Aadesh Srivastava

Though Aadesh Srivastava used to compose music as a hobby, he was very undecided what he wanted to do with his life. In 1994 Sudhakar Bokadia signed him on for the film Kanyadaan, with Rishi Kapoor and Divya Bharati, but the film never saw the light of day.

Then Aadesh thought he would follow his head and become a doctor. But his heart got in the way and he decided to follow his passion instead. He moved to Mumbai, learnt to play the drums, and proceeded to gain a foothold in the industry by playing drums for stalwarts like O P Nayyar, Shankar-Jaikishen and Salil Choudhary. He assisted Laxmikant-Pyarelal for almost a decade before striking out on his own.

His first release was Aao Pyar Karen and one of its songs, Madhubala, became a hit. He had several near hits and misses before he established himself. In 1998, he was awarded the Filmfare award for best background score for Border.

He recently performed on the opening day of the Berlin Asia Pacific Film Festival. The festival will also screen Sanaa, a 13-minute film on child prostitution, which marks Aadesh’s debut as a director. Aadesh was also one of the judges on the musical reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005 and is currently part of the jury on STAR Voice of India.

"I will dance with taal, but I will not be betaal,” says Aadesh. "I will also dance with lots of josh. It is an honour for me to be here [Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa]. My son told me that I could do it, so here I am."

Tina Sachdev is his choreographer partner.