Sandeep Chowta – Bollywood Music Director with films like Jungle and Mast to his credit

Sandeep Chowta is a film music composer and background scorer associated with Bollywood & Tollywood. As a composer of Bollywood, he is best known for his association with ace filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma from second half of 1990s to mid-2000s. His best Bollywood works – Pyar Tune Kya Kiya, Jungle and Mast were done for Ram Gopal Varma. His westernized style of music and also popular background score made him immensely popular with Varma movies, when he was active in the era of late 1990s to mid-2000s. His work as a music composer and background scorer for Tollywood was also well appreciated.

Sandeep Chowta started his career through Tollywood

Sandeep was born in 1967 in a business family in Ghana. He is the eldest son of D. K. Chowta, a Tulu author and businessman. He grew up in different places like Nigeria and later in Bangalore. His younger sister Prajna Chowta is a conservationist, wildlife researcher, writer and filmmaker specialised in the Asian elephant.

Sandeep got his first break as a music composer through Nagarjuna and Tabu starrer Telugu movie – Ninne Pelladutha in 1996. Since then he has composed music for 12 Tollywood films, of which 5 movies belonging to Nagarjuna and a few with Mohan Babu. Kedi, Bujjigadu, Josh and Saleem are some of his popular works in Telugu cinema.

He joined Bollywood as a background scorer

He joined Bollywood with the debut flick of director duo Abbas-Mustan, Daraar in 1996. The thriller starring Juhi Chawla, Rishi Kapoor and Arbaaz Khan was noticed for its background score given by Sandeep as well as songs scored by Anu Malik. But the movie flopped at box office. Same year he gave music to Sanam, marking his debut as a composer in Bollywood. His work went unnoticed.

After a couple of movies as a background scorer, Dus and Insaaf, he got opportunity to do background score of Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya. It became a turning point of his career.

Sandeep Chowta’s association with Ram Gopal Varma gave him success

After Satya, he composed background score for Ram Gopal Varma’s thriller Kaun, which earned him appreciation. The movie didn’t have any songs, which was not common those days, and the background score given by Sandeep Chowta gave a scary feel and mood to the film. Very soon, he did his first film for Ram Gopal Varma, Mast in 1999 which became a smash hit.

From Satya, though he started working for Urmila Matondkar films under the direction of Ram Gopal Varma, Mast gave him the real success. Songs like Mast, Ruki Ruki, Mein Mast, Aasman Kehta Hai and Suna tha became immensely popular. Since then Sandeep Chowta became a part of Urmila movies for a while. Songs belonging to Junglee where the trio worked together were chartbusters. He also composed music for Urmila starrer Pyar Tune Kya Kiya, produced by Ram Gopal Varma.

He gave big break to Sunidhi Chauhan through Mast in 1999

The songs from the movie Mast – Mein Mast and Ruki Ruki gave big break to Sunidhi Chauhan who was only new to Bollywood then. He also gave memorable songs to Sonu Nigam like Aasman Kehta Hai through Mast. Their duets also became instant hits.

In year 2000 Sandeep Chowta composed music for Ram Gopal Varma’s Jungle. Duets sung by Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan like Aiyo Aiyo Rama, Pehli Baar and Do Pyar Karne Wale became immensely popular. Sunidhi’s melodious duet with Kumar Sanu, Jaan Kahan Hai Tu also became a hit. The movie also bagged him Filmfare awards for Best Background Score. He received a nomination at Screen awards for the same. Sonu Nigam sang the memorable duet, “Sorry Baba” aside Sadhna Sargam for the movie.

Pyar Tune Kya Kiya was an instant chartbuster

In 2001, he composed music for Ram Gopal Varma’s production venture Pyar Tune Kya Kiya, directed by Rajat Mukherjee. Songs like “Kambakth Ishq”, “Mujh Ko Khuda Ne De Diya”, “Pyar Tune Kya Kiya” – both versions, “Roundhe” etc became popular. He also recorded songs with Asha Bhsole for his films Mast and Pyar Tune Kya Kiya. Kambakth Ishq recorded in the voices of Sonu Nigam, Sukhwinder Singh and Asha Bhosle became one of the biggest chartbusters of the year. He composed music for Varma’s crime thriller, Company (2002). The item song – Khallas filmed on Isha Koppikar and sung by Asha Bhosle was a smash hit. He also scored background music for Ram Gopal Varma’s Road.

Apart from Ram Gopal Varma films, he worked for other filmmakers too

He composed music for Bollywood/Hollywood, Dum, Boom, Not a Love Story, The Shaukeens, Bhoot Returns, Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns etc. He also did background score for Asoka, Om Shanti Om, Gang, Bhai, Vaastav: The Reality, Shool, Housefull, Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani, Dum, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, Samay: When Time Strikes, R… Rajkumar, Rowdy Rathore, Musafir, Rakht etc. Sadak 2 in 2020 is his last work as a background scorer.

Though immensely talented, Sandeep Chowta never got that kind of appreciation he truly deserves. The songs of Mast were so fresh when the music album was released. He continued his success streak through Jungle and Pyar Tune Kya Kiya. However it didn’t sustain for long. After working with Ram Gopal Varma during his peak years for a while, the music composer faded away from spotlight. Though not active in film industry, he is during independent music. After spending 25 years in music industry, he released the album, From the Cinematic Vault Vol. 8 in 2020, under his label Namma Music.

Sandeep Chowta – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He sang the title track, Tera Siva of Mast, the movie which gave him big break to Bollywood as a composer. The song was filmed on Aftab Shivdasani, and lyrics were penned by Nitin Raikwar.

2. He gave big break to Sunidhi Chauhan through Mast and she later went on to establish as a leading voice of Bollywood. He also gave some good songs to Sonu Nigam in the late 1990s and early 2000s, thus helping him in reviving his career. Their hit combo started in 1999 with Mast. The following year the composer repeated the hit singing pair for his movie, Jungle and this album too was also well appreciated.

3. Apart from Tollywood and Bollywood, he composed music and background score for a few Kannada films too. He scored music for Kannada films like Shanti Shanti Shanti, Ranga SSLC, Cyanide, Thamassu, Attahasa etc, and did background score for a Tamil film, Rajathandhiram too.

4. His documentary titled Dead End was shown in numerous film festivals in 2003.

5. He is currently the head of Columbia Records in India.

Sandeep Chowta – Top 10 Chartbuster hits

1. Pyar Tune Kya Kiya from Pyar Tune Kya Kiya

2. Kambakth Ishq from Pyar Tune Kya Kiya

3. Tere Siva from Mast

4. Mein Mast from Mast

5. Aasman Kehta Hai from Mast

6. Ruki Ruki from Mast

7. Jeena from Dum

8. Khallas from Company

9. Do Pyar Karnewale from Jungle

10. Jaan Kahan Hai from Jungle