Pritam Chakraborty is a noted music director of Bollywood who has presented the film industry with a number of chartbuster songs. Popularly known as Pritam, he is known to encompass various musical genres including Indian classical music and western influences. The initial phase of his career was marked by substantial struggle when he made his transition from advertisement jingles to mainstream cinema. Gradually he established himself as a hit maker in the music industry. Towards 2007 he incorporated several different genres in his music including pop, rock, Ghazal and Sufi.
Early Life of Pritam Chakraborty
Pritam Chakraborty was born in Kolkata, West Bengal. His father Prabodh Chakraborty owns a music school for children. He received his early training in music from his father. He got trained in playing guitar while he was in school. He completed his schooling from St. James` School and did his graduation from Presidency College. He also attended a music school afterwards and then joined the Bengali band `Chandrabindoo`. However before joining this band he was a part of another band called `Jotugriher Pakhi` along with his Presidency batch mates. During this time they had also released a cassette. In the year 1993, Pritam joined the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune to pursue a course in sound recording and sound engineering. While his time in FTII he also bagged an opportunity to compose background music for Istvan Gaal, a Hungarian filmmaker. He has also learned African music from musicologist Kedar Avati.
Career of Pritam Chakraborty
Pritam Chakraborty moved to Mumbai after completing his education for pursuing a career in Hindi film industry. He started his music career by composing advertisement jingles. During this phase he got acquainted with other struggling film personalities such as Chandrajeet Ganguly, Sanjay Gadhvi, Rajkumar Hirani and Shantanu Moitra. The first break of Pritam arrived with the film Tere Liye for which Gadhvi was signed as a director and he in turn signed Pritam and Jeet, his friends, as music composers. Although the music of the film got much appreciation, the film did not do well at the box office. The duo next composed music for the 2002 Yash Raj Films production Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai. The music of the movie was a huge success and most of its songs went on to become chartbusters. Jeet and Pritam together worked for one more movie called Mudda-The Issue after which they parted amicably.
Their separation was marked by the beginning Pritam`s solo musician career. He initially signed films like Agnipankh and Fun2shh - Dudes In The 10th Century but his music went unnoticed as the films did not perform well at the box office. In the year 2004 he composed music for the second film of Sanjay Gadhvi, Dhoom, which received overwhelming response. The music of the movie topped the charts rendering huge fame to Pritam. Subsequently Pritam worked for many films, including Gangster, Garam Masala, Life in a Metro, Dhoom 2 and Chocolate in which his music got commercial as well as critical success. He has also formed a band named Metro. Other films for which he composed music include Tum Mile, Love Aaj Kal, Jab We Met, Badmaash Company, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, Jannat 2, Cocktail, Barfi!, Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, Yaariyaan, Shaadi Ke Side Effects and many more.
Pritam has also appeared in Zee TV`s, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009 as mentor and judge. He has also judged the show Chhote Ustaad. He has been featured in NDTV Greenathon and X factor as a guest judge. He also judged the grand finale of Zee Bangla Saregamapa 2012-2013. Pritam has also composed the track of Just Dance, which was Hrithik Roshan`s TV debut. He has also performed in live shows all over the world.
Achievements of Pritam Chakraborty
Pritam Chakraborty has been the winner of a number of awards for his phenomenal compositions. He has won 5 Screen Awards, 2 Filmfare Awards, 1 Asia Pacific Screen Awards, 1 Zee Cine Award, 5 RMIM Puruskaar, 1 People`s Choice Award India, 2 Apsara producers guild Award, 1 Global Indian Film and Television Honours award and many other prestigious accolades for various films. Apart form these he has also received nominations in many esteemed award ceremonies.