Amit Trivedi recently shared his journey to becoming a music composer in an interview with Komal Nahta. He reflected on his early years, saying, “I started with stage musicals. After that, I spent about 4 to 5 years in advertising and television. My dream was to work in independent music, but I never aimed to get into films. My family wasn’t involved in the film industry at all.”
During his time in advertising, Amit met singer Shilpa Rao, who frequently recorded advertisements. He quickly admired her talent and they became good friends. Amit mentioned that he expressed a desire to collaborate with her on an album, which she agreed to. Their first song together was “Dhol Yaara Dhol,” which later featured in the film Dev D in 2009. Amit had plans to create a music video and showcase it to networks like MTV or Sony, but Shilpa had greater ambitions. She took their songs to film directors instead.
When asked about Shilpa’s efforts on his behalf, Amit humorously acknowledged, “In a way, you could say that!”
He went on to explain, “One day, she called me and said, ‘I met Anurag Kashyap sir and I played him some of our music. Can you come and meet him?’ At first, I was puzzled—why was she pursuing this film route? I wanted to focus on our album and keep it independent. The film industry felt too big and intimidating for me. I thought I was fine in my small world! But Shilpa pushed me into it, and that’s how I first met Anurag.”
Amit admitted to having some worries, but he found that Anurag made him feel at ease. He recalled the time when Black Friday had just come out and work was underway for No Smoking. Anurag even showed him a rough cut of No Smoking. “It was my first time seeing a film without its score or dubbing. Honestly, I didn’t understand anything while watching it! I was left wondering what I would say if he asked me, ‘How did you like the film?’” he laughed.
No Smoking featured John Abraham in the lead role, with Paresh Rawal and Ranvir Shorey in supporting roles.
