Amit Trivedi (born 8 April 1979) is an Indian
music composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and defi ...
, record producer, singer, songwriter, musician who works primarily for
Indian cinema
The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on p ...
. After working as a theatre and jingle composer and composing for non-film albums, he debuted as a film composer in the 2008 Hindi film ''
Aamir'', he gained prominence for his work in the Hindi film Music for ''
Dev.D'' (2009).
Early life
Amit Trivedi was born in
Bandra
Bandra ( æːɳɖɾa is a coastal suburb located in Mumbai, the largest city of the Konkan division in Maharashtra, India. The area is located to the immediate north of the River Mithi, which separates Bandra from the Mumbai City district. It ...
,
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
. Growing up, his only connect with music was devotional songs and
Gujarati folk. His native city is
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...
.
Career
During his early days, an electronic musical instrument fascinated Trivedi and he ultimately, in his college days, along with
Amartya Bobo Rahut, Shriram Iyer and fellow members Ram and Vish started a band known as Om the Fusion Band, who performed at local gigs, small shows and live performances. They struck gold when
Times Music
Times Music is an Indian music record label copyright music publishing company, owned by The Times Group, Headquartered in Mumbai, India. Times Music started operations in 1998 and has a catalogue of more than 60,000 tracks in all languages an ...
took notice at one of their shows and offered to launch their album. The album however did not fare well, due to lack of promotion. Eventually, Trivedi went on to compose for theatre (Hindi, English and Gujarati plays),
background music
Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...
for television shows, programming for some Marathi films, live performances,
dandiya shows, orchestras etc. He also had a brief stint composing advertisement jingles, for brands such as
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
and
Airtel. After sound engineer and Audio Garage Recording Studio owner Arvind Vishwakarma introduced Trivedi to
Sony BMG
Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...
, he began composing music for non-film albums. As a part of his two-year contract, Trivedi composed some tracks for
Abhijeet Sawant's ''
Junoon'' and one song in
Prashant Tamang
Prashant Tamang (born 4 January 1983) is an Indian singer and film actor based in Kathmandu. He was the winner of ''Indian Idol Season 3'' in 2007.[Film music
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...](_bla ...<br></span></div>'s debut album. He arranged for many musicians including Rahut, once for a Marathi film, ''Uttarayan'', in 2004.
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eventually came his way, when friend and playback singer
Shilpa Rao recommended him to
Anurag Kashyap
Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to films, the Government of France made him a Knight of the Ordre ...
, who was in search of a new composer with a distinct vision for his next film. After meeting Trivedi, Kashyap offered him the chance to compose the soundtrack to ''
Dev.D''. Although it was scheduled to be his debut, ''Dev.D'' ran into production delays and was shelved for some time.
Upon Kashyap's recommendation, Trivedi was roped in to score
Raj Kumar Gupta
Raj Kumar Gupta is an Indian film writer and director, known for his work in Bollywood, Hindi cinema. He made his directorial debut with the acclaimed ''Aamir (film), Aamir'' (2008) and has since directed the critically and commercially success ...
's directorial venture ''
Aamir''. Trivedi and Gupta worked on making the soundtrack fuse with the film narrative, resulting in an effort that garnered critical recognition.
By the end of 2008, ''
Dev.D'' was finally released. The soundtrack, released in December, consisted of 18 tracks of different genres. Trivedi dubbed the soundtrack the "baap (father) of different genres". He sang five songs on the soundtrack, and wrote the lyrics for one ("Aankh Micholi"). He shot to fame with the unusual music of ''Dev.D'', giving many chartbusters like "Emosanal Attyachar", "Saali Khushi", "Pardesi", "Nayan Tarse" and many more. He was conferred with both the
Filmfare R. D. Burman Award for New Music Talent and the
Best Background Score at the
55th Filmfare Awards
The 55th Filmfare Awards were held on 27 February 2010 at the Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai, India. The awards given for 30 categories, out of which there were 3 special awards, 3 critics awards and 24 main awards for Hindi films released in 2009 ...
, in addition to his first nomination for the
Filmfare Award for Best Music Director
The Filmfare Award for Best Music Director is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to the best composer/arranger of a soundtrack. This category was first presented in 1954. Naushad Ali was th ...
, before receiving the
National Film Award for Best Music Direction, the highest recognition for Indian composers. Trivedi wrote the
score SCORE may refer to:
*SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program
* SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network
*SCORE! Educational Centers
*SCORE International, an offroad racing organization
*Sarawak Corrido ...
for ''
Wake Up Sid
''Wake Up Sid'' is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age Comedy drama, comedy-drama film written and directed by Ayan Mukerji in his directorial debut, and produced by Karan Johar under the Dharma Productions banner. T ...
'' (2009) and one of his compositions "
Iktara" was also included in the soundtrack. In 2009 itself, Trivedi was roped in by Anshu Sharma to compose the team anthem "Game for More" for
Royal Challengers Bangalore
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru, formerly Royal Challengers Bangalore, also known as RCB, are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 ...
, a team owned by liquor baron
Vijay Mallya
Vijay Vittal Mallya (born 18 December 1955) is an Indian businessman and a former politician. He is the subject of an extradition effort by the Indian Government to return him from the UK to face charges of financial crimes in India. His last ...
. Between scoring for films, Trivedi also wrote the title track for the reality show ''
Big Switch
''Big Switch'' is an Indian television reality series which aired on Bindass. It featured very rich children, who were required to carry out various tasks designed to make them understand the value of money.
The first season, which was hosted b ...
'' aired on
UTV Bindaas. He also provided the music and background score for the ensemble romantic comedy-drama ''
Aisha
Aisha bint Abi Bakr () was a seventh century Arab commander, politician, Muhaddith, muhadditha and the third and youngest wife of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Aisha had an important role in early Islamic h ...
'' (2010), which also had him providing vocals for two songs, "Suno Aisha" and "Sham". He then composed the songs and score for ''
Ishaqzaade'' (2012) and ''
Lootera'' (2013) which earned him his second and third nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.
He then composed the soundtrack for
Vikas Bahl
Vikas Bahl is an Indian filmmaker, best known for directing Chillar Party (2011), ''Queen (2013 film), Queen'' (2013), ''Super 30 (film), Super 30'' (2019), and ''Shaitaan (2024 film), Shaitaan'' (2024).
Early life and education
Bahl was born a ...
's highly acclaimed
''Queen'' (2014), which earned him his fourth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.
He then earned three consecutive nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for his diverse compositions in ''
Udta Punjab'' (2016), ''
Secret Superstar'' (2017) and ''
Manmarziyaan
''Manmarziyaan'' () is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama directed by Anurag Kashyap and written by Kanika Dhillon. Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Vicky Kaushal, and Taapsee Pannu, it is jointly produced by Phantom Films and Aanand L. R ...
'' (2018).
He won Best Song for "Naina Da Kya Kasoor" at the
News18 Reel Movie Awards from ''
Andhadhun'' (2018). Apart from "Naina Da Kya Kasoor", he also sang "Laila Laila" for the film. In 2019, Power Brands honored him with the Best Music Director of the Year award for ''Andhadhun'' at the Bollywood Film Journalists Awards (BFJA).
Trivedi again earned two consecutive nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for his compositions in ''
Haseen Dillruba'' (2021) and ''
Uunchai'' (2022).
Trivedi was the composer of the official anthem for the
2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, which was backed by lyricist
Kausar Munir and sung by Sharvi Yadav and Anand Bhaskar. An
Indipop song, he also makes the use of
vocal orchestra therein.
He has made TV appearances for various shows aired on
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
. Also, he composed title track for the television show ''
Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi'', hosted by
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.*
*
*
*
* With a cinemati ...
. He also composed music for the 2018 film ''
Kedarnath
Kedarnath is a town and Nagar Panchayat in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, India, known primarily for the Kedarnath Temple. It is approximately 86.5 kilometres from Rudraprayag, the district headquarters. Kedarnath is the most remote ...
'' produced by
RSVP Movies
RSVP Movies is an Indian film production and distribution company established by Ronnie Screwvala in 2017.
Establishment
In 2017, Ronnie Screwvala entered the entertainment business with RSVP after his exit from UTV Motion Pictures and produced ...
and Guy in The Sky Pictures.
Live performance
Indradhanush (Concert)
Indradhanush is a live concert series by renowned Indian music director and singer Amit Trivedi, known for his genre-blending and innovative approach towards music. The concert is named after the Hindi word for "rainbow," symbolizing the variety of emotions and musical styles that define his work which have had various emotions in the music he has created over the years.
Concept and Music
The Indradhanush concert series takes audiences on a journey through the diverse musical landscapes of Amit Trivedi's career. Each performance mirrors the many "colors" of human emotion, much like a rainbow, and features a seamless blend of his Bollywood compositions and independent works. Drawing from films like Dev.D, Lootera, Queen, Ishaqzaade, Udta Punjab, Manmarziyaan, Fitoor, Qala, Andhadhun, Udaan, and many more, the concerts showcase a range of emotional depth, from soulful romance to intense drama and rebellious energy.
While his film music often reflects the narrative complexities of the stories, Trivedi's independent compositions offer a glimpse into his experimental and more personal musical expressions. This combination of well-known cinematic hits and non-film projects reflects his versatility and ability to connect with audiences across genres and moods.
Performances
Supported by a live band and an ensemble of vocalists and instrumentalists, the performances offer an immersive experience, where acoustic, rock, orchestral, and electronic elements come together to create a rich musical tapestry. Each song is enhanced by elaborate stage designs and visual effects, adding a layer of spectacle that elevates the concert experience. The dynamic energy of the musicians, combined with the powerful emotional resonance of Trivedi's compositions, creates an engaging atmosphere for the audience.
Reception
Indradhanush has been lauded for its diverse musical repertoire and the electrifying energy of its live performances. Both critics and audiences have praised the concert for its ability to merge genres seamlessly and for its high production value. Fans especially appreciate the inclusion of popular tracks from Trivedi's landmark films, as well as the opportunity to experience his lesser-known, more experimental works in a live setting.
Legacy
The Indradhanush concert series has further cemented Amit Trivedi's status as one of India's most versatile and innovative composers and singers. By combining his Bollywood compositions with his independent music, the series has expanded his appeal to a wide range of audiences and stands as a testament to his enduring impact on contemporary Indian music.
He is currently managed by Tarsame Mittal Talent Management for his live shows.
Controversy
Amit Trivedi has been accused of plagiarising music more than once. He was accused of copying the background score for Lootera from
Rachel Portman
Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman (born 11 December 1960)), a collection of original pieces for piano, violin and cello, with Portman playing the piano. In 2023 she released a second album ''Beyond the Screen – Film Works on Piano'' which features ...
's "We Had Today" track from ''
One Day'' (2011)'s original soundtrack. Despite clear evidence that a section of the musical score was directly lifted from Portman's composition, Trivedi as well as Lootera's director/producer
Vikramaditya Motwane
Vikramaditya Motwane (born 6 December 1976) is an Indian filmmaker who works in Hindi films and series. His directorial debut '' Udaan'' (2010) was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard category at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and als ...
and producer Anurag Kashyap defended the allegations as a mere coincidence.
Again, in 2015 Trivedi was accused of plagiarism. His composition of the ballad "Nazdeekiyan" for
Dharma Productions
Dharma Productions Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian film production and distribution company established by Yash Johar in 1979. It was taken over in 2004, after his death, by his son, Karan Johar. Based in Mumbai, it mainly produces and distributes H ...
' ''
Shandaar'' (2015) was suspiciously similar to popular alternative-rock band
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...
's "Oceans" from their sixth studio album ''
Ghost Stories'' (2014).
Discography
As composer
As playback singer
Awards
National Film Awards
The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...
Filmfare Awards
The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Times G ...
Star Screen Awards
Zee Cine Awards
The Zee Cine Award (ZCA) is an annual Indian awards ceremony for the Hindi film industry. They were instituted in November 1997 to award "Excellence in cinema – the democratic way".
They were first held in Mumbai until 2004, when the ZCA w ...
Mirchi Music Awards
''Mirchi Music Awards'' are presented annually by ''Radio Mirchi'' to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Hindi language film music industry of India. The awards, given in seventeen different categories, were i ...
Global Indian Music Academy Awards
Stardust Awards
The Stardust Awards was an award ceremony for Hindi movies, which was sponsored by '' Stardust'' magazine. Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. The first ceremony was held in 2004 for films released in 2003. The ...
Giffoni Film Festival
South Indian International Movie Awards
The South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA Awards) rewards the artistic and technical achievements of the South Indian film industry. It was launched in 2012 by Vishnu Vardhan Induri and Brinda Prasad Adusimilli to appreciate and hono ...
References
External links
*
Q & A With Amit Trivedi – The Composer of Dev.DThe making of Dev.D- ''Emosional Atyachar''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trivedi, Amit
1979 births
Living people
Musicians from Mumbai
Bollywood playback singers
Indian lyricists
Gujarati people
Indian pop composers
Filmfare Awards winners
Best Music Direction National Film Award winners
Hindi film score composers
Telugu playback singers
Telugu film score composers