Jaidev is a Hindi film composer best known for his contribution to the film music industry in India with films like Reshma Aur Shera (1972), Prem Parbat (1973), Gaman (1979), and Ankahee (1985). He was primarily associated with a number of small budget, experimental films of seminal filmmakers like K A Abbas, Hrishikesh Mukherji, Muzaffar Ali, and Basu Chatterji. Jaidev's compositions came from a wide spectrum of traditions, ranging from classical to folk and from verse to ghazals, wherein he extensively used various musical instruments, particularly the sarod, in order to create melody.

Born in 1919, in Nairobi, and raised in Punjab, Jaidev had always nursed the dream of becoming a film star, and thus at the tender age of fifteen, he moved to Bombay and acted as a child artist. He worked in a number of films during this time such as Kala Gulab (1934), Hunterwali (1935), Desh Deepak (1935) and Miss Frontier Mail (1936). Simultaneously, he began his training in music from Janardan Jaokar and Krishnarao Jaokar. While personal circumstances brought Jaidev back to Punjab, Jaidev went to Almora after his father's demise. In Almora, he performed in radio programmes and soon began his formal training with veteran music maestro, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Later, he assisted Khan in Navketan's Aandhiyan (1952) and Hum Safar (1953). In the film Taxi Driver (1954), Jaidev assisted veteran music composer, S D Burman.

It was Chetan Anand's Joru Ka Bhai (1955) that provided Jaidev his break as a music director. Eventually, with the release of Navketan's Hum Dono (1961) Jaidev became the star music director of the era. His work however never garnered much mass appeal from the audience and was mostly linked with illustrious musical and literary talents such as Jaishankar Prasad, Dinkar, Bismal, and Kaifi Azmi. In his long and illustrious career from 1960s till 1980s, Jaidev won three national awards for Best Music Director for Reshma Aur Shera (1972), Gaman (1979) and Ankahee (1985).

He died in 1987, at the age of 67, after a long and prolific career in the Hindi film industry.