Sohail Sen (born 24 June 1984) is an Indian
film composer
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...
, musician and singer who works in
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
. He debuted as a film composer with the
Hindi film
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
''Sirf'' (2008), which went majorly
unnoticed.
Later, he gained fame as a Hindi film composer, with his acclaimed work in ''
What's Your Raashee?'' (2009).
He is also known for composing the popular soundtracks of ''
Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
''Mere Brother Ki Dulhan'' () is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar in his directorial debut and produced by Aditya Chopra for Yash Raj Films. It stars Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ali Zafar, ...
'', ''
Ek Tha Tiger
''Ek Tha Tiger'' () is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language espionage action thriller film directed by Kabir Khan and co-written by Khan and Neelesh Misra, from a story by and produced by Aditya Chopra. It is the first installment in the ''Tiger'' fr ...
'', and ''
Gunday
''Gunday'' () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language action drama film written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and produced by Aditya Chopra. The film features Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan in the lead roles. Set in 197 ...
''.
Early life
Sen comes from a family of musicians who have worked in the film industry and his entry into the film composing world marked the fourth generation of his family to do so. His father, Sameer Sen (of the music director duo Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen) has always been a strong influence in his life, as was his paternal grandfather Shri Shambhu Sen's singing.
Sen started learning music at the age of six. He learnt to play the
tabla
A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల ...
as a child, and then went on to learn various musical instruments including the piano and percussion and rhythm instruments. He learnt classical music from his grandfather Shri Shambhu Sen. He began his career as a music director at the young age of thirteen when he composed the music for a telefilm titled ''Roshni'' and for which renowned singer
Kavita Krishnamurthy
Sharada Krishnamurthy, popularly known as Kavita Krishnamurthy or Kavita Subramaniam, is an Indian playback and classical singer. She has recorded 50,000 songs in 45 various Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Rajasthani, Bhojp ...
provided playback. He then decided to assist his father for nine years to fine-tune his skills as a film composer.
Career
In 2008, Sen began his career as a
film composer
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...
, with the
Hindi film
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
''Sirf'', however, the film was supposed to be released in 2006, but it got delayed badly and was released in 2008 and eventually the music went unnoticed. He also composed the music for ''The Murderer'' (2009),
which also got delayed and the music went unnoticed.
In 2009, he got a turning point, in his career as a
film composer
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...
, when director
Ashutosh Gowariker
Ashutosh Gowariker (born 15 February 1964) is an Indian film director, actor, screenwriter and producer who works in Bollywood, Hindi cinema. He is known for directing films "set on a huge canvas while boasting of an opulent treatment".
His is ...
approached him for his film ''
What's Your Raashee?''. Initially he wanted his all-time favourite composer
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...
to compose for the film, but Rahman couldn't do it, because he wanted to compose for Danny Boyle's ''
Slumdog Millionaire
''Slumdog Millionaire'' is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel '' Q & A'' (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Patel ...
'' instead. So, he started looking for someone who is capable and can contribute all his time for composing in his film alone. Sen was always keen to work with Ashutosh Gowariker and incidentally his father Sameer Sen knew him from before and knowing that Gowariker was looking for someone to compose for his film, Sen asked his father to fix a meeting with him. His first meeting with Gowariker was a casual one at his office, it was where he told him that he would like to make him listen to some of his compositions. Gowariker immediately agreed to visit his studio the next morning. The next day, when he went to Sen's studio and heard some of his tunes, he really liked what he heard and after a couple of weeks later, Gowariker called up Sen and said "You are on for this project". For Sen, it was a dream come true.
At first Sen was thrilled of getting the offer, but when he was told that there would be 13 songs in the movie, one song for each of the 12 zodiac signs and then one song in which the lead protagonist makes the final choice, he was taken aback, since nowadays its quite rare to hear 13 different songs in one album and that itself was a difficult task, and again, it was an equally difficult task to create 13 distinct songs, each for one particular zodiac sign and then incorporating the flavor of all these 12 songs into that final song, was the most toughest task, however he took it up as a challenge and started working on the music, which took more than one and a half years in the making.
The
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
of the film, was released in August 2009 and irrespective of the box office status of the film, it has been able to garner mostly positive critical responses.
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000.
The website provides ...
quoted the album as "interestingly done" and "an experience not to be missed".
BBC Music
BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network.
Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...
praised Sen's work and quoted him as "Sen shows he can successfully compete with the best in Bollywood".
Besides composing the soundtrack and the film score, Sen even sang most of the songs in the film.
In 2010, director Ashutosh Gowariker roped him again, for his
period piece
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...
film ''
Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey
''Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey'' () is an Indian Hindi-language historical action-adventure film directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and released on 3 December 2010. Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Sikandar Kher, it was based on Manini ...
'', based on the
Chittagong Uprising of 1930.
The soundtrack of which met with positive critical responses.
In 2011, he has had a major release with a top banner
Yash Raj Films
Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company founded by veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. It mainly produces and distributes Hindi and Punjabi films. The company has grown to be one of the largest film studios ...
– ''
Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
''Mere Brother Ki Dulhan'' () is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar in his directorial debut and produced by Aditya Chopra for Yash Raj Films. It stars Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ali Zafar, ...
'', the music of which got appreciation from both critics and masses. The songs "Dhunki", "Isq Risk" and title track were chartbusters. In 2012, he replaced
Pritam
Pritam Chakraborty (born 14 June 1971), also known mononymously as Pritam, is an Indian composer, instrumentalist, guitarist, and singer. After working as an ad jingles composer, he debuted as a co-composer in the 2001 Hindi film Tere Liye. A ...
as the music director for
Salman Khan
Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. In a film career spanning over thirty years, Khan has received numerous awards, including two Nation ...
's next film ''
Ek Tha Tiger
''Ek Tha Tiger'' () is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language espionage action thriller film directed by Kabir Khan and co-written by Khan and Neelesh Misra, from a story by and produced by Aditya Chopra. It is the first installment in the ''Tiger'' fr ...
'', since Pritam had date problems with both Yash Raj projects ''Ek Tha Tiger'' and ''
Dhoom 3
''Dhoom 3'' () is a 2013 Indian Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, e ...
''. The soundtrack received unanimously positive reviews. In 2014, Sen will team up with
Ali Abbas Zafar
Ali Abbas Zafar is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is known for directing ''Mere Brother Ki Dulhan'' (2011), ''Gunday'' (2014), '' Sultan'' (2016), ''Tiger Zinda Hai'' (2017) and ''Bharat'' (2019).
Personal life
Zaf ...
once again after ''
Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
''Mere Brother Ki Dulhan'' () is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar in his directorial debut and produced by Aditya Chopra for Yash Raj Films. It stars Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ali Zafar, ...
'' for ''
Gunday
''Gunday'' () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language action drama film written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and produced by Aditya Chopra. The film features Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan in the lead roles. Set in 197 ...
'', which features
Ranveer Singh
Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (; born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including five Filmfare Awards, he is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in '' Forbes India''s ...
,
Arjun Kapoor
Arjun Kapoor (born 26 June 1985) is an Indian actor working in Hindi films. Born to the Surinder Kapoor family, he is the son of film producer Boney Kapoor and Mona Shourie. Kapoor made his acting debut in 2012 with romance '' Ishaqzaade'' whic ...
,
Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra Jonas (; ; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is one of India's highest-paid actresses and has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awar ...
, and
Irrfan Khan
Irrfan Khan () (born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan; 7 January 196729 April 2020), also known simply as Irrfan, was an Indian actor who worked in Indian cinema as well as British and American films. Widely regarded as one of the finest actors in In ...
. While Sen will become music composer for the Hindi theatrical release of ''Gunday'',
Bappi Lahiri
Bappi Aparesh Lahiri (born Alokesh Aparesh Lahiri; 27 November 1952 – 15 February 2022), also known as Bappi Da was an Indian singer, composer and record producer. He popularised the use of synthesised disco music in Indian music industry and ...
will compose full Bengali songs for the film, as it is also to be released in Bengali. This marks the first time Bappi Lahiri will work with
Yash Raj Films
Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company founded by veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. It mainly produces and distributes Hindi and Punjabi films. The company has grown to be one of the largest film studios ...
.
Discography
As music director
As playback singer
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
Sohail Senat WN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Sohail
1984 births
Living people
Bollywood playback singers
Indian film score composers
Indian male playback singers
Singers from Mumbai
Bengali musicians
Singers from Kolkata
Bengali Hindus
Indian male film score composers