श्याम बाबू पाठक

Shyam Babu Pathak (1908 – 23 November 1980) was a Hindi film music director and composer born in Gwalior. He began training in music at the age of seven and received the blessings of the noted Hindustani vocalist Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, going on to perform at musical gatherings hosted by regional nobility before moving into film music.

His early breakthrough as a film composer came through Sunrise Pictures' Malan and Ghar Sansar (both 1942), following earlier work on Rani Sahiba (1940) and Torpedo (1941), and continuing with Lajwanti (1942) and Pyara Watan (1942). Through the mid-to-late 1940s he scored Double Face (1946), Black Market (1947), and Namak (1947) in collaboration with lyricist Indeevar, as well as Kismatwali (1947) and Taqdeerwale (1948). His compositions were noted for soulful, classically-rooted melodies built around Hindustani instrumentation, placing him in the same stylistic circle as contemporaries such as S.N. Tripathi.

A high point of his career came with Kishore Sahu's Hamari Duniya (1952), whose soundtrack — featuring playback by Lata Mangeshkar — remains one of his most celebrated works. He continued composing into the following decades, with later credits including Bombay Central (1960) and Mehbooba (1965). Shyam Babu Pathak died in Bombay on 23 November 1980 at the age of 72.