There have been many professional turning points in my life. The first one was starting my own record label at the age of 21 and singing, composing, producing and releasing my band, Colourblind’s album. Another key moment came when I composed and produced singer Shaan’s album Tanha Dil in 2000. I did it on a shoestring budget and ended up playing almost every instrument on it, so it’s success gave me a lot of hope for non-film music. Unfortunately, I couldn’t follow it up for some time until I got to work on my wife Sona Mohapatra’s album.

I’ve also done a string of internationally acclaimed scores for commercials that won me a Cannes Lion award and a D&AD award for excellence in design and advertising. And, of course, I composed and produced the music for Delhi Belly and then Talaash and Fukrey, and several other movies. I was also the sole composer on three seasons of the talk show Satyamev Jayate and all these have been significant milestones in my career. However, personally, the biggest and most positive turning point in my life was meeting my wife and partner, Sona.

I’m a Mumbai boy and I grew up in Chembur East, which is a fantastic suburb for culture and a super place to grow up. There was music in the air thanks to my parents. My mother is a huge fan of classic Hindi film music and, above all, Lata Mangeshkar. My father, on the other hand, was crazy about classical rock and world music. His favourite Indian singer was and still is, Usha Uthup. He also introduced me to ghazals and a whole universe of Carnatic music. I trained in Carnatic and Hindustani classical music for most of my childhood, so it was a musically rich time for me. Academics happened along the way, but I knew from the time I wrote my first song at the age of eight or nine, that I wanted to be a composer and a musician. In my teens, rock music beckoned and I was a full-fledged rocker for over a decade, until I was drawn back to my roots. Now, I’m far more interested in seeing my own culture and sound in a new way.

Among other things, I’m currently working on the music of films like Bangistan directed by Karan Anshuman and Raees, a movie by Rahul Dholakia. As for the future, a vacation sounds good!

(As told to Lubna Salim)