By Vibhendu Tewari
This post was triggered by discussions on the longevity of careers following Ilaiyaraaja’s recent completion of 50 years as a music composer. Career spans are vulnerable to the vagaries of time – death, illness, and changing public tastes cutting several careers short. Then, there are some late bloomers, who have shorter productive phases.
Here, we have arrived at a list of artists who have had relatively long career spans (40 years and more), from their debut to their last release, or to their death, whichever happened earlier. This list has been compiled using MySwar data. The debut year considered is typically the year of release of their first film. In case the specific debut film is not known and there are multiple releases in the year of their debut, one of the releases has been mentioned. A similar logic is used for the year of last release as well. For living artistes, who are still active up to 2025, either the last known release has been considered, or in case of an artiste having multiple films or albums in 2025, a representative title has been chosen.
Since films have long gestation cycles, it might also translate into songs being released years after they were first recorded. There have been cases like Veer Zaara (2004) and Chand Grahan (1997), where previously unreleased material has been repurposed and released decades after the artist passed away. For this exercise, the last releases considered have been only up to three to four years after the death of the respective artists. Since for the departed artistes, we are anyway capping the career span to the year of their deaths, this exclusion does not make a material difference.
But even for living artistes, there could be cases of an older recording being released or an unreleased album resurfacing. Then there are cases of songs being remixed or recreated, or simply being repurposed for sequels, etc. For example, Usha Mangeshkar’s song for Bal Ganesh (2008) was also used in Bal Ganesh 2 (2009). For this exercise, Bal Ganesh (2008) has been considered her last release. Remixes and recreations using older material are not considered at all.
We have limited ourselves to Hindi films throughout this exercise. So the very catalyst for this discussion, Ilaiyaraaja, features only past Sadma (1983), though some of his earlier films were dubbed into Hindi, especially in the wake of the runaway success of Ek Duje Ke Liye (1981), several of Kamal Haasan’s films with music by Ilaiyaraaja were dubbed into Hindi.
Also, long career spans may not always mean prolific careers. Several artists on this list had long sabbaticals, both forced and unforced. Naushad, who tops the list of music directors with the longest career span, had an unhurried pace, even in his prime, and has had only sporadic releases from the late 60s onwards till his death in 2006, though he remained active socially and in the media, and took only selective assignments. Khayyam, the composer having the second longest career span in this list, had four distinct career phases – the first few years as Sharmaji as part of the duo Sharmaji – Varmaji, a solo career with not much going commercially for him till the mid-70s, a prolific and successful phase triggered by the success of Kabhi Kabhie (1976), and then the last not so prolific phase slowed down by age.
There are certain artists featured on the list whose sabbaticals were dictated by changing styles. Rajkumari, who started in the Saigal era in the 30s, had virtually no songs after the early 1950s, and then had two songs in the 1970s in Pakeezah (1972) and Kitaab (1977). Shamshad Begum and Surendra also had periods of longish lull after much much-storied careers and then an occasional release. Lyricists like S.H. Bihari and Asad Bhopali had a late resurgence in their careers just before their deaths, caused by the success of Pyar Jhukta Nahin (1985) and Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), respectively.
But mostly, the names on this list signify staying power, resilience, and the ability to reinvent themselves.
Here are the top five artists with the longest career spans:
- Asha Bhosle – 75 years (and counting!)
- Lata Mangeshkar – 70 years
- Gulzar and Naushad – 65 years
- Manna Dey and Khayyam – 64 years
- Yogesh – 56 years
The complete list of Hindi film music artists with career spans of 40 years or more:
Music Directors
| MD | Debut Year | First Film | Last Release Year | Last Film | Year of Death | Career Span |
| Naushad | 1940 | Prem Nagar | 2005 | Taj Mahal – An Eternal Story | 2006 | 65 |
| Khayyam | 1949 | Parda | 2013 | Bazaar-E-Husn | 2019 | 64 |
| Ravi | 1955 | Vachan | 2003 | Ek Alag Mausam | 2012 | 48 |
| Anu Malik | 1978 | Hunterwali 77 | 2024 | Swatantrya Veer Savarkar | 46 | |
O.P. Nayyar | 1949 | Sehra Se Door | 1994 | Zid | 2007 | 45 |
| Bappi Lahiri | 1973 | Nannha Shikari | 2018 | Mausam Ikrar Ke Do Pal Pyar Ke | 2022 | 45 |
| Usha Khanna | 1959 | Dil Deke Dekho | 2003 | Dil Pardesi Ho Gayaa | 44 | |
| Ravindra Jain | 1972 | Kaanch Aur Heera | 2016 | Anna: Kisan Baburao Hazare | 2015 | 43 |
| S.N. Tripathi | 1941 | Chandan | 1983 | Agent 1 2 3 | 1988 | 42 |
| Chitragupt | 1946 | Lady Robinhood | 1988 | Shiv Ganga | 1991 | 42 |
| Salil Chowdhury | 1953 | Do Bigha Zamin | 1995 | Mera Damad | 1995 | 42 |
| Rajesh Roshan | 1974 | Kunwara Baap | 2016 | Kaabil | 42 | |
| Laxmikant – Pyarelal | 1963 | Parasmani | 2004 | Meri Biwi Ka Jawab Nahin | 41 | |
| Raamlaxman | 1976 | Agent Vinod | 2016 | Brahmaand Nayak Saibaba | 2021 | 40 |
| Ilaiyaraaja | 1983 | Sadma | 2023 | Music School | 40 |
Lyricists
Playback Singers
Leave a Reply