujhe Kuch Kehena hai (among others).

He is known to be the most versatile among the Indian music directors, giving music to almost all kinds of films, without being repetitive, which is said to be the reason for his success.

Another specialty of Anu Malik is his choice of singers and lyricists. Unlike his peers, such as Nadeem Shravan, who tend to prefer mainstream singers like Kumar Sanu and popular lyricist Sameer in all their films, Anu Malik has always tried different singers and lyricists. He was the first to use singers like Kay Kay and Sonu Niigaam as lead singers in his films, thus adding variety. Many of his hit albums do not have one single lead lyricist, but instead a host of individual lyricists. Anu Malik sometimes uses singers such as S. P. Balasubramaniam and Chitra.


Anu Malik, like many Bollywood music directors, is criticized for taking inspiration from other composers. However, Anu Malik has sometimes paid the required credits on the album cover to the original composer. He has been criticized for plagiarizing The Godfather's theme, Titanic's theme, Summer of '42's theme, Laura Allen's "Slipe and Slide", Wham!'s "Last Christmas", The Beatles's "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", Dean Martin's "The Man who Plays the Mandalino", Modern Talking's "Cheri Cheri Lady", Michael Jackson's "Thriller", Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack" and Deep Purple's "Child in Time" to name a few.