1997–2003: Ad-Jingles and Bollywood debut After completing his sound engineering course from
FTII Pune, Chakraborty came to
Mumbai in 1997. He started composing ad jingles where he met other budding artists such as
Shantanu Moitra,
Rajkumar Hirani,
Sanjay Gadhvi and
Jeet Gannguli. Pritam composed renowned jingles for brands like
Santro,
Emami,
McDonald's,
Head & Shoulders,
Thums Up,
Limca,
Complan and composed title tracks for TV serials such as
Astitva,
Kkavyanjali,
Ye Meri Life Hai,
Remix,
Kashmeer,
Miilee, and
Dil Kare. Pritam got his first break for Tere Liye (released December 2001). Though the music was well-received, the film missed the mark. In 2002, the Jeet-Pritam duo once again composed music for
Yash Raj Films'
Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai. All the songs from the film were chartbusters. Soon after, over some misunderstanding, Jeet decided to split from the partnership.
2004–2009: Dhoom, Life in a Metro and Love Aaj Kal Pritam's compositions were noted for their ability to blend Indian classical music with western styles. His compositions for Gadhvi's second film
Dhoom were a runaway hit. The
title-track of
Dhoom in two versions – Hindi (by
Sunidhi Chauhan) and English (by
Tata Young) – broke geographic barriers becoming popular in pubs in the UK, USA and the East Asia and won him his first
Zee Cine Award for Best Track of the Year. He received his first nomination for the
Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for the soundtrack of
Dhoom. In 2006, he also composed the songs for Gadhvi's
Dhoom sequel,
Dhoom 2, which despite mixed critical reviews, achieved major commercial success and became the highest-selling Indian music album of the year. It also earned him his second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. He followed this up with compositions for films like
Gangster,
Jannat,
Kismat Konnection and
Kidnap. In 2007, his compositions for
Anurag Basu's
Life in a... Metro garnered him widespread critical acclaim. He formed a band called
Metro with Suhail Kaul, Sohu pet name Chakraborty, Eric Pillai and Bangladeshi singer
James for the film. He won his second
Zee Cine Award for Best Track of the Year for the song "Mauja Hi Mauja" from
Jab We Met by
Imtiaz Ali.
Jab We Met won him his first
Producers Guild Film Award for Best Music Director. Both
Jab We Met and
Life in a... Metro earned him his third and fourth nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. He then composed the soundtracks of
Jab We Met (2007),
Race (2008),
Kismat Konnection (2008),
Kidnap (2008),
Love Aaj Kal (2009) and
Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009), all of which earned him his fifth, sixth and seventh nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.
2010–2014: Cocktail, Barfi! and Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani His
Sufi songs for the 2010 film
Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai were popular with the masses and songs like "Pee Loon" and "Tum Jo Aaye" were declared chartbusters, earning him his eighth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. He teamed up again with
Mahesh Bhatt and
Vishesh Films for music of
Crook of which the song "Mere Bina" got instant recognition with public. His foot-tapping numbers for
Rohit Shetty's
Golmaal 3 were also equally successful. In 2011, he got to work for
Salman Khan's
Ready and
Bodyguard. He recreated the famous 1971 song, "
Dum Maro Dum" for
Ramesh Sippy's 2011 movie of the same name. He then composed for the romance
Mausam which had a strong influence of
Punjabi. The songs were phenomenal hits in Northern India with "Rabba Main To Mar Gaya Oye" being a rage among people. In 2012, he composed several successful songs for films like
Players,
Agent Vinod,
Jannat 2 and
Vidhu Vinod Chopra's
Ferrari Ki Sawaari, where he worked with
Rajkumar Hirani. Later that year, he scored the music for
Barfi! which won him two awards, including his first Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.
Barfi is considered to be one of the most critically acclaimed soundtrack album of his career. He also reunited with
Imtiaz Ali for the romantic comedy-drama
Cocktail, which earned highly positive reviews, in addition to his tenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. In 2013, he composed music for films such as
Race 2,
Murder 3,
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani,
Dhoom 3 and
Once Upon ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara which was his 100th film as a Music Director in Bollywood.
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani in particular proved to be a milestone in Pritam's career, earning him widespread critical acclaim and accolades, and proved to be the highest selling Indian music album of the year. It also earned him his eleventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. He started 2014 with compositions for
Yaariyan,
Shaadi Ke Side Effects &
Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty. He then took a break in 2014. He received his twelfth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for
Yaariyan. 2015–2017: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Jagga Jasoos He marked his return with three successful albums in 2015:
Kabir Khan's
Bajrangi Bhaijaan &
Phantom and
Rohit Shetty's
Dilwale for which he earned his thirteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. The song, "
Gerua" from
Dilwale directly opened at the No. 1 position on the
Radio Mirchi charts and became the first Bollywood song to cross 100 million views on YouTube in the shortest duration ever. It also ranked in the top slot in places like
Malaysia,
Oman,
Sri Lanka and
Bahrain.
Zee Cine Award for Best Music Director among others. The song "Kesariya" from
Brahmastra topped the Spotify India charts for 16 weeks and became the first Indian song to cross 300 and 400 million streams on Spotify. In 2023, he composed for
Shehzada,
Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar,
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani,
The Great Indian Family,
Tiger 3,
Animal (1 song), and
Dunki. In 2024, he composed for
Merry Christmas,
Chandu Champion,
Metro in Dino, and
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3. In 2025, Pritam composed the soundtrack for
War 2, directed by Ayan Mukerji and produced by
Aditya Chopra under
Yash Raj Films. This marked his second collaboration with
Hrithik Roshan after
Dhoom 2 and his first with
N. T. Rama Rao Jr. The film's music was designed to showcase the dance prowess of both lead actors, with the team aiming to elevate the musical scale of the YRF Spy Universe. The lyrics were written by
Amitabh Bhattacharya, and the background score was provided by
Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara. ==Musical style==