Interview with Shankar Mahadevan :)

BREATHLESSLY YOURS

Today, he's a music director and singer, juggling his time between singing and composing the music scores for ad films, South Indian and Hindi films, personal albums, doing stage shows, dubbing and touring all over the world with his Swedish group - 'Mynta' and Indian group - 'Silk'.
Taking time off from his busy schedule over a glass of thanda paani, he answers my questions cheerfully.

How did music happen to you?

Right from the age of three and a half I have always been a musician, always tinkering with musical instruments. One day, I just started playing an old harmonium, lying around the house. That was the day my parents realized I was a natural. So I started learning the Veena at the age of five and a half. I learnt Carnatic Classical music for the next 15 years and did a lot of stage shows. As I was staying in Bombay, I got an exposure to a wide repertoire of music - Western groups, Hindi music, Hindustani Classical and of course Carnatic Music, as my roots are Tamilian. I've never had a problem as far as language is concerned, as every language has a certain vazhan, which I have been able to grasp.

When and how did you start professionally?

Well, I started with singing for ad jingles around 1993-94 and moved on to ethnic combinations with world music. Ranjit Barot introduced me and I did some famous jingles like the one for Cadbury's and Pepsi. I started singing for films, when Zakir Hussain asked me to sing for Ismail Merchant's 'Muhafiz'. After that of course, there was no looking back.

You've become a trio now…

Yeah, that's right. I've teamed up with Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa, who come from ad backgrounds. At first we had teamed up casually to do Mukul Anand's feature film, 'Dus'. But Mukul Anand passed away and it didn't take off. By then, other filmmakers had heard our music and liked it. They started approaching us and we have chosen a few films we are going to work on…

About your chosen profession…

Though I studied to be a computer science engineer, developing software in UNIX and ORACLE, I chose to pursue my musical inclinations. Today I am enjoying every bit of what I'm doing and lead a very contented life. I'm passionate about music and work hard at my passion. In the studio its so much fun - I'm working with friends and its one big party! Like Javed Aktar has such a fantastic sense of humour, it keeps us in splits. We make fun of our own compositions, write insane equivalent lyrics and generally have a blast. But work happens on a parallel level. We don't believe in creating a tense atmosphere, we don't work like that.

Your favourite compositions

Well, there are so many I really can't say…every composition of mine is special, like a child. But some of my all-time favourites are 'Breathless', 'Hindustani', 'Tere Kyalo Se', 'Chandni' (from 'Dus') and the title music of 'Dillagi'.

On Music

To have music, you gotta be blessed with it. I am indeed blessed that I can spend my entire day in music. I get inspired by good music. Inspiration depends more often than not on my state-of-mind. To produce good music I need to have spent time with my family first.

On the personal front

I married Sangeeta in 1992 and we have a 7-year-old child, Siddharth. In fact, Sangeeta and I went around for ten years before settling down! I try to finish work early, as my family is my first priority. I cannot function musically, if I haven't spent quality time with my family first.
I'm like an open book. I don't have a temper and am a total ice bag! I can never get unnecessarily stressed about anything. In times of total stress, I become calmer than normal and take control. I'm a fun loving guy who takes on all projects with the same mix of seriousness and light heartedness.

That's vintage Shankar Mahadevan for you. He has his priorities in the right place. He knows happiness comes first and believes in doing whatever makes him happy. We can't wait to hear your new album Shankar. If 'Breathless' is anything to go by, we'd lay a bet your music is gonna be something special!

😳