Sagar Desai

Biography:

Sagar Desai, an accomplished international musician based in Mumbai, India, has provided musical scores for 18 Indian, French, and American films. He is self-taught and honed his skills by jamming with cousins in the suburbs of Chicago during his upbringing.

After obtaining a degree in Architecture from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne, he initially pursued a career at a design firm to explore his interest in the visual arts.

Later, he ventured to Chennai, India, to assist a friend in producing an album that never materialized. It was during his work on advertising films in Madras that he crossed paths with musician Sandeep Chowta.

Subsequently, he relocated to Mumbai to delve into the Hindi Film Industry. In Mumbai, Desai collaborated with notable artists like Pritam, Vishal-Shekhar, Sivamani, and Adesh Shrivastav. Additionally, he co-founded a band called Zambezi Funk with rapper Blaaze before emerging as a Music Director.

Desai began his music career in 2006 with “Mixed Doubles,” a comedy drama for which he received critical acclaim. Since then, Desai has contributed tracks and background music to 17 films. He composed the background score for “The Japanese Wife” by Aparna Sen.

Subsequent projects included the comedic “Bheja Fry” (2007), the exploration of modern marriages in “Dil Kabaddi” (2008), and the Indian Western spoof “Quick Gun Murugun: Misadventures of an Indian Cowboy” (2009).

His portfolio expanded to include the contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic in “10ml LOVE” (2010) and the gripping thriller “A Death In The Gunj” (2016), set during a tumultuous family vacation. Finally, in “Mantra” (2017), Desai contributed to a narrative exploring the complexities of a dysfunctional family amid the economic changes of 1990s India.

His recent work includes- Qala (2022), Lust Stories 2 (2023), Madgaon Express (2024). Through these cinematic contributions, Sagar Desai has made a lasting impact on Bollywood with his diverse musical compositions.