Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant, known as Salim - Sulaiman, are brothers who were born in an Ismaili Muslim family and brought up in Bhuj, Gujarat. Their father Sadruddin Merchant, was a music director in the Telugu Film Industry and inspired Salim and Sulaiman's passion for music.
While Salim learnt the piano at school and mastered it at Trinity School of Music, London, Sulaiman took up tabla and was mentored by Taufiq Qureshi and Zakir Hussain. They started their music career composing for ad jingles and producing non-film albums, "Ragga Raaga" (1993), featuring K.S. Chitra and The Voodoo Rapper, being an early hit.
Their break in Bollywood came, when film director Sanjay Gupta, who used to work in the same building as them at that time, overheard one of their ad jingles and asked them to compose a sog for "Hamesha" (1997). They had to wait for six long years, to get their first solo work though - "Darna Mana Hai" (2003).
Their credibility grew over the years as Salim - Sulaiman composed music for films like "Dor" (2006), "Aaja Nachle" (2007), "Fashion" (2008), "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" (2008), "Kurbaan" (2009) and "Band Baaja Baarat" (2008). Apart from this, they also composed the background score for several film, while continuing to compose for ad jingles.
The duo has composed for Indi-pop performers like Viva, Asmaan and Sweta Shetty. The duo have also appeared as judges in many reality TV shows.
Salim - Sulaiman won the Filmfare Best Background Score Award for "Krrish" (2006).
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