Louis Banks (born Dambar Bahadur Budaprithi on 11 February 1941) is an Indian film composer, record producer, keyboardist, and singer.
His father Pushkar Bahadur, a Nepalese trumpeter moved to Calcutta in the early 1940s to join a European Band in the city, subsequently he changed his name to George Banks.
[6][8] After college Banks moved to Kathmandu with his father's band and decided to become a full-time musician,[6] it was there he discovered jazz music.
The band began performing at the Hindustan Hotel which led to an invitation to play at the Blue Fox Restaurant, a popular night club famous for its patronage of live western music.
[10] In February 1980, he was a member of the jazz quartet which was part of the orchestra to perform with Ravi Shankar in his noted suite Jazzmine at the 'Jazz Yatra' Festival.
[11] In 2005, Banks formed a group Rhythm Asia with Taufeeq Qureshi on the tabla and Niladri Kumar on the sitar.
[7] In 1988, Banks composed the tunes to the iconic Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, a short film on national integration for Doordarshan, at that time India's sole broadcaster.
[12] Banks would go on to provide music to similar patriotic short films like Desh raag and Spread the light of freedom.