We’ve heard the songs Iktara, Shaam, Pareshaan, and we’ve liked them. Melodious and quintessential, they’ve come to represent, in part, the movies they come from. Yet the man behind the music remains in the shroud of his creation. Calling himself a ‘studio man’, music director Amit Trivedi talked about his passion/career and the case of nerves he has before a live performance, hours before his band took to the stage in the city.
“The last time I performed was about two years ago at IIT Mumbai. We were at the fest Mood Indigo and it was my first live performance. It was … (he shudders),” began the 33 year old. Though an admirer of live performances, Amit’s true love remains the studio. “I am what you could say, happily in the studio, like one is happily married. That is where the magic is for me.”
Amit’s musical journey started off quite unlike many. “When I was young, I would play on the dabba that my mother used for storing rice grains and so on. I would drum away and my mother and sister would sing along.” Recognising a passion, once in college he signed up with bands, learnt to play the keys and eventually wound his way to films, but not before working as a jingles composer among other things. In the four years that he spent doing music on smaller scale before hitting it big time, Amit says the experience was worth a lot more. “I learnt so much. I was able to try different kinds of music, experiment and mix a lot. Jingles are barely 30 seconds. You ask me a question, I answer and time’s up. So there was so much we had to say in that little time. That challenge was something else.”
So does he like working on jingles or film music better? “I’ve actually spent an equal amount of time in both; four years here, four years there. They are both different but I think film music packs a bigger challenge. So films it is I guess.”
In a way, the concert that took place on Friday was Amit’s first proper live experience and the director was a little unsettled. “Live performances are great, but this is my first time. So I can’t say much. Besides, it’s the singers and musicians on stage. I just stand around and watch them.”
Amit Trivedi was brought to the city by Coke Studio to perform at the Hard Rock Cafe on Friday.
