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'We're music designers, not directors'
Musician Shankar Mahadevan, who was in the city over the weekend, says songs have be tailored for films
PIALI DASGUPTA
IF Move your Body from Johnny Gaddaar is your caller tune, you're doing your bit to send the musical trio of Shankar Ehsaan Loy laughing all way to the bank. The trio, according to Shankar Mahadevan, are the first composers in India to receive royalty from their music and says they're making more money this way. "Johnny Gaddaar is the first film in which the music directors became music co-producers. We sold the music of the film for 1.75 crores and we'd be earning from the compositions for the rest of our lives. But we didn't charge a penny for our compositions. The money received is equally distributed between the three of us. We've always believed that the creators should get a royalty of the music that they compose. We'd like to work like this more often from now on," says the lead singer. But the trio also believes in giving back a bit of what they receive from the masses. "We support a few causes. Although we can't be present in different situations, we do a lot of shows at subsidised rates and sometimes even free shows," reveals Shankar. The music of their first international project Marigold was panned, but Mahadevan is quick to defend his composition. "I don't think the music was bad. There were certain songs that were typically Bollywood since the director wanted it that way. We're very proud of the song Yeh Pyar Kya Hai," he states.
But occasional let-downs like Marigold haven't prevented them from bagging big banner projects. The biggest directors in the industry always bank on them and Shankar says the idea is to customise their music to suit the director's tastes. "We always keep the director's headspace in mind since every director is crazy about the film he makes. For instance, KJo's taste in music is distinctly different from Farhan Akhtar's. We're music designers, not directors," declares Shankar.
The 'designers' have designed a unique way of staying closely knit and keeping the group intact. "We've never had any issues among ourselves. We keep our personal lives separate from our professional lives. We're not the kinds who would hang out in the studio post work. My family is any day more important than creating music. Moreover, we respect each other's musical ideas and give each other enough space," says Mahadevan.
But if they're doing well, it's because of their integrity and sincerity towards their profession. The musicians spend sleepless nights if they sense that the music that they've composed resembles the tune of any other song. "We feel paranoid even if a single line of our songs sounds like anything we've heard before. But there are only 12 notes and there's a high chance of your music sounding like somebody else's. But whenever we're in doubt, we call singer Mahalaxmi Iyer, whom we jokingly call 'testing meter', who instantly tells us if our composition resembles any other tune," smiles Shankar.
As of now, the trio's just finished scoring the music for Aamir Khan's home production Taare Zameen Par and they're totally kicked about having worked with the perfectionist. "Aamir's a sweetheart to work with. He's like a child, yet is completely focused on his work. The music of Taare should get noticed," says Shankar.
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