Biography

Profile

Name: Himesh Reshammiya

Date of Birth: 23rd July 1973

Profession: Music Director, Composer & Singer

Favourite colour: Orange

Current career status: According to the Times of India newspaper, Himeshji has been responsible for giving 28 hits in 6 months and BBC did a news piece on the same.

Biography

Himesh Reshammiya is born on 23rd July 1973 and is the son of Veteran Gujarati music director Vipinji Reshammiya.

Himeshji studied at Hill Grange School in Peddar Road where he met his best friend Prashant Chadha. Prashant is responsible for Himesh’s new look and for directing all of Himesh’s music videos from his private album “Aap Kaa Surroor†as well as promotional videos for the movies “Aashiq Banaya Aapneâ€, “Aksar†& “Tom, Dick & Harryâ€.

At just 16 years old and before Himeshji went into music direction, he produced television serials for Zee TV which included serials such as “Andaz†& “Amar Premâ€.

The first big break came when Himeshji approached Salman Khan (who had just made it big with the hit movie “Maine Pyar Kiyaâ€) who gave Himesh the chance to be a music director for the movie “Bandhan†along with the composer Anand Raj Anand.

He became good friends with Salman Khan, a famous Bollywood actor who starred in the movie, and composed songs for some subsequent movies in which Salman starred. Since then, Himeshji & Salman have had a string of hits for movies such as “Pyar Kiya to Darna kyaâ€, “Ye Hai Jalwaâ€, “Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge†and the more recent mega blockbuster album “Tere Naamâ€.

From this experience, Reshammiya was able to develop his own unique style of composition, based on pop music and catchy techno beats. He also places a particular emphasis on indian melodic hooks to his songs. His most popular album can be said to be Tere Naam.

With a series of popular film scores, he is considered to be one of the top music directors in Indian cinema today, along with A. R. Rahman and Anu Malik. His music is associated with the youthful and trendsetting culture that has recently been pervasive in India, particularly due to the popularity of the remixes of his songs.

Himesh Reshammiya is the son of Gujarati music director Vipin Reshammiya and his wife, Madhu. Himesh lost his elder brother at the age of 11.[3], and decided to take up music as his career after the incident, to fulfill his father's wishes. He did his schooling at Hill Grange School in Peddar Road area, Mumbai. Himesh started his career with a production house which aired quite a few TV soaps on Doordarshan Ahmedabad and Zee TV at the age of mere 16.

Himesh Reshammiya avoided speaking about his personal life in media until July 2007, when in the talk show "Koffee with Karan", he revealed that he is married to Komal, and they have a 10 year old son named "Swayam".[4]

Music director and composer

Early in his career, Himesh Reshammiya received critical acclaim for his musical scores, although the films associated with them were not hits at the box office. His debut as music director was for the film Bandhan (1998), in which he collaborated with Anand Raj Anand to produce the musical score. Although it was not the first film in which he contributed music, it was the first one on which he was listed as a contributing music director.

Himesh Reshammiya was first noticed in Bollywood for his work in the film Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya (1998). He befriended Salman Khan, the lead of the movie and composed music for several Salman starrers thereon. The movies include Hello Brother, Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge, Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye, Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha and Kyon Ki. The most successful albums of the Salman-Himesh association were Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya, Kyon Ki and Tere Naam.

Reshammiya has developed his own unique style of composition, based on pop and techno beats, with a lot of English words thrown in. His most popular albums so far have been Tere Naam and Aashiq Banaya Aapne. Following Aashiq Banaya Aapne, he scored music for a bunch of Emraan Hashmi films like Aksar, Dil Diya Hai and the most recent Good Boy, Bad Boy. Jhalak Dikhlaja and Soniye from Aksar have been two of his biggest hits. Also, the song from Tom, Dick, and Harry, viz. Jara Jhoom became a huge hit.

Himesh Reshammiya is considered a major music director in Bollywood. His peppy tunes cater mostly to the youth and the multiplex crowd, but he has also shown versatility, focusing on a more classical style for films such as Banaras: A Mystic Love Story and semi-classical tunes in Tere Naam. 2006 was his most prolific year, with back-to-back releases topping the music charts. His music was aggressively marketed and almost all the tracks from his private album, Aap Ka Surroor, were made into music videos.

In 2007, Himesh has created hits in albums like Red, the chart-busting Namastey London, Shakalaka Boom Boom, Fool N Final, Apne and one of his best works, Aap Kaa Surroor - The Moviee. Reshammiya has also shifted his focus to his acting career. Adding to a total of over 38 hits in his debut year

Singer

Primarily a music director, Himesh later became popular for his vocals which have the distinctive high-pitched nasal twang. Reshammiya, like many of his contemporary music composers, sings several of the songs that he composes. However, he has had reasonable success in this regard. He won a Filmfare Award in 2005 for Best Male Playback Singer in his debut as a singer(for the title song of Aashiq Banaya Aapne), becoming the first music composer to achieve this feat. Most of his success as a singer is the effort of his own passion and the people who believes in his nope songs of his own compositions as a music director. During an inteview, Babul Supriyo, a renowned Bollywood singer commented on the fact that a Singer's career is tied to the music director and that Himesh Reshammiya should be thankful that his music director is allowing him to sing most if his hit songs. Reshammiya has also released a solo music album entitled Aap Ka Suroor which became extremely popular. He has made it clear, however, that he still plans to put most of his effort in Hindi films.

In October 2006, Reshammiya became the first Indian to perform at the Wembley Stadium in London.[5]

Acting

Himesh Reshammiya scored the music and made his acting debut in Aap Ka Suroor - The Real Love Story, which released on June 29, 2007 and had an 80% box office opening. The film proved to be a semi hit. [6]

Fashion statement

Himesh Reshammiya's trademark style includes a baseball cap, stubble reminiscent of George Michael, form-fitting jeans, and a belt with an oversized buckle. His style of handling the microphone with the bottom facing upwards, and the black trenchcoat that he wears in concerts are consistent elements of his style along with a piercing on his left ear. His friend Prashant Chadha and his sister who is also a fashion designer are reputedly responsible for Himesh's makeover. Prashant has directed his debut movie "AAP KA SURROOR", music videos for songs of his album "Aap Ka Suroor" as well as promotional videos for the movies Aashiq Banaya Aapne, Aksar, Tom, Dick & Harry and Humko Deewana Kar Gaye.

Criticism and controversies

In spite of his popularity, Himesh Reshammiya has been the target of criticism. In the past, his critics had suggested that success has gone to his head, and that he had signed on films indiscriminately[7]. His nasal twang has been criticized by many. Reshammiya initially defended himself saying that his voice is not nasal, but "high-pitched singing". Later, in an interview with The Times of India, he said "I accept I'm a nasal singer."[8]

In his debut film as an actor, Aap Ka Suroor - The Real Love Story, Reshammiya added a song Tanhaiyaan from Boney Kapoor's proposed film Milenge Milenge.[9] Initially, Reshammiya had composed the song for Kapoor's film but later decided to use it for his own movie. Tips, which held the audio rights of Milenge Milenge, accused Reshammiya of copyright violation, as audio rights for Aap Ka Suroor - The Real Love Story were acquired by T-Series.[10] However, Reshammiya defended himself saying that he had made Kapoor listen to the song, but it wasn't included in Milenge Milenge. He also claimed to have tried to get in touch with Kapoor for seven months, and since there was no progress on the film, he decided to use the song for his own movie.[11] In June 2007, they reconciled their differences after Reshammiya apologized.[12]

In November 2006, Himesh remarked that Mukesh, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and R D Burman had a nasal style of singing. He also claimed that he had thirty-six hits in a year, and none of the above mentioned artists "ever gave the same number of hits in a year"[7]. He said this in response to allegations that all his songs are nasal-based. The remark invited the wrath of late R D Burman's wife, Asha Bhosle. Later, Himesh clarified that his intention was not to insult R D Burman and apologized several times to Asha Bhosle.[13].

In November 2006, Reshammiya and his co-artists were questioned by the Income Tax department about their income from a concert in Surat. The organizer of the show, Nanu Ghaswalla, claimed that the IT officials were upset because they had been denied free passes for the show[14].

On June 27, 2007, Himesh Reshammiya visited the shrine of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti, disguised in a burqa, reportedly to avoid crowd of fans. Some people objected to this, and some even felt that it was a publicity stunt for his forthcoming film.[15] Later, Reshammiya issued an apology for "offending religious sentiments", which was accepted by the Anjuman Committee that runs the shrine.[16] The Khadims (servers) of the Anjuman Committee said that he had not committed any offence, and there was no need for an apology.[17]

Awards

Star Screen Awards

Filmfare awards

Zee Cine Awards

IIFA Awards

Himesh's Top Songs

  1. Assalaam Vaalekum
  2. Tera Mera Milna
  3. Tanhaiyaan
  4. Mehbooba
  5. Jhalak Dikhlaja
  6. Aashique Banaya Aapne
  7. Tera Suroor
  8. Aap Ki Khatir
  9. Naam Hai Tera
  10. Zara Jhoom
  11. Afsana banake
  12. Afreen tera chehra
  13. Ya Ali
  14. Tadap
  15. Tanha tanha raat mein
  16. Chakna chakna

Filmography

As An Actor

Background Music Composer

In Productions

Music Director

Playback Singer

Brand Endorsements

  • HR is the brand ambassador for DJ&C, a product of Big Bazaar

References

  1. ^ Priyanka Dasgupta (July 23, 2007). Faltu hai!. Retrieved on 2007-07-12. “...as the country's new-age singing star turns 34 today (July 23, 2007).”
  2. ^ An interview with Himesh Reshammiya by BIG 92.7 FM.
  3. ^ 'Show me one song which has been copied?' (2006-11-22). Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
  4. ^ Upala KBR (July 24, 2007). Himesh tells al. Retrieved on 2007-07-29.
  5. ^ Himesh does the nation proud (2006-10-30). Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
  6. ^ Himesh shocks Bollywood (2007-07-05). Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
  7. ^ a b "Mukesh, RD Couldn't Give 36 Hits…," says HR (2006-11-24). Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
  8. ^ Arunima Srivastava (2007-06-27). "I am a nasal singer" -Himesh Reshammiya. The Times of India. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
  9. ^ Reshammiya