Anandji Viriji Shah, better known as Anandji of the Kalyanji-Anandji duo, was in Bhubaneswar to receive the Akshaya Samman conferred in memory of celebrated Odia musician Akshaya Mohanty. The composer of many classics shared his memories of Kalyanji as well as views on present day music with The Telegraph. Excerpts:

You received the sixth Akshaya Samman presented in memory of Akshaya Mohanty. What are your feelings?

It is an honour to be here to receive the award in the name of such a legend. Though I had never met Akhsayaji, I have heard his music. It’s easy to understand that he was versatile, infusing both classical and contemporary music in his works. His expressions were varied and not stereotyped. I am happy to see that his followers have instituted an award in his memory and have been presenting it to artistes from all regions. This is the best way to pay tribute to a great artiste.

What are your memories of Kalyanji, with whom you scored music for over 250 films?

What can I say about such a great person! I was fortunate to have him as my cousin. He was a visionary and always guided me and groomed many musicians. He, and Mukeshji, another personality who influenced me a lot, were selfless and great people. They always promoted upcoming musicians and singers, including Laxmikant and Pyarelal.

Who is your inspiration when it comes to music?

S.D. Burman was always our inspiration. You could visualise the situation by just listening to his songs.

What is your opinion about today’s film music?

I feel there are very few songs of today that people will remember. Today’s generation is not experimenting much and all songs fall into the same genre. I liked Lagaan by Rahman and honestly felt that an Oscar for many of his other songs would have been more justified than the Slumdog Millionaire composition.

What is your advice for present day musicians?

I have often heard today’s musicians complaining about the plot and situations of films. They feel it does not give them much scope for variety. But we too had our challenges in films such as Zanjeer, Victoria 203 and Saraswati Chandra. For us, that was the challenge and we were determined to come up with variety. Today musicians, as well as singers, are all stereotyped and branded and hence talent is not visible. They must try and bring in more variety.

What is your take on reality shows for music?

There is one advantage of reality shows and that is they give a bigger platform to small-stage artistes, who will definitely become famous in their locality, at the very least. Sadly, there is too much drama and fake appreciation for not-so-good singers sometimes.

Tell us something about Little Wonders, which was an initiative by Kalyanji and yourself to groom young talents.

We groomed many talents, be it Alka Yagnik or Sunidhi Chauhan. But we have stopped now because of the change in the attitude of people. Parents come to us and say: “Zara ‘Beedi Jalaile’ sikha dijiye jaldi”. It feels like music is becoming a store where parents want to buy things for their kids.