Sonik–Omi are composer duo consisting of Manohar Lal Sonik and his nephew Om Prakash Sonik.
Om Prakash, was born in Sialkot in 1939. his father was a real estate dealer and mother was a house wife. He had eight brothers and 2 sisters. He was in his early school days when the country got partitioned. His family moved to Delhi. His uncle Manohar Lal Sonik, who used to work in a 'Musical Dance Party' led by Jung Bahadur Bakshi, brother of renowned actor Om Prakash. Manohar Lal was blind.Manohar Lal, later, started working with composer
Pt. Amarnath, as an assistant. Om Prakash
moved to Bombay in late 1940s at the age of eight. Later he partnered with his uncle Manohar Lal Sonik, to work as music composer duo. Om Prakash was a chorus singer and then assistant to music director Roshan before branching off as a music director. Sonik Omi, in 1966, debuted with Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya. The film was a success and songs of the film were also received well with the audience.
They did not get any good offers even after the success of their first film, they refuse to accept the mediocre offers which come theri way. After a wait of two years, they signed Aabroo in 1968. After that they got few more projects like Mahua and Saawan Bhadon. The songs did fairly well but they were still not satisfied with the kind of films they were getting. Duo to financial constraints they started accepting whatever came their way, including low budget stunt films, featuring, Joginder,like, Bindiya Aur Bandook, Do Chattanen and Fauji etc. They tried their best but they were stamped as a B grade music composers.
In their career of over 23 years they composed music for over 100 films. They collaborated with all the big artists of their time.
A few of the songs they have composed music for include “Aai Aai Re Holi” (“Aabroo”, 1968), “Dono Ne Kiya Tha Pyar Magar” (“Mahua”, 1969), “Kaan Mein Jhumka” (“Sawan Bhadon”, 1970), “Wafa Ke Naam Par” (“Ladki Pasand Hai”, 1971), “Yaad Rahega Pyar Ka” (“Umar Qaid”, 1975) and “Jeewan Path Pe” (“Agar”, 1977).
Their partnership was broken with the death of Manohar Lal Sonik in 1993. Om Prakash kept on working after that as well but there were hardly any offers which came his way. Omi largely remained away from Bollywood but composed certain non-film and private albums, religious music and other genres of music.
Omiji died on 7th July 2016 at a private hospital in Mumbai. He was 77 and is survived by his son Som and daughter Sudha.
