Amit Trivedi had a conversation with Komal Nahta in which he revealed that he had no plans of composing songs for films. However, he made independent music with singer Shilpa Rao; the latter made Anurag Kashyap heard those songs and that’s how Anurag got interested to meet Amit Trivedi. This was a time when the acclaimed filmmaker was working on Dev D (2009), starring Abhay Deol.
Amit Trivedi said, “Anurag sir told me that he was doing a modern-day Devdas and that it had a requirement of some 12-15 songs. He shared some ideas and references. All this was very new for me. I went home and started working immediately. I took 6 months to compose 6 songs as my advertising work was also going on. 6 months later, Shilpa asked me for an update. I told her, ‘Are you sure you want to do this? Sir must have forgotten our meeting’. But she insisted that we had to meet him again.”
He continued, “Earlier, we met in Anurag sir’s office. This time, the meeting took place in my studio. Anurag sir came along with Vikas Bahl. Trust me, main kaanp raha tha. I was 26-27 years old. I had not seen Devdas. So, I saw both Dilip Kumar’s Devdas (1955) as well as Shah Rukh Khan’s Devdas (2002). That gave me an idea about the plot. Then, I composed as per what I understood. I feared ki main gaali khaunga and that this would be the first and last song of my career! However, they were so impressed and they liked all the songs.”
Amit added, “The next day, they called me for narration. I didn’t know what that meant (laughs). I heard the story after which I composed two more songs – ‘Saali Khushi’ and ‘Pardesi’. After listening to the tracks, Anurag sir tweaked a bit of the script and reimagined the film. I was like, ‘Wow. Aisa bhi hota hain’!”
He also stated, “Then, something happened. I don’t know exactly, but producer Ronnie Screwvala sir was not keen on making Dev D. So, the film went on hold. Anurag sir met me and said, ‘You have worked enough on Dev D. Tu abhi ruk jaa. Thoda hold pe hain. Meanwhile, I am producing a film called Aamir (2008). Raj Kumar Gupta is directing it. You work on this film while I figure out a way forward for Dev D’.”
Aamir, starring Rajeev Khandelwal, released first and hence marked Amit Trivedi’s debut as a film composer, even though Dev D was the first film he had worked on. Dev D eventually released eight months later.
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