Malik had more hit songs such as "Dil Diwane Ka Dola Dildaar Ke Liye" from Tahalka (1992) and "Is Pyar Se Meri Taraf Na Dekho" from Chamatkar (1992). Nadeem-Shravan became the top music director duo of Bollywood during this time and it allowed new music directors to gain more prominence during the early 1990s.
While initially recording music under the typical 1970s and 1980s style, Malik switched to his trademark music style with the soundtrack of Maa with the songs "Maa Hi Mandir" by Mohammad Aziz and "Aaine Ke Sau Tukde" by Kumar Sanu. He earned acclaim for his music in Awaargi (1990) which featured the famous ghazal "Chamakte Chand Ko Toota Hua" sung by Ghulam Ali. He had many soundtracks throughout the following years without much success. "Julie Julie" became a huge hit and the film emerged as a major success at the box office. However, it would lead to several collaborations with Sanu in the future. This soundtrack also marked the first time that he collaborated with Kumar Sanu to record a version of "Julie Julie" with Kavita Krishnamurthy which was not included in the film. He recorded two more songs for the soundtrack, "Salaam Seth Salaam Seth" and "Rab Roothe Roothe". Kumar's son Amit Kumar was then called on for the song but he did not arrive as well and then the film's lead actor Mithun Chakraborty recommended Malik to sing the song. In 1987, Malik began playback singing while recording a song "Julie Julie" for Jeete Hain Shaan Se when Kishore Kumar did not show up for recording the song. During this phase, his song "Apno Me Mai Begana" from Begaana became a hit and gained a cult following. Malik introduced Mohammad Aziz in Mard and Aziz frequently collaborated with Malik in his various soundtracks. Burman, Kalyanji-Anandji and Laxmikant-Pyarelal at the time. Malik began getting more recognition and more work after his success in 1984 as he got more soundtracks throughout the mid-1980s but was unable to find a footing in Bollywood due to the rule of R.D. 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. 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. He would then compose music for Harmesh Malhotra's subsequent films Poonam (1981), Aapas Ki Baat (1981) and Mangal Pandey (1982), as well as Ek Jaan Hai Hum (1983) but all these soundtracks went unnoticed and the films were box office failures. The soundtrack went unnoticed but it marked the beginning of his lengthy association with Asha Bhosle, who recorded two songs for the soundtrack. Malik began his career as a music director with Hunterwali 77 in 1977 with the stage name Annu Malik.