Amit Trivedi

Biography

Amit Trivedi is an Indian composer, musician, singer and lyricist born in Mumbai in 1979 and active in the Hindi film industry known as Bollywood. He has become one of the most recognised film composers in Hindi cinema over the past two decades, moving between mainstream commercial projects and more experimental scores.

As a young man he was drawn first to electronic instruments and then gradually to classical music. At college he joined a band called Om, playing local gigs and television shows. After one of its performances caught the attention of Times Music, the label offered to release an album, but the record drew little attention because it was poorly promoted. Trivedi then wrote music for theatre productions in Hindi, English and Gujarati, background scores for television, dandiya shows and advertising jingles for brands such as McDonald's and Airtel. After training as a sound engineer, he worked at a recording studio run by Arvind Vishwakarma.

He made his film debut with Aamir (2008), on the recommendation of Anurag Kashyap. His breakthrough came with Dev.D (2009), which earned him the National Film Award for Best Music Direction and the Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent. Since then he has scored films such as Queen, Udta Punjab, Secret Superstar and Andhadhun, earning several Filmfare nominations for Best Music Director. He remains active in Bollywood and in independent music under his own label, AT Azaad, and his work is notable for the range of styles he brings to each project.

Key films

• Dev.D (2009): his music for this film earned him his first major national recognition.
• English Vinglish (2012): a family drama score that blends pop melodies with more traditional songs.
• Queen (2014): the music accompanies a young woman's journey through Europe and remains one of his most popular compositions.
• Andhadhun (2018): a thriller in which the music is part of the narrative tension.