Swanand Kirkire (Marathi: स्वानंद किरकिरे; born 29 April 1972) is an Indian lyricist, playback singer, writer, assistant director, actor and dialogue writer, who works in Marathi and Hindi film and television. Kirkire won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics twice: first in 2006 for the song "Bande Me Tha Dum...Vande Mataram" from the film Lage Raho Munna Bhai, and then in 2009, for the song "Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh" from the film 3 Idiots. He received Filmfare Award nomination for Best Lyrics for the song "Piyu Bole" in Parineeta (2005). In 2018, at the 66th National Film Awards he won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for the Marathi film Chumbak. He made a cameo appearance as Sansad ji in Panchayat 3 and as Mansoor Khan Sahab in Qala to whose soundtrack he also contributed as a lyricist and singer.

Early life and education

Swanand Kirkire was born and brought up at Rambagh in Indore-based Marathi speaking family to Chintamani (father) and Neelambari (mother), both of whom are classical singers. However, Swanand had no formal training in singing. He moved to Delhi after graduating in commerce. In 1996, Swanand graduated from National School of Drama and started doing theatre. During His National School of Delhi Days his batchmates were Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Subrat Dutta and Chittaranjan Tripathi.

Filmography

As lyricist

As playback singer

As music director

As actor

Web series

As dialogue writer

As associate director

Awards