Noted music composer Raam Laxman of Hum Aapke Hain Koun fame dies at 79

Veteran music composer Vijay Patil, better known as ‘Raamlaxman’, passed away in the wee hours of Saturday in Nagpur after a brief illness. He was 79. He breathed his last at around 1 am, according to Nagpur Today. The music composer was living with his son in the city. His last rites will be performed today at 12 pm. Raam Laxman was known for composing the music for hit films like Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Hum Saath Saath Hain, 100 Days among many others. Marathi actor-filmmaker Dada Kondke first signed him up as music composer for his film “Pandu Havaldar” in 1974. Patil then composed music for several other films produced by Kondke, including ‘Tumcha Amcha jamla’, ‘Ram Ram Gangaram’ and ‘Bot Lavil Tithe Gudgulya’.

Lata Mangeshkar expressed her condolences on the veteran composer’s demise and shared on Twitter, “I just learned that the extremely talented and popular music composer Raam Laxman ji (Vijay Patil) has passed away. I am very sorry to hear this. He was a great man. I sang many of his songs which got very popular. I pay him my respects.”Lata Mangeshkar gave vocals to popular Raam Laxman songs like “Maye Ni Maye”, “Didi Tera Dewar Deewana,” “Kabootar Ja Ja Ja” among many others. Born as Vijay Patil, he was Laxman of the Raam Laxman duo. His partner Surendra, Raam of the duo, passed away in 1976 soon after they signed the film Agent Vinod. In his over four-decade-long career, Patil composed music for more than 150 films in Hindi, Marathi, and Bhojpuri languages. Born on September 16, 1942, at Nagpur, Patil had taken his initial lessons in music from his father and uncle. He later studied music at the Bhatkhande Shikshan Sanstha.