When I arrive at his house on Mumbai’s golden strip, that forms Juhu beach, there’s renovation work going on in his drawing room and Anu is on a 20-minute phone call with producers. His man Friday, Jagdish leads me past a labyrinth of rooms and into a room where Anu’s synthesizer rests below framed images of the Goddesses Laxmi and Saraswati – Malik’s most revered deities. Anu joins me 10 minutes later and we seat ourselves on gaddis (mattresses) because Anu likes to be down-to-earth (literally!) in this room that’s close to his heart. I must hurry the interview, I am told, because unlike Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, Anu Malik generally has no time for interviews, so busy is he with his work!

His overpowering presence and deep voice notwithstanding, Anu does live very much on the edge. It has been over three decades since he entered the film industry as a stripling of 16-17 who went around introducing himself to producers as the son of music director Sardar Malik. His first hit came at age 22 with Rajiv Mehra’s Ek Jaan Hain Hum where songs like yaad teri aayegi, mujhko saka satayegi and dil, dil hai, koi sheesha to nahin busted the charts and took him on a crest of success that was consolidated by films such as Sohni Mahiwal. "I had to survive and carve my niche in a era when R.D. Burman, Laxmikant Pyarelal and Shankar-Jaikishen ruled supreme," says Anu. "Producers would ask me to give them one good reason why they should take me and not the all-powerful triumvirate. And I would give them six reasons – by humming out six different tunes!" reminisces the music director of his early days of struggle.

The right breaks did come to him and he found success after struggle, he maintains. He also insists that the struggle has never stopped, even today. "Struggle is a part of life, it’s a part of the creative process. Without struggling continuously one is dead meat," says the heavy weight composer who agrees to walk down memory lane with me in order to find out what has made him tick all these years.

"I may have been the son of a music composer but I always wanted to be my own person," he says. "I appreciated dad’s music but I knew that I wanted to be Anu Malik. The urge to be Anu Malik was the biggest driving force for my success and it has also been the source of some of my biggest problems. People say that I have loads of attitude but I have always wanted to be different. I couldn’t bear following the herd mentality and I wanted my own brand of music – which is the Anu Malik brand of music."

Something that he very obviously achieved with great success but then for him, despite all the success, it hasn’t been one continuous smooth ride, as most people would imagine. After his initial heady years of success and even after he had established himself as a composer, Anu found success slipping between his fingers. After having had some of the biggest banners and films like Manmohan Desai’s Mard Malik found that a new generation of composers had come up around 1987 onwards and that producers were shifting loyalties to them, leaving him out in the cold.

"Song tracks like Aashiqui and Maine Pyaar Kiya hit the world and producers suddenly turned their backs to me, searching for the new wave. And there I was, someone who’d worded with the biggest banners, completely out of work. On the personal front my wife had four miscarriage during this period and I was financially and professionally down. It was a horrible spell that lasted over five years," says the completely resurrected composer.

"This is the saddest part of the industry which can give you happiness and sadness both at the same time," says Malik., "At times like that you’ve got tobe strong enough to believe in God and in yourself. Often things come to a breaking point where you could tend to go wrong or take the wrong decisions. Luckily my family stood by me during this period of crisis."

"My wife grounded me to reality. She said "You have no work and no money. Either you can start drinking, smoking, and taking drugs or else you can immerse yourself in your work and wait for the good times to come again." So I had to struggle again, start from scratch. I put all my energy in my work - I cut down on my ego and went and met producers and said ‘Look, I have it in me. Let’s try all over again.’ It was starting life all over again. That low phase brought me closer to God, taught me that the film industry is just an illusion. An illusion as far as success is concerned – it changes every Friday. You may have success you may not have success, the important thing is not to let success blow you away, nor to take failures to heart. What I learnt is that neither success nor failure is permanent."

Thankfully, his best was still to come. After a couple of frustrating years, Baazigar and Phir Teri Kahaani Yaad Aayi revived the magic of Anu Malik. Just as winter is always followed by spring, the composer found his groove not only as a music composer but as a successful playback singer as well, in the years that were to follow. His hit musical scores for Vijaypath, Main Khiladi Tu Anadi, Raam Jaane, Judwaa, Border, Soldier, China Gate, Biwi No 1, and Haseena Maan Jayegi followed year in and year out, making the 90’s a super decade for him, one that took him to the A-league of music composers in the country. Though critics often lambasted him for his alleged "lack of originality" Malik stuck by his guns (and his synthesizer) and as a result went laughing all the way to the bank. Also his two beautiful daughters Anmol and Ada were born during the 1990s, giving him much awaited offspring after 10 years of agonising wait. Today he laughs, "I’m glad that my daughters were born when they were because I’m experiencing a second childhood watching them grow up now. It’s beautiful. If they had been born earlier, they would have been grown up and probably independent by now, and probably not been around with me currently".

Right now Anu Malik is completely enamoured of his family – his wife Anju and two daughters. "I’ve got four women at home – my mother, my wife and my two daughters. To me a woman is a very, very beautiful being and I’ve learnt that women are very giving and real individuals. They’re also very honest – if you offer them love, they love you back in abundance. I respect women, I adore women, I think they’re my inspiration. And I have ample inspiration coming from my wife, from my two little daughters. In a way, they’re my Muse."

Anu likes to think of his musical creativity in terms of a woman’s creativity in giving birth to a new human being. "When a mother gives birth to a child she cannot describe the feeling. When after a tune is born, it’s hard to describe the euphoria that results. I’m creating a new baby by creating a new tune every day. They thrill of creating something and hearing people hum it, is outstanding, simply amazing. To me creativity is all about being very close to God, being close to the Maker who’s given me this talent to create."