Amit Trivedi born 8 April 1979 is an Indian music director, singer and a lyricist. As a contemporary music director, he is well known for his versatility. Amit’s work ranges from angry rock, authentic classical, honey-soaked melodies to novel fusion music. 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, and was noticed for his critically acclaimed work in the Hindi film Dev.D (2009), which earned him several awards, including the 2010 National Film Award for Best Music Direction.
Early life
Trivedi was born in Bandra, Mumbai, India to a traditional Gujarati family. Growing up, his only connect with music was devotional songs and Gujarati folk. His native city is Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Career
In his younger days, an electronic musical instrument fascinated Trivedi and he was slowly drawn towards music, mainly influenced by classical music. At 19–20, he began composing music. In college days, he joined the band Om, who performed at local gigs, small shows and live performances. They struck gold when Times Music 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 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 and Airtel. After sound engineer and Audio Garage Recording Studio owner Arvind Vishwakarma introduced Trivedi to Sony BMG, 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’s debut album. He arranged for many musicians including Amartya Rahut for a Marathi film Uttarayan in 2004.
Film music eventually came his way, when friend and playback singer Shilpa Rao suggested his name to film director Anurag Kashyap. The latter 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’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”, “O Pardesi” and many more. He was conferred with both the R. D. Burman Award and the Best Background Score at the Filmfare Awards 2010, before receiving the National Film Award for Best Music Direction, the highest recognition for Indian composers. Trivedi wrote the score for Wake Up Sid (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, a team owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya. Between scoring for films, Trivedi also wrote the title track for the reality show Big Switch aired on UTV Bindaas. He also provided the music and background score for the ensemble romantic comedy-drama Aisha (2010), which also had him providing vocals for two songs, “Suno Aisha” and “Sham”. Recently, 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).
He has made TV appearances for various shows aired on MTV. Also, he composed title track for the television show Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi, hosted by Amitabh Bachchan.
Live performance
Amit Trivedi will be sharing stage along with the likes of Katy Perry, Dua Lipa, Ritviz and The Local Train at OnePlus Music Festival. There was a Coke Studio concert at IIM Bangalore on 22 November 2013, featuring Amit Trivedi along with Tochi Raina, Shriram Iyer, Tanvi Shah, Mili Nair and Jaggi. He also performed for the Bacardi NH7 Weekender (music festival) which happened in Pune, Delhi, and Hyderabad. In January 2016, he performed at Quo Vadis, the annual fest of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi. On 1 February 2016, he performed at Spring Fest, the annual festival of IIT Kharagpur along with the likes of Neeti Mohan, Yashita Sharma and Divya Kumar. He performed at Chembur Gymkhana on 4 March 2017. He performed on 19 March 2017 at Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar. On 26 March 2017, he performed along with Jonita Gandhi and Divya Kumar (singer) at Aura, the annual festival of Gogte Institute of Technology. He also composed a nation song incorporating all his popular genres and celebrating unity through an amalgamation of folk music from different states of the nation at the Mirchi Music Awards held in 2017. On 20 January 2018; he performed for the first time in Navi Mumbai at SIESONS, SIES College (Nerul) with Jonita Gandhi, Shashwat Singh, Arun Kumar and Yashita Sharma. He has also performed in “Kashiyatra” IIT BHU Annual Fest on 21 January 2018; the very next day. He performed at K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering for their annual cultural festival Symphony on 7 February 2018, and his performance also included the launch and first-ever live performance of Padman’s title track ‘Aaj Se Teri’. He also performed in “Engifest”, the Delhi Technological University Annual Fest on 16 February 2018. He also performed in “Riviera” in VIT University on 17 February 2018. He performed in Synapse (Gujarat’s largest cultural fest) at DA-IICT, Gandhinagar on 24 February. He performed at the Hindu College for their fest “Mecca” on 16 March. In October 2018 he also performed at the annual cultural fest of IIT Roorkee,”Thomso”. His performance at IIT Indore during Fluxus – Annual Techno-Cultural fest of IIT Indore on 17 February 2019 was highly appreciated by the crowd and considered one of his best live performances. He performed recently at the Vibrance 2019 (VIT Chennai’s annual cultural fest) on 21 February. He is currently managed by Tarsame Mittal Talent Management for his live shows.
Filmography
Music
| Year | Film | Director | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Aamir | Raj Kumar Gupta | 6 Songs | |
| Anthiponvettam | AV Narayanan | Malayalam film, (one song only) | ||
| 2009 | Dev.D | Anurag Kashyap | All songs | |
| Wake Up Sid | Ayan Mukerji | Background score + 2 Songs | ||
| 2010 | Striker | Chandan Arora | One Song | |
| Admissions Open | K.D.Satyam | |||
| Udaan | Vikramaditya Motwane | All songs | ||
| Aisha | Rajshree Ojha | |||
| 2011 | I Am | Onir | 5 songs | |
| No One Killed Jessica | Raj Kumar Gupta | All songs | ||
| Chillar Party | Nitesh Tiwari, Vikas Bahl | |||
| Trishna | Michael Winterbottom | one of the composers | ||
| 2012 | Ishaqzaade | Habib Faisal | All songs | |
| Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu | Shakun Batra | |||
| English Vinglish | Gauri Shinde | |||
| Aiyyaa | Sachin Kundalkar | |||
| Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana | Sameer Sharma | |||
| Pehla Sitara | Owais Hussain | |||
| 2013 | Kai Po Che! | Abhishek Kapoor | All songs | |
| Bombay Talkies | Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee | |||
| Ghanchakkar | Raj Kumar Gupta | |||
| Lootera | Vikramaditya Motwane | |||
| 2014 | Queen | Vikas Bahl | ||
| 2015 | Bombay Velvet | Anurag Kashyap | ||
| Guddu Rangeela | Subhash Kapoor | |||
| Highway | Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni | Marathi Debut | ||
| Shaandaar | Vikas Bahl | All Songs | ||
| 2016 | Fitoor | Abhishek Kapoor | ||
| Udta Punjab | Abhishek Chaubey | |||
| Dear Zindagi | Gauri Shinde | |||
| 2017 | Qaidi Band | Habib Faisal | ||
| Secret Superstar | Advait Chandan | |||
| Rukh | Atanu Mukherjee | |||
| 2018 | Pad Man | R. Balki | ||
| Raid | Raj Kumar Gupta | Background score & 2 songs | ||
| Blackmail | Abhinay Deo | 4 songs & collaborating first time with rapper Divine for a song “Badla” | ||
| The Extraordinary Journey Of The Fakir | Ken Scott | 3 songs | ||
| Bhavesh Joshi Superhero | Vikramaditya Motwane | All Songs | ||
| Fanney Khan | Atul Manjrekar | 5 songs | ||
| Manmarziyaan | Anurag Kashyap | All songs | ||
| Andhadhun | Sriram Raghavan | 9 songs | ||
| Helicopter Eela | Pradeep Sarkar | 3 songs | ||
| Kedarnath | Abhishek Kapoor | All Songs | ||
| 2019 | India’s Most Wanted | Raj Kumar Gupta | All Songs | |
| Mission Mangal | Jagan Shakti | 2 songs | ||
| Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy | Surender Reddy | Telugu debut; All Songs | ||
| 2020 | Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl | Sharan Sharma | All Songs | |
| V | Mohan Krishna Indraganti | Telugu film; All Songs | ||
| Haseen Dillruba | Vinil Mathew | |||
| Butterfly | Ramesh Aravind | Kannada debut; remake of Queen | ||
| Paris Paris | Tamil debut; remake of Queen | |||
| Zam Zam | G. Neelakanta Reddy | Malayalam film; remake of Queen | ||
| That Is Mahalakshmi | Prasanth Varma | Telugu film; All Songs | ||
| Bulbbul | Anvita Dutt | Background music | ||
| 2021 | Maidaan | Amit Ravindernath Sharma | All Songs |
Playback singer
| Year | Title (Movie/Album/TV shows) | Songs List | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Aamir | “Ha Raham (Mehfuz)” Chakkar Ghumyo Haara |
|
| 2009 | Dev D | “Emosanal Atyachar (Brass Band Version)” Duniya Nayan Tarse Saali Khushi Aankh Micholi |
|
| 2010 | Udaan | “Geet Mein Dhalte Lafzon Mein” Udaan Motumaster Aazaadiyan |
|
| Aisha | “Suno Aisha” Shaam |
||
| 2011 | Chillar Party | “Aa Rela Hai Apun” Tai Tai Phish Ziddi Piddi |
|
| 2012 | Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu | “Gubbare” | |
| Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 | “Keh ke lunga” | ||
| English Vinglish | “Dhak Dhuk” English Vinglish |
||
| Aiyyaa | “Wakda” | ||
| Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana | “Kikli Kalerdi” Motorwada Farukha Baadi Kikli Kalerdi (Punjabi version) |
||
| 2013 | Kai Po Che! | “Manjha” Meethi Boliyaan |
|
| Bombay Talkies | “Murabba (Duet)” | ||
| Ghanchakkar | “Allah Meherbaan” Ghanchakkar Babu Ghanchakkar Babu (Remix) |
||
| Lootera | “Zinda” Manmarziyan |
||
| 2014 | Queen | “Badra Bahaar” Jugni |
|
| 2015 | Hunterrr | “Bachpan” | |
| Guddu Rangeela | “Guddu Rangeela (Title Track)” Sahebaan |
||
| Shaandaar | “Shaam Shaandaar” Senti Wali Mental |
||
| Bhale Manchi Roju(Telugu) | “Dol Dolre” | ||
| 2016 | Fitoor | “Pashmina” Rangaa Re (Hindi version) Ranga Re (English) |
|
| Dear Zindagi | “Love You Zindagi” Just Go To Hell Dil |
||
| Udta Punjab | “Ud-Daa Punjab” Vadiya |
||
| 2017 | Qaidi Band | “I am India (Escape)” | |
| Newton | “Chal Tu Apna Kaam Kar” | ||
| 2018 | Pad Man | “Hu Ba Hu” | |
| Blackmail | “Badla” Nindaraan Diyaan Sataasa |
||
| Bhavesh Joshi Superhero | “Tafreeh” | ||
| Fanney Khan | “Acche Din Ab Aye Re” | ||
| Andhadhun | “Naina Da Kya Kasoor” Laila Laila |
||
| Kedarnath | “Namo Namo” | ||
| 2020 | Big Brother (Malayalam) | “Kando Kando” | |
| V (Telugu) | “Manasu Maare”, “Vasthunna Vachesthunna” |
Awards and nominations
National Film Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Dev.D | Best Music Director | Won |
Filmfare Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Dev.D | RD Burman Award for New Music Talent | Won | |
| Best Background Score | ||||
| Best Music Director | Nominated | |||
| 2011 | Udaan | Best Background Score | Won | |
| Aisha | Nominated | |||
| 2013 | Ishaqzaade | Best Music Director | ||
| 2014 | Lootera | |||
| “Manja” – Kai Po Che! | Best Playback Singer – Male | |||
| 2015 | Queen | Best Background Score | Won | |
| Best Music Director | Nominated | |||
| 2017 | Udta Punjab | Nominated | ||
| 2018 | Secret Superstar | |||
| 2019 | Manmarziyaan | Nominated |
Star Screen Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Manmarziyaan | Best Music Director | Won | |
| 2018 | Andhadhun – Naina Da Kya Kasoor | Best Playback Singer (Male) | Nominated |
Zee Cine Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Secret Superstar | Best Music Director | Won |
Mirchi Music Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Wake Up Sid – Iktara | Listener’s Choice Song of the Year | Won | |
| 2012 | Ishaqzaade | Album of the Year | Nominated | |
| 2014 | Queen | |||
| “London Thumakda” from Queen | Best Song Producer (Programming & Arranging) | |||
| 2015 | “Dhadaam Dhadaam” from Bombay Velvet | |||
| “Teriyaan Tu Jaane” | Indie Pop Song of the Year | |||
| 2016 | “Ikk Kudi” from Udta Punjab | Music Composer of the Year | ||
| Udta Punjab | Album of the Year | |||
| 2017 | Secret Superstar |
Global Indian Music Academy Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Wake Up Sid – Iktara | Best Film Song | Won | |
| 2011 | Udaan | Best Background Score | Nominated | |
| 2014 | Lootera – Monta Re | GiMA Award for Nayi Soch | Won | |
| Lootera | Best Music Director | Nominated | ||
| 2015 | Queen | Best Music Director | Won | |
| Queen – London Thumakda | Best Music Arranger and Programmer | |||
| Best Film Song | ||||
| Queen | Best Background Score | Nominated |
Stardust Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Dev.D | Standout Performance by a Music Director | Nominated | |
| New Musical Sensation – Male | ||||
| 2010 | Aisha | Standout Performance by a Music Director | ||
| New Musical Sensation – Male |
Giffoni Film Festival
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Udaan | Best Music Score | Won |