Happy Birthday, Pritam: When The Music Director Wanted To Become An IAS Officer

Musician Pritam Chakraborty turned 53 years old today. He debuted as a co-composer with the Hindi film Tere Liye in 2001. He got his first break as a solo composer from the blockbuster film Dhoom. The title track of Dhoom was widely appreciated by the cinema and music enthusiasts. He also won numerous awards for this track. In a career spanning over two decades, Pritam has composed music for more than 120 Bollywood films. He composes music for music labels like T-Series, Sony Music India, YRF Music, Saregama and many others. Today, being one of the most celebrated music composers of India had initially planned to become an IAS officer after graduation before discovering a sound engineering course in FTII Pune.

During his early days, Pritam told in an interview that he was doing an MSc course in Geology but was not interested in studies. He formed a band called Jotugriher Pakhi with his college mates. He was the guitarist of his band. At that time, he thought of appearing in the UPSC exam to become an IAS officer. He also had a backup plan ready. He decided to become a banker if not an IAS officer.

Pritam’s life took a U-Turn after he saw an advertisement for the Pune Film Institute in a newspaper. Before this, he never knew that there was a film institute. There was a course on sound recording engineering at the institute. He was interested in the course because it was related to music and filmmaking. His family also allowed it as it was a subsidiary branch of engineering, so it became easy for him to convince his parents, Pritam added.

Some of the hit songs of Pritam include Tu Jaane Na (Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahaani), In Dino (Life In A Metro), Zara Sa (Jannat), Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai (Gangster) and many more. Aae Dil Hah Mushkil soundtrack was also composed by Pritam which still rules the music charts.

The music composer has also been accused of plagiarism for various songs in his career. His hits such as Pehli Nazar Mein have been allegedly accused of being copied from a Korean song, Sarang Hae Yo by Kim Hyung Su. Pritam too admitted that he made some mistakes at the beginning of his career. Not all are true. The Iranian band that said that the song Pungi from Agent Vinod had been plagiarism had to give an apology in court for using Pritam’s name falsely.