Amitabh Bhattacharya

Amitabh Bhattacharya
Bhattacharya at the audio release for Agneepath
Born	(1976-11-16) 16 November 1976 Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Education	Spring Dale College, Lucknow
Occupations	Lyricist playback singer

Amitabh Bhattacharya (Bengali pronunciation: [ɔmitabʱo bʱɔtːat͡ʃard͡ʒo];^[1] born 16 November 1976) is an Indian lyricist and playback singer who works in Indian films. He began his career in the 2000s as a playback singer, and gained recognition when he wrote lyrics for Amit Trivedi for Dev.D.^[2] He has notably worked with music director Pritam, writing the lyrics for his compositions for Barfi! (2012), Cocktail (2012), Agent Vinod (2012), Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani(2013), Dhoom 3 (2013), Dilwale (2015), Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015), Dangal (2016), Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016), Raabta (2017), Kalank (2019), Chhichhore (2019), Love Aaj Kal (2020), Laal Singh Chaddha (2022), Brahmāstra (2022), Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar (2023), Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023), Dunki (2023), The Great Indian Family (2023), Tiger 3 (2023), and Chandu Champion (2024).

He has won the National Film Award for the song "Agar Zindagi" from the film I Am.^[3] In his song-writing career he has won the highest number of awards, precisely 9, for the song "Channa Mereya" to date.^[4] His lyrics have been variously described as "frillfree" and "smartly worded".^[5]

Notable work

In his career, he has worked with some talented music composers like Pritam, A. R. Rahman, Amit Trivedi, Ajay-Atul, Sajid–Wajid, Vishal–Shekhar, Salim–Sulaiman, Ram Sampath, Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Sachin-Jigar and many more.

Some of his best known songs are "Iktara", "Channa Mereya", "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", "Bulleya", "Kabira", "Balam Pichkari", "Badtameez Dil", "Mast Magan", "Raabta", "Zehnaseeb", "Abhi Mujh Mein Kahin", "Naina", "Khairiyat", "Manja", "Janam Janam", "Zinda Hoon", "Gerua", "Zaalima", "Sapna Jahan", "Sweetheart", "Namo Namo", "Ghar More Pardesiya", "First Class", "Kalank Title Track", "Param Sundari", "Kesariya", "Tere Pyaar Mein", "O Bedardeya", "Apna Bana Le" etc.^[6][7]

Early life

Bhattacharya was born into a Bengali family. Bhattacharya did schooling in Lucknow at Spring Dale College, Indira Nagar in 1995 followed by graduation from Lucknow University in 1999.

Bhattacharya moved to Mumbai for becoming a singer in 1999. In an interview with The Times of India in 2013, Bhattacharya said that he migrated to Mumbai from Lucknow harbouring dreams of becoming a singer. He stood in the long queues in front of the music composers' offices and gave them demo "Audio Cassettes" to listen to him. But it didn't bear any fruit. During his struggling days, he started writing lyrics for Advertisement jingles to lower his frustration of not getting work. He learned the art of songwriting during those struggling days.

In the year 2004, when his friend Amartya Rahut introduced him to music composer Amit Trivedi, Trivedi and Rahut, who often composed music for television channels, took Bhattacharya as a dummy singer to give presentations of his music. Trivedi also urged him to write rough lyrics.^[8] While writing lyrics, Bhattacharya discovered that he had an innate talent for giving words to tunes. Over the years, Trivedi and Bhattacharya became good friends.^[9]

His major breakthrough came when Trivedi was working on the music of Anurag Kashyap's Dev.D, Trivedi insisted Bhattacharya write rough lyrics. Bhattacharya wrote the lyrics for the songs of Dev.D, and most of its major songs became a hit, thus nearly ending 8 years of his struggle for recognition.^[3]

Filmography

Awards

References

External links

• Amitabh Bhattacharya at IMDb
• "Amitabh Bhattacharya: Filmography". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008.