'Laila Majnu' fame Niladri Kumar on his Classical beginnings

Laila Majnu may have been his first Hindi movie project with multiple tracks, but sitarist Niladri Kumar has been playing the instrument in films for a while, including Chup Chupke (Bunty Aur Babli), Crazy Kiya Re (Dhoom 2), Tere Naina (My Name is Khan) and more. Though his father, Kartick Kumar, played the instrument extensively in films, Niladri was exposed to Bollywood music only when he turned 17. “Before that, I was harnessed into the stringent regime of classical music and would hear film melodies fleetingly,” he says. 

It was only when he was on his own as a musician that the floodgates of films opened for him. “Initially, it was tough because one needs a different skill set to play for movies and I wasn’t exposed to it. I learnt the craft while working. But I had help because I knew a lot of things beforehand,” he points out. 

The composer adds that was also a period when things were changing rapidly from analogue to digital. “When you had to track and play music on headphones and you were in a studio doing things alone or with a smaller group, it felt I was meant for that.” Niladri says that things got entertaining for him after the initial four-five years.