Rajesh Roshan was born on May 24, 1955 to the well-known music director Roshanlal Nagrath. When he was hardly twelve years old, his father passed away and his mother Ira Nagrath enrolled him under Ustad Faiyaz Ahmed Khan Saheb to learn music. He debuted in Bollywood when he was just 19 for Mehmood's film "Kunwaara Baap" (1974) and immediately got noticed with songs like "Aari Aaja Nindiya Tu" and "Saj Rahi Gali Meri Amma". He followed it up the very next year with "Julie" (1975) whose music was quite successful.
Some of his other successful films in the 1970s include "Doosara Aadmi" (1977), "Inkaar" (1977) - albeit for only the one hit song "Mungda", "Swami" (1977), "Des Pardes" (1978) and "Baaton Baaton Mein" (1979). It was Rajesh Roshan who introduced Amitabh Bachchan as a singer for the song "Mere Paas Aao Mere Doston" in the film "Mr. Natwarlal" (1979).
The 1980s saw a few sucesses like "Yaarana" (1981), "Kaamchor" (1982), "Khudgarz" (1987), "Khoon Bhari Mang" (1988). The decade saw the Roshan family consolidating, while the first half of the 80s had Rajesh Roshan composing films in which his brother Rajesh Roshan acted, with "Khudgarz", he started composing for films directed by his brother.
Hits were few and far between in the 1990s with sporadic successes like "Karan Arjun" (1995). The Roshans persistence paid off eventually with the mega-hit "Kaho Na Pyar Hai" (2000) which launched Rajesh Roshan's song Hrithik Roshan. He even won the Filmfare Award for the film, a good twenty five years after he won his first Filmfare Award for "Julie" (1975). He continues to compose music, mostly for the Roshan's home production Filmkraft but has not been able to replicate his earlier successes.
Some of his popular songs are "Ka Karoon Sajni" ("Swami", 1977), "Jab Koi Baat Bigad Jaye" ("Jurm", 1990) and "Bhool Gaya Sab Kuch" and "Dil Kya Kare" ("Julie", 1975). While Rajesh Roshan has a substantial body of work that include many hits, his legacy remains marred by several charges of plagiarism.
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