Anwar Sardar "Anu" Malik (born 2 November 1960) is an Indian music composer, singer, music arranger and score composer. He is an Indian National Award and Filmfare Award winning musician, who primarily composes music for the Hindi film industry. He is the son of Sardar Malik. As a music director, he has composed music for various genres of films, and has created several commercially successful songs for the Hindi (Bollywood) film music industry. Malik is also known for the use of the tabla in some of his songs, including "Taal Pe Jab"' and "Mere Humsafar" from the film Refugee, "Tumse Milke Dilka Jo Haal" from Main Hoon Na, "Eli Re Eli" from Yaadein and "Baazigar O Baazigar" from the film Baazigar. Malik's song "Chamma Chamma" from China Gate was used in the Hollywood film Moulin Rouge! starring Nicole Kidman. Malik was a judge on Indian Idol from its first season in 2004 until 2018 when he left after "Me Too" allegation. He returned as a judge for the show's 11th season in 2019, but left after three weeks, and he was one of the judges for part of the 12th season. He is currently a judge for Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs 2022. Career 1974–1992: Early years and struggle phase Malik began his career as a music director in 1974 by replacing his father Sardar Malik for comedian-turned-filmmaker Mohan Choti's film Hunterwali 77 (1977) with the stage name Annu Malik. The soundtrack went unnoticed but it marked the beginning of his lengthy association with Asha Bhosle, who recorded two songs for the soundtrack including "Zulm O Sitam Par Itrane Wale". He would then compose music for Harmesh Malhotra's subsequent films Poonam (1981), Aapas Ki Baat (1981) and Mangal Pandey (1982), as well as Paagal Premee (1982) and Ek Jaan Hai Hum (1983) but all these soundtracks went unnoticed and the films were box office failures. He gained his first exposure in 1984 with Aasmaan which featured catchy tracks such as "Banke Nazar Dil Ki Zubaan" rendered by Kishore Kumar and "Time Bomb" rendered by Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar, which received critical acclaim. His next soundtrack for the film Sohni Mahiwal released later that year was a huge success and earned him his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. Malik began getting more recognition and more work after his success in 1984 as he