Born and brought up in Malerkotla, Punjab, he holds a PhD in Hindi poetry. His career in the entertainment industry began in 1998 with him writing for television. He has also worked as a journalist with newspapers like The Tribune and Indian Express. When his early TV scripts became successful, he moved from Chandigarh to Mumbai and scripted many other serials like “Drishtaant”, “Main Teri Parchhain Hoon”, “Sanjeevani”, “Kartavya” and “Chhoti Ma”.

He got his Bollywood break from composer Sandesh Shandilya for “Socha Na Tha” (2005) although, it was his work for another film “Chameli” (2003) that was released first. It was during “Socha Na Tha” that Irshad met newly-minted director Imitiaz Ali, who would become instrumental to his success in the years to come. While his lyrics for “Sholon Si” (“Shabd”, 2005) and “Tinka Tinka” (“Karam”, 2005) were noticed, his first big hit was “Tum Se Hi” (“Jab We Met”, 2007) composed by Pritam. His career took off from there and he got the opportunity to work with other music directors like Shankar - Ehsaan - Loy, Himesh Reshammiya and Vishal - Shekhar.

Irshad Kamil won his first Fimfare Award for Best Lyricist for the song “Ajj Din Chadeya” in “Love Aaj Kal” in 2010. That year he also won the Screen Award for another song from the same film, “Chor Bazari”. His career-defining moment came with his first collaboration with ace composer A.R. Rahman, “Rockstar” (2011), for which he won his second Filmfare Award.

Less..