A Stalwart playback singer and music director, Ankit Tiwari is known to give the Bollywood industry some of the most popular and chart-busting numbers. The winner of both Best Music Director and Best Male Playback Singer, Ankit has swooned a billion hearts with his melodious singing and romantic compositions. Ankit started his career in Bollywood as a music director in 2010 with
Do Dooni Chaar and one year later he made his foray as a singer with
Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster for which he also composed music for. Some of his best works as a music director include
Aashiqui 2 (2013),
Ek Villain (2014),
PK (2014),
Khamoshiyan (2015), and
Airlift (2016). Apart from rocking the Bollywood, the music composer-singer also took his music across borders as he recorded `O Yara` for Bin Roye, a Pakistani film, which topped the charts for a long time.
Early Life
Born in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Ankit Tiwari grew up in a family that had a deep-rooted connection in music; his parents owned a music troupe in Kanpur called `Raju Suman and Party,` which performed at various religious occasions. His mother is a devotional singer. While his parents wanted Ankit to complete his studies first, he had a liking for music from an early age and eventually let him train in music professionally. He took training in classical music under the tutelage of Vinod Kumar Dwivedi, a renowned Indian classical vocalist. He is also trained in playing piano, western vocals and Dhrupad, a vocal genre in the Hindustani classical music.
During his school and college days, Ankit Tiwari participated in various local music completion and won many prizes. After completing his training, Ankit worked as a production head at the radio station in Gwalior before eventually moving to Mumbai in December 2007 for better career opportunities. While in Mumbai, Ankit met the writer and director,
Pradeep Sarkar who gave him and other musicians a chance to work on Jingles and compose background scores for TV programs. In 2010, Ankit met
Habib Faisal, screenwriter, and director who gave him a chance to compose music for his directorial venture
Do Dooni Chaar (2010) and he thus began his professional career in Bollywood.
Movie Career
As a Music director
Ankit Tiwari started his musical career in Bollywood as a music director with Do Dooni Chaar in 2011. The film, which marked the return of the super hit couple of the 1970`s
Rishi Kapoor and
Neetu Singh on the silver screen was a box office hit and went on to win the Best Hindi Feature Film at the 58th National Film Awards. Later in the same year, noted director
Tigmanshu Dhulia gave Ankit a chance to compose music for one of the songs in his thriller drama film titled Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster starring
Jimmy Shergill,
Mahi Gill, and
Randeep Hooda.
Whilst his first two films did not get Ankit any attention, the music director won wide appreciation for composing music and singing the male version of the super hit song `Sunn Raha Hai Na Tu` from the 2013 film,
Aashiqui 2 directed by
Mohit Suri. The song, which remained on top of the most romantic playlists of the year, won Ankit his maiden Best Music Director award at the Filmfare Awards and IIFA Awards in 2014. Ankit`s fame skyrocketed in 2014 as he composed music for one of the chartbusters of the year, `Galliyan` from the film
Ek Villain directed by Mohit Suri. The same year, he composed music for two other commercially successful films,
Singham Returns and
PK. In 2014, Ankit also made his debut as a composer in the Telugu film industry as he composed the song, Vintunnava Nestham from
Nee Jathaga Nenundali directed by
Jaya Ravindra.
With just three years of experience in the industry, Ankit had already established himself as one the leading and the most sought after music directors in Bollywood. His back-to-back hits in 2014 got him more projects in 2015. He was roped in as one of the music directors for
Alone,
Khamoshiyan,
Roy, and
Mr. X. Whilst, Alone, and Mr. X did not garner any attention, Ankit was lauded for his brilliant compositions in Kahmoshiyan and Roy, especially for the song `Tu Hai Ki Nahi` in the latter film. In 2016, Ankit has had quite a busy year as he composed music for six films, viz.
Airlift,
Ishq Junoon,
Rustom,
Rocky Handsome,
Baaghi and
Tum Bin 2.
As a Singer
Ankit Tiwari made his debut as a singer in 2011 with
Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster; he co-sang `Saheb Bada Hatila,` which was his own composition. Two years later, the actor won wide recognition for singing the male version of the hit song, Sunn Raha Hai Na Tu from
Aashiqui 2. In the same year, he also sang Aag Ka Dariya from the film,
Issaq directed by
Manish Tiwary. With his new found success as a singer, Ankit sang about 15 songs across 12 films and in three languages - Hindi, Kannada, and Telugu. His most popular songs of the year, which topped the chartbusters list includes `Galliyan` from the film Ek Villain, `Kuch Toh Hua Hai` from Singham Returns, and `Dil Darbadar` from the Aamir Khan and Anushka starrer film, PK. Galliyian won the singer several awards including the Stardust Best Male Playback Singer, and Filmfare Awards for Best Male Playback Singer. The year 2014 also marked Ankit`s debut in the south Indian film industry; he sang two Kannada songs, viz. `Nillu Nllu` and `Athiyayithu` from
Dil Rangeela and Khushi Khushiyagi. His 2019 projects include Amavas, Romeo Akbar Walter, Pranaam and Prassthanam. His 2020 release includes Malang.