A Salute to Amit Trivedi

Now when did I sit up and take notice of Amit Trivedi? (Amit who, you ask?). It definitely wasn't after listening to Dev D songs, I know. While I enjoyed the quirky, humourous and interestingly pictured ‘Emotional Atyachaar’ song, the other songs from the album were forgettable, even though ‘Nayan tarse’ and other songs were commended at that time and the movie won him a National Award for Best Music Director (now you know).

Then there was Wake Up Sid!, which I privately designated as ‘the’ album of the year. However, at that time I did not realize that I would be doing this to all movies this guy composed music to. How does the Iktara song sound? It plays out like a forgotten, melancholy tune, arousing latent memories of rain drenched evenings and lost love, doesn't it? Kavitha Seth's strong vocals lend this song a superior quality. And not just this, but every song in the album is thoughtfully composed and set properly in to the story line.  And though I appreciated the songs tremendously, letting it play on loop where ever I went, I still didn't notice the music director. May be because I am not a great collector of trivia, and so didn't really look beyond the actors’ names. Even if I did memorize trivia, in all probability I would forget about it and would be forced to rely on Google, as was the case when I was discussing this blog post with dear friend, F, who was every bit as clueless as I was, as far as Amit Trivedi was concerned.

“He has composed music for so many songs, babes,” I said quite thrilled with my discovery.

“Oh yeah?” she asked with interest. “Which ones, J?” And I went blank. I was supposed to be writing a blog post on this guy and I could hardly remember a movie he composed music for. I managed to list probably 3 movies, of which one was wrong. That is the extent of my trivia throwing.

Speaking of trivia, did you know that he is Anurag Kashyap’s find? He was supposed to compose music for his movie Dev D and although he did compose music for the movie which earned him a National Award, it was Raj Kumar Gupta’s movie, Aamir (an excellent one) which was released first. Amit was recommended for the movie by Anurag Kashyap himself.

Udaan’s music received critical acclaim, but still did not catch my attention. Was I deaf I wonder now as I enjoy “Udaan Kab Talak” and other songs. Ah, better late than never. You see, Udaan was a small budget movie and I somehow got it into my head that only movies with good budgets can afford good music. I sorely want to scratch the previous sentence for how stupid it sounds. But it has to be left there as a reminder for me.  

Anyway, the question was not really about finding out about him, but more about noticing him among the new breed of musicians – some already stalwarts like Salim-Suleiman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal Shekar and Pritam Chaudary, another favorite of mine, and of course he has to contend with the colossal presence of A R Rahman. Even the obscure MTV Coke Studio received a sudden boost of interest the moment ARR got in. And people have been raving about his song – Zariya, which has ruled the music charts for some time now. But give me Amit’s “Chaudary,” Khari Kharior “Nirmohiya” any day.

Amit’s songs give me the feeling of reading my favorite book. Something which I had read, enjoyed and moved on; and the joy it gave me to be revisited only when I read a book as good as that. In his case, the tunes seem familiar, sometimes soothing and warm, sometimes peppy and head bobbing, arousing a certain nostalgia in me, of happy times or sad, I don’t know. But my mood improves immediately when I listen to it. His music is full of little surprises as he infuses different instruments and also genres. It flows over you, enveloping you and transporting you to some place you knew existed, but forgot all about as life took over. 

A example would be, Shaam from the movie Aisha. This sensuous, silky, just-right-for the winding down of a bon-fire party, where every one just sits around in a contented/ pensive mood and enjoys the gentle thrum of the guitar and the husky voice of the singer (Amit Trivedi),  is a song that is forever on loop in my playlist.

 Ah…well I am getting ahead of myself. I just like his songs. And mostly, all the songs he composes music for, which is a lot to expect from some of my favorite ‘big’ music directors. But perhaps he is coming of his own now, after probably a good boost from MTV Coke Studio, and so is slowly getting to be a household name. From the time I have conceived this blog, which was a month ago, till now there has been an increase in write-ups about him.

So when did I really notice his name? I think my ‘aha’ moment came when I was listening to “Dhak dhuk” from English Vinglish. The song tapped some latent memory of similar sounding songs that I have heard and loved. This song is slow and painful and yet has a playful element to it.

I did a quick search and found that not only had he composed the music, but had also sung the song. And when I checked out songs that he had composed earlier, I shook my head in disbelief. Of course, he had composed music for Wake Up Sid! and Aishaa. I tell you, that man has a way of presenting ballads that can be gut wrenching. It surely helps that he has an excellent lyricist in Swanand Kirkire for English Vinglish. Sample this: “Oh kabhi dil dhadke, baai ankh phadke,Tu na humein bhool jaaye re…” The lyrics is so simple and yet so relevant. Amazing.

English Vinglish was like the last movie I had expected this knock on the head from, as it was also touted as a low budget movie, with a first time director and an excellent actress who was making a comeback. Having a solid script and direction was crucial for this movie’s success; good music would have been the icing on the cake. Here, they scored with all three.

But the movie which inspired this blog was the totally unexpected Ghanchakkar. The movie was a box office dud but Lazy Lad and Ghanchakkar Babu were chartbusters.  Lazy Lad song messes up my head and also the Bollywood-ignorant S’s. We do not know which was better, Richa Sharma’s rustic voice which was wasted on Vidya Balan, or Amit Trivedi’s zippy music. We stopped analyzing too much as it did not lead us anywhere, except to playing the song almost every day from the time we first heard it. Still do.

Amit Trivedi seems to use singers who have rich, melodious voice and he projects that first. Or is it the other way? Does his tune enhance their voice and bring it to the front? His tunes seem to be in the background as a support for these people to mount their voice on. So though the songs are enjoyable and pleasurable, it is the singer’s voice that gets noticed first. This, my friends is what I have deduced as the reason for his rather low popularity, though his songs are doing well. One doesn't seem to make the connection. And now, in the MTV Coke Studio there is a face to the music, and it helps that he sings well too; so it's not too easy to forget that he is the brain behind the songs.

His latest composition for the movie Lootera, has some excellent numbers that hark back to early post-Independence era. My personal favorites, Shikayaten and Sawaar Loon uses the violin so well. It is such a pleasure to listen to these songs on a dreamy afternoon that promises of a breezy evening to come. The songs in this movie, I felt, were so contextual. Monta Re brought in the Bengali flavor, the way Shubh arambh (Kai Po Che) brought in the slow, throbbing garba beat that is synonymous to Gujarat. As I said earlier, they just feel right.

I have absolutely no clue about the technicalities of music and go only by my heart. A song that is good for me has to touch my heart and my mind. Going by Amit Trivedi’s choice of lyricists, read Amitabh Bhattacharya and Swanand Kirkire, and his choice of music and singers, I have no doubts that he will be one of my favorite music directors of this era. Hats off!

I’ll leave you with a playlist of his songs, from peppy to slow.

1. Lazy Lad (Ghanchakkar)
2. Dreamum Wakeupum (Aiyyaa)
3. Auntyji (Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu)
4. English Vinglish (English Vinglish)
5. Shubarambh (Kai Po Che)
6. Navraji Mahi (English Vinglish)
7. Sawaar Loon (Lootera)
8. Shikayeten (Lootera)
9. Leherein (Aisha)
10. Shaam (Aisha)
11. Dhak Dhuk (English Vinglish)

      All these songs can be found in Saavn or any online music website. Do enjoy and suggest your favorite songs of his.  

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