Piyush Mishra

After his graduation from NSD in 1986, Piyush Mishra started his career as a theatre actor in Delhi, and in 1990, helped start the theatre group Act One, with founder-director N. K. Sharma and stage actors like Manoj Bajpai, Gajraj Rao and Ashish Vidyarthi. In the following years he wrote and directed several plays as a part of Act One Theatre Group, including the acclaimed play, Gagan Damama Bajiyo (The Sky Resounds with the Call to Arms), based on freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, which was first performed in 1994,[3][4] and upon publishing, sold its first edition in just seven days.[5] In 1996 he joined Asmita Theatre Group, and performed his popular one-man shows An Evening with Piyush Mishra. He wrote the lyrics for Asmita's popular plays. Piyush acted as Maniac in operation three star (an adaptation of Dario Fo's play Accidental Death of an Anarchist). Piyush is also known for his performance in Swadesh Deepak's Court Martial as Suraj Singh, first with Ranjeet Kapoor (1991) and later under the direction of Arvind Gaur (1996).[6]

By then, he had established himself as a theatre director and directed Comedy of Terror play for Shriram Centre Repertory Company,[7] and also presented his solo act play at the National School of Drama's Annual Theatre Festival, Bharat Rang Mahotsav in 1999.[8] Mishra briefly moved to Mumbai, as he acted in a television series, Rajdhani (1989), directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia for Star TV, and Shyam Benegal's Bharat Ek Khoj (1988) and horror TV serial Kile ka Rahasya (1989), though he returned to Delhi thereafter.[2]

Mishra made his debut as a film actor with Mani Ratnam's Dil Se.. in 1998, he portrayed as C.B.I Investigation Officer. though he continued to stay in Delhi to pursue theatre. His transition from playwright to screenwriter happened when he wrote the dialogues for Rajkumar Santoshi's 2001 film The Legend of Bhagat Singh, which was inspired in part by Mishra's critically acclaimed play on Bhagat Singh – Gagan Damama Bajyo.[5][9] It won him the Zee Cine Award for Best Dialogue (2003).[10] Meanwhile, he moved to Mumbai in November 2002,[3] where he went on to establish a career as a film lyricist, screenwriter and as an actor. He started writing lyrics with the film, Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar in 2002, and subsequently wrote for Black Friday (2004), Aaja Nachle and Tashan.

Mishra won accolades for his performance as Kaka in Vishal Bhardwaj's 2003 film Maqbool, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth.[11][12] He wrote his own dialogues for his performance as Hafeez (Huffy) Bhai in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007), and delivered them in poetry style.[13]

Mishra again appeared in Anurag Kashyap's 2009 movie Gulaal, a movie based on Indian youth, politics, caste-prejudice, and other such social topics. He played Prithvi, the poet brother of Dukey Bana (played by Kay Kay Menon), in the movie. This was a role he executed with aplomb. He also wrote the lyrics for the songs in the movie, and sung few of them as well and was also the music director of the film.[12] He has acted in Rockstar alongside Ranbir Kapoor and was known as the 'Image is everything...everything is Image' guy. He acted and wrote lyrics of some songs for the movie Gangs of Wasseypur. His songs are very high on poetic content and have received critical appreciation from all sections of audiences and critics.

Piyush Mishra's Ballimaaraan

In its pure essence, Ballimaaraan is Piyush Mishra's homage to Mirza Ghalib in musical form. They perform Piyush's songs from his theatre days and are known to do a superb rendition of ‘Aarambh Hai Pranchand’, ‘Husna’, ‘Ghar’, and ‘Ik Bagal Mein Chand’. Ballimaaraan have been performing all over India in numerous literature festivals and college concerts for the last 4 years. Their USPs are thought-provoking lyrics, catchy percussions and soul-stirring themes.

Ballimaaraan is the name of Mirza Ghalib's street in Delhi. Piyush Mishra is a big fan of his work and has spent a lot of time in Delhi and that's why he wanted to name the band Ballimaaraan. Initially they had even thought of 'Inquilab' but then decided to go for Ballimaaraan.

He used to perform these songs during his theatre days in Delhi. The songs started becoming pretty famous and it struck a chord with the youngsters. It all started because of a fanboy in Chandigarh Nishant Agarwal, who Piyush had met about 6 years ago in a literature festival singing Piyush Mishra's compositions for him. That's where the entire idea of forming a band came up and Piyush asked Nishant, the guitar player to move to Mumbai about 4 years ago to begin the journey of 'Ballimaaraan'. That's when found 'Jayant Patnaik' who handles the responsibility to the rhythm section of the band playing Tabla, Cajon, Dholak, Pakhawaj, etc. and Lubhanu Priy who plays the keyboard/piano for the band. The backbone of the band remains the manager & 'SFX Singer' Mr. Rahul Gandhi.

Ballimaaraan performing live in Gurugram, 2019

• The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) – Dialogues
• Yahaan (2005) – Screenplay and dialogues
• 1971 (2007) – Screenplay
• Ghajini (2008) – Dialogues
• Lahore (2010) – Screenplay
• Chittagong (2011) – Dialogues
• Agneepath (2012) – Dialogues
• Shamshera - Dialogue (Post Production)
• Mandi House - Screenplay and dialogues (Post Production)
• Yo Jawaan Yo Kisaan - Dialogues (Post Production)

• "Aarambh Hai Prachand" (Gulaal - 2009)
• "Duniya" (Gulaal - 2009)
• "Jab Sheher Hamara" (Gulaal - 2009)
• "Ik Bagal" (Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 1 – 2012)
• "Ik Bagal" (Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 2 – 2012)
• "Aabroo" (Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 2 – 2012)
• "Manva" (Arjun: The Warrior Prince - 2012)
• "Bargat Ke Pedo Pe Shakhe Purani" (Jalpari: The Desert Mermaid – 2012)
• "Bas Chal Kapat" (Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns – 2013)
• "Chanda Ki Katori Hai (Lorie)" (Revolver Rani - 2014)
• "Chal Lade Re Bhaiya" (Revolver Rani - 2014)
• "Thaayein Kare Katta" (Revolver Rani - 2014)

• Gulaal (2009)
• Lahore (2010) (Song: "Oh Re Bande")
• Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) (Songs: "Manmauji" & "Ik Bagal")
• Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 2 (2012) (Song: "Ik Bagal")
• Jalpari: The Desert Mermaid (2012) (Song: "Bargat Ke Pedo")

• Bharat Ek Khoj (1988) (Sepoy)
• Husna Coke Studio (India) Season 2 (2012 - Composer/Singer/Lyrics/Performer)
• O Re Manvaa (My Heart)[18] (2012 - Composer/Singer/Lyrics)
• Tom Dick and Harry (The Dewarists) together with Akala (Composer/Singer/Lyrics)
• Ghar Coke Studio (India) Season 3 (2013 - Composer/Singer/Lyrics/Performer)
• Reunion (Google India Google Search Advertisement) (2013 - Singer)
• Parle-G New Ad: Roko Mat Toko Mat (2013 - Composer/Singer/Lyrics)