Ankit Tiwari | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ankit Tiwari during Dussera celebration at Andheri Durgautsav | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1986-03-06)6 March 1986 (age 39) |
| Genres | Film Score, Playback Singing, R&B/Soul |
| Occupation(s) | Playback singer, music composer, music director |
| Years active | 2010–present |
Ankit Tiwari is anIndian playback singer, live performer, music director, composer. His career began upon meetingPradeep Sarkar where he got a chance to work onjingles and started composing background music for television programmes. Subsequently, he was offered to compose music forDo Dooni Chaar (2010) andSaheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (2011), where he started his singing career with the song he composed for the latter.
In 2014, he collaborated withMohit Suri forEk Villain, where he composed and sang the song "Galliyan" for which he received two nominations inFilmfare Awards, winningBest Male Playback Singer, which is the only Filmfare Award won by someone other thanArijit Singh from 2014 to 2020.[1] He also recorded the song "O Yara" for the Pakistani film,Bin Roye.
 | Parts of this article (those related to career) need to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2021) |
Tiwari was born inKanpur,Uttar Pradesh.[2] His parents own a musictroupe in Kanpur called "Raju Suman and Party" which performs at religiousconvocations.[3] His mother is adevotional singer.[4] Though his parents wanted him to complete his studies first, his inclination towards music led them to decide on training him professionally. He trained in classical music from Vinod Kumar Dwivedi before training in piano,Dhrupad and Western vocals.[5] He instituted at and won several local music competitions during the time.[5] He used to work as a production head at a radio station inGwalior,[6] before he moved toMumbai in December 2007 along with his brother Ankur Tiwari.[7]
InMumbai, Tiwari metPradeep Sarkar who was working on a film at that time. Though the film got shelved, Sarkar gave him, along with other musicians, a chance to work onjingles.[4] It was then he composed a couple of background scores for the television programmes.[6] Tiwari metHabib Faisal, who offered him to compose the music for his directorial debut filmDo Dooni Chaar which was then released in 2010. Later for producerTigmanshu Dhulia he composed the theme song ofSaheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (2011).[5] With this film, Ankit Tiwari made his singing debut where he rendered the song "Saheb Bada Hathila" along withVipin Aneja.[8]
In 2012, Ankit Tiwari narrated the song "Sunn Raha Hai" toMahesh Bhatt andMohit Suri, the director of the filmAashiqui 2.[3][9] The song was also recorded in his voice and the female-version was rendered byShreya Ghoshal.[3] Apart from receiving critical acclaim, the song fetched Tiwari with multiple awards and nominations. He shared his firstFilmfare Award asthe Best Music Director along withMithoon andJeet Gannguli.[10] The team received the Best Music Director Award from other ceremonies includingIIFA Awards andZee Cine Awards.[11][12] Apart from music direction, Tiwari received his second nomination inFilmfare Awards asthe Best Male Playback Singer.[13] As his second release of the year, Tiwari collaborated withSachin Gupta—marking his first song to the tunes of another composer—for the song "Aag Ka Dariya" fromIssaq.[14]
2014 began with the filmDee Saturday Night, where two of his songs, "Falsafa Mera Falsafa" and "Jhatak Ke Nacho" went mostly unnoticed with the music listeners. He then performed the track "Kaisa Hai Dard Mera" which was composed byIsmail Darbar forSubhash Ghai'sKaanchi.[15] Ankit Tiwari composed two tracks for the filmSamrat & Co., titled "Sawaalon Mein" and a party song "Tequila Wakila" where both are rendered by Shreya Ghoshal.[16] During the year, he performed three tracks for two ofHimesh Reshammiya's films,The Xposé andAction Jackson. His rendition for the song "Sheeshe Ka Samundar" from the former received critical acclaim,[17] while "Punjabi Mast" and "Dhoom Dhaam" from the latter received negative response from critics.[18] In July 2014, a duet withTulsi Kumar titled "Kuch Toh Hua Hai" was released included in the filmSingham Returns.[19] The year ended with "Dil Darbadar" fromPK.[20] Apart from all the songs released during the year, the most successful track was "Galliyan" fromEk Villain. The song was a critical and commercial success; Mohar Basu fromKoimoi described the song as "the most attractive song of the album" stating "Tiwari's music and voice adds the required finesse in this song and what he has made darn great!".[21] The song fetched him several awards for the Best Male Playback Singer including fromFilmfare,[22]Star Guild[23] andStardust Awards.[24] Subsequently, he received his fourth nomination inFilmfare as the Best Music Director Award at60th Britannia Filmfare Awards.[25] In the year, Ankit Tiwari made his debut in aKannada film with the song "Nillu Nillu" fromDil Rangeela composed byArjun Janya.[26]
Tiwari composed and sung the song "Katra Katra" along withPrakriti Kakar for the filmAlone (2015).[27] They again collaborated for the song "Bheegh Loon" fromKhamoshiyan. He then composed three tracks for the filmRoy, "Tu Hai Ki Nahi", "Yaara Re" which is rendered byKK and "Boond Boond" performed by Tiwari himself.[28] The unplugged version of "Tu Hai Ki Nahi" was performed byTulsi Kumar, along with the original received mixed reactions from critics though infusion of the whistle's tune was appreciated.[29]
In February 2022, he was a contestant inStarPlus'sSmart Jodi with his wife, Pallavi Tiwari.[30]
In January 2023, he released a romantic single titled 'Banda Tera Ashiq Ho Gaya', the music video of which was shot in Thailand.[31]
In December 2024, he released an EP titled "Underrated". As part of this project he collaborated with noted Bollywood playback singerArijit Singh on his first single "Tum Kya Ho". The music video for this single featured Bollywood actor and producerJohn Abraham as well asSanjeeda Sheikh. The EP also has collaborations with other singers such asPayal Dev and Agsy.[32]
Tiwari stated that he wants to explore differentgenres given the right opportunity, though it shouldn't bevulgar and should hold meaning.[33] Satyajit fromGlamsham called his second composed song "Saheb Bada Hatila" fromSaheb, Biwi Aur Gangster a "rock-musical" arrangement.[34] In his next composition "Sunn Raha Hai", the male version featureselectronic distortion guitar,zitar and drums while the female version is supported by instruments likeghatam, flute,santoor and acoustic guitar.[3] The variance in composition was particularly applauded by critics.[35]
Rajiv Vijayakar fromBollywood Hungama mentioned that Tiwari seems to be "evolving into a composer with a decent range".[36] In the composition of the song "Galliyan" it transforms from "being slow-paced, to quickly accelerating into heavy rock music and then settling into soothingtraditional Indian-themed sounds",[37] while the unplugged version dominantly uses the acoustic guitar alongside piano.[citation needed] However, for his next song "Kuch Toh Hua Hai", Surabhi Redkar forKoimoi commented; "Experimentation wise, the song shows no novelty as the musical arrangements are not peculiarly impressive".[38] According to reviewers, his last song released in 2014, "Dil Darbadar" has a huge "Galliyan" hangover and "doesn't actually fit into the scheme of things".[39] In September 2014, Tiwari said; "People usually call me for love songs or songs of separation, which I love composing. But I don't want to restrict myself to a particular genre".[6]
"Katra Katra" from 2015 had a similar faith with "Dil Darbadar" as themusical arrangements of both the song are similar to his earlier ventures. Redkar noted; "If only Tiwari could come up with something new [...] the only problem is that it all sounds the same".[40] His next was apassionate and intense composition, "Bheegh Loon" which fits with theerotic thriller mood of the film.[41] In "Tu Hai Ki Nahin" fromRoy Tiwari used minimal musical arrangements mainly focusing on vocals and incorporate awhistle—first time he has used whistle as an instrument—which according to music listeners "sounds brilliant and has high recall value", while the next two tracks "Boond Boond" and "Yaara Re" were called "experimental" in terms of arrangement.[29][42]
Tiwari named the singers likeKK,Puerto Rican andRicky Martin as his idols.[4] He pickedNusrat Fateh Ali Khan as one of his inspiration and dedicated a song to him from one of his composition atMTV Unplugged 4 – Episode 06.[33] Among the actors, Tiwari expressed his desire to dub forShah Rukh Khan andRanbir Kapoor.[2]
Popular singerRahat Fateh Ali Khan mentioned that he likes Tiwari's singing along withArijit Singh's.[43]
Tiwari's early two releases "Sunn Raha Hai" and "Aag Ka Dariya" represent his "young energetic and strong vocals" which was well received by the critics.[44] "Kaisa Hai Dard Mera", despite with the similar pattern has a semi classical touch in his rendition.[45] His one of the most successful venture "Galliyan" provided Tiwari with a high vocal range which was particularly appraised in the song thoughBollywood Hungama wrote that he sings the track in a "gimmicky tenor that sounds fake".[46] His voice and rendition was criticised in "Dil Darbadar" whereIBNLive wrote; "Tiwari's choice to distort vocals using the Auto-tune software takes away the charm and rawness of a plaintive melody like "Dil Darbadar".[47]
On 9 May 2014, Tiwari was arrested for allegedly raping his girlfriend, while his brother was arrested for making threats to her life.[citation needed] However, the complainant failed to support the prosecution version during the trial due to lack of evidence against him and his brother. In April 2017, both Tiwari and his brother were acquitted from all charges by the Mumbai Sessions Court.[48][49][50]
Tiwari married Pallavi Shukla as per Hindu rituals in Kanpur on 23 February 2018.[50] Tiwari and Pallavi had an arranged marriage as both first met on the recommendation of Ankit's grandmother.[51] They have a daughter born on 28 December 2018.[52]
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Smart Jodi | Contestant |
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Guild Awards | Best Male Playback Singer | Aashiqui 2 – "Sunn Raha Hai" | Nominated | [53] |
| 2015 | Best Male Playback Singer | Ek Villain – "Galliyan" | Won | [23] | |
| Best Music Director | |||||
| 2013 | BIG Star Entertainment Awards | Most Entertaining Music | Aashiqui 2 (shared withMithoon,Jeet Gannguli) | Won | [54] |
| 2014 | Ek Villain (shared with Mithoon, Rabbi Ahmed, Adnan Dhool) | Nominated | [55] | ||
| Most Entertaining Song | Ek Villain – "Galliyan" | Nominated | |||
| Most Entertaining Singer (Male) | |||||
| 2014 | Filmfare Awards | Best Music Director | Aashiqui 2 (shared with Mithoon, Jeet Gannguli) | Won | [25] |
| Best Male Playback Singer | Aashiqui 2 – "Sunn Raha Hai" | Nominated | [56] | ||
| 2015 | Best Music Director | Ek Villain (shared with Mithoon, Soch) | Nominated | [25] | |
| Best Male Playback Singer | Ek Villain – "Galliyan" | Won | [57] | ||
| 2014 | GiMA Awards | Best Music Debut | Aashiqui 2 – "Sunn Raha Hai" | Won | [58] |
| Best Film Album | Aashiqui 2 (shared with Mithoon, Jeet Gannguli) | ||||
| Best Music Director | Nominated | [59] | |||
| Best Male Playback Singer | Aashiqui 2 – "Sunn Raha Hai" | ||||
| Best Film Song | |||||
| 2015 | Ek Villain – "Galliyan" | Won | [60] | ||
| Best Male Playback Singer | Nominated | ||||
| Best Music Director | Ek Villain (shared with Mithoon) | ||||
| 2014 | IIFA Awards | Best Music Director | Aashiqui 2 (shared with Mithoon, Jeet Gannguli) | Won | [61] |
| Best Male Playback Singer | Aashiqui 2 – "Sunn Raha Hai" | Nominated | [62] | ||
| 2013 | Mirchi Music Awards | Upcoming Male Vocalist of the Year | Won | [63] | |
| Upcoming Music Composer of the Year | |||||
| Best Song (Listeners' Choice Award) | |||||
| Album of the Year | Aashiqui 2 (shared with Mithoon, Jeet Gannguli) | ||||
| 2014 | Male Vocalist of the Year | Ek Villain – "Galliyan" | Nominated | [64] | |
| Music Composer of the Year | |||||
| Song of the Year | |||||
| Album of the Year | Ek Villain (shared with Mithoon, Rabbi Ahmad, Adnaan Dhool) | ||||
| Album of the Year (Listener's Choice) | Won | [65] | |||
| 2015 | Album of the Year | Roy (shared withAmaal Mallik,Meet Bros,Kumaar, Abhendra Kumar Upadhyay,Sandeep Nath) | Nominated | [66][67] | |
| Album of the Year (Listener's Choice) | Won | ||||
| 2014 | Screen Awards | Best Music Director | Aashiqui 2 (shared with Mithoon, Jeet Gannguli) | Nominated | [68] |
| 2015 | Ek Villain (shared with Mithoon) | Won | [69] | ||
| Best Male Playback Singer | Ek Villain – "Galliyan" | Nominated | [70] | ||
| 2015 | Stardust Awards | Best Male Playback Singer | Won | [71] | |
| Best Music Director | Ek Villain (shared with Mithoon) | Nominated | [72] | ||
| 2014 | Zee Cine Awards | Best Music Director | Aashiqui 2 (shared with Mithoon, Jeet Gannguli) | Won | [12] |
