Graduating from FTII in Sound Engineering, he worked as an ad jingle composer, and later debuted as a co-composer alongside Jeet Gannguli in the 2001 Hindi film Tere Liye.

marked his first venture as a background score composer, and he later diversified his reportaire through collaborations with Dharma Productions and Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment.

Later Pritam started the band Metro with James, Suhail, Soham, and Eric Pillai during his film called Life in a...

He started composing ad jingles where he met other budding artists such as Shantanu Moitra, Rajkumar Hirani, Sanjay Gadhvi and Jeet Gannguli.

[12][13] 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.

[15] He formed a band called Metro with Suhail Kaul, Sohu pet name Chakraborty, Eric Pillai and Bangladeshi singer James for the film.

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.

[19][20] He teamed up again with Mahesh Bhatt and Vishesh Films for music of Crook[21] of which the song "Mere Bina" got instant recognition with public.

[25] The songs were phenomenal hits in Northern India with "Rabba Main To Mar Gaya Oye" being a rage among people.

[citation needed][29] 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.

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 soundtrack of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil proved to be yet another milestone in Pritam's career, earning him career-best reviews and accolades, including his second Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.

In 2020, he composed the soundtracks of Love Aaj Kal (which earned him his eighteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director) and Ludo.

In 2022, he composed all the songs of Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and Laal Singh Chaddha (which earned him his twentieth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director).

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.

Pritam has composed and covered some popular songs in a variety of genres including Rock (Life in a... Metro), Sufi (Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai) and even Ghazals (Barfi).

Hits such as "Pehli Nazar Mein" was plagiarized from the Korean song "Sarang Hae Yo" by Kim Hyung Su (2005).

[41][42] Rolling Stone India says, Indian music plagiarism tracking site www.itwofs.com alleges 52 instances between 2004 and 2010 where Pritam's songs are said to be "lifted", "copied", "plagiarized", or "similar" to those of tunes by other composers, who range from Arab and East Asian artists (such as Ihab Tawfik, Yuri Mrakadi and Kim Hyung-sub) to Western musicians like Boney M. and Damien Rice.