One of the most prolific musical duos of Indian cinema, Laxmikant-Pyarelal met when they were in their adolescence when they were noticed by Lata Mangeshkar, who recommended them to renowned musicians such as Naushad, Sachin Dev Burman and C. Ramchandra. As children of 10 and 12 years of age respectively, the two boys spent most of their time in the recording studios, either helping each other or getting work for one another. Hailing from similar financial backgrounds, they bonded very well and soon became good friends.
Upon growing up, the two assisted renowned musicians such as Kalyanji-Anandji up until 1963, while they also worked as music arrangers for various other composers like S. D. Burman and R. D. Burman to name a few. In 1963, they planned on branching out as an independent musical duo and their maiden venture did not see the light of the day, making Parasmani their debut movie. They hit a home rome with their next venture Dosti, in 1964, which, although didn't do well at the box office, went on to be remembered for its music, which won their first Filmfare Best Music Director Award.
In their almost four-decade-career, the duo composed music for as many as 635 movies and have worked with some of the biggest singers in the industry such as Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, and Asha Bhosle. Some of their most notable work has been heard in movies such as Humjoli, Abhinetri, Karz, Utsav, Shagird, Patthar ke Sanam, Bobby, Amar Akbar Anthony, Mr India, Chaalbaaz, Ram Lakhan, Khuda Gawah, and Deewana Mastana among many others.
After Laxmikant's death in 1998, Pyarelal has done some independent work and also went on to assist in arranging the music for the song 'Dhum Tana' from Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om. Some of the duo's work has been rehashed and used in recent Bollywood movies such as such as the hit song 'Hungama Ho Gaya', which was used in the 2014 Kangana Ranaut-starrer Queen, which has additional lyrics sung by Arijit Singh, and Chaalbaaz's 'Na Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai' was used in the slice of life movie Tumhari Sulu in 2017, which featured Vidya Balan in the lead.