The Music Wizard Who Arranged K3G Will Play for Prince William

When the Earthshot Prize holds its first Awards Night in India on 17 November, one of the musicians on the bill will already know the host. Music Director Merlin D'Souza, who played, arranged and conducted on Karan Johar's Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, joins the evening that Johar will host in Mumbai.

The Earthshot Prize was founded by Prince William in 2020. Each year it gives £1 million to each of five people or organisations whose work can help repair the planet. This sixth edition is the first held in India, a country that has produced more Earthshot finalists and winners than any other.

A lineup that spans continents

Music Director Merlin D'Souza joins a bill that was already one of the most varied in the Prize's history. Take That will give their first performance in India, three days before their tenth studio album, Dreamers, is released on 20 November. Shreya Ghoshal will perform for the 5,000 invited guests. Two-time National Award winner Shashwat Sachdev closes the night.

Presenters include Sachin Tendulkar, Alia Bhatt and Rami Malek. Karan Johar is the first Indian to host the ceremony. Prime Video is the exclusive global streaming partner.

Why her name belongs on this bill

The obvious introduction is a Bandra pianist. The accurate one is wider. Music Director Merlin D'Souza has spent four decades across film, theatre, albums and live performance, and the record is unusually broad:

• Film. Composer, arranger or vocal director on Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Road, Socha Na Tha, Gangaajal and Bombay Boys. Music director, arranger and programmer for the Hindi version of Disney's The Lion King, and vocal director for the Hindi Prince of Egypt.

• Theatre. Scores for Alyque Padamsee's Romeo and Juliet, Pearl Padamsee's Godspell and Naseeruddin Shah's Julius Caesar.

• Landmarks. Reported to be the only pianist after Yanni to have performed at the Taj Mahal.

• Statecraft. Performed 'Make in India: We Are One', a composition presented to India's Prime Minister, Poland's President, Sweden's Prime Minister and other heads of state.

• Training. A Trinity College London Performer's Licentiate in western classical piano, with jazz as her chosen freedom. She has toured from Australia to China, Europe and the United States, including the Blue Note in New York.

That range matters on a night built to celebrate Indian leadership and culture before a global audience. She works in exactly the space where India and the world meet.

There is also a pleasing symmetry in the name. In British legend, Merlin is the wizard at King Arthur's court. On 17 November, Mumbai's own music wizard plays for Britain's future King. Her own motto puts it more simply: Merlin spells magic.

What happens next

Prince William is in Mumbai from 16 to 18 November. The Earthshot Summit runs on 16 and 17 November, and the five 2026 winners will be announced on the night. Over the next eleven days, AltBollywood will trace the threads that lead Music Director Merlin D'Souza to this stage, starting tomorrow with Karan Johar and a film that turns 25 next month.

Kenneth Hopkins is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AltBollywood. Indofuturist, posthumanist and unapologetically Indocentric, he describes himself as an epimemeticist, a swaraji, a freakonomist, a lexicographer and a cartochronicler, mapping the ideas, words and quiet shifts that shape Indian entertainment. Follow him on Instagram at @kennethhopkins