Songsmith Shankar Mahadevan has been the voice behind many classics, fusion melodies, and blockbuster hits in the Indian music industry. Known for his phenomenal musical journey, with memorable milestones in Dil Chahta Hai, Taare Zameen Par, Wake up Sid, Uff Teri Adaa, Ik Junoon, and Iski Uski, his performances never fail to wow audiences transcending borders. His 1998 Indi-pop album Breathless, made in collaboration with lyricist Akhtar, in which the title track goes on for a little over three minutes without a break, stanzas, verse, or apparently even a pause for breath, is special not just for him, but the entire nation for its breath-taking creative elements. As an Indi-pop star, Mahadevan has scaled great heights with his fusion of Carnatic, Hindustani and Jazz music variants.
In a conversation with The Pioneer’s Tejal Sinha, the maestro, a living legend, shares how he grew up listening to songs from different genres, the chemistry of the ‘Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’ trio, and more.
Switch from engineering to musical path
I hail from a very simple middle-class south Indian household. I am engineer by training and academics. As a ‘good boy’ in south India, where families believe in education, I had got into engineering. But the strong calling from inside was: ‘It is now or never’. And that’s how I gave up my engineering career. I was a very successful engineer before jumping into a different career path and trying my luck with music. Well now, I think I was very fortunate to follow my instincts and happy to be at the right moment and with the right people and doing the right kind of music. All that brings me here for this interview.
Struggle that reaches people
Nowadays it is a different kind of struggle; it is not like how artistes used to go and queue up outside music companies or would try to meet music producers or directors to get a chance. You know Indian films at that time were the only source to get your voice out. Whereas now the times have changed drastically. An artiste can create a song and put it up on social media or any public platform and connect with the audience. But it is a different kind of struggle that reaches the people: they hear it, like it, comment on it, and all of that is what determines success of the song and the artist who put their soul in the music.
Trio that never fails to impress
It has been a pleasure and honour working with my two brothers, Ehsaan and Loy. They are fabulous musicians. You know, we have completed almost 28 years of being together; composing music, and our music has been extremely popular in all these years. I met them through the advertising industry; in the world of advertising, we used to work together. God has a way of connecting people from different corners. We formed a team and you know the creativity is fabulous because its three different people with three different musical preferences and personalities and when they come together and tackle a particular musical situation, what comes out is very interesting and that’s what is Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for everyone.
On remixing tracks
As for the current practice of remixing tracks, I think it is becoming a little predictable and boring now because in every film you are finding the remix track of some old song. It was a novelty when there used to be one song amongst 100 songs. But now every film has got one remix song; so, it becomes predictable, boring, and non-creative.
Desire to work with a rap artiste
Rap is a very serious form of music, rhythm, and poetry and a rap artiste knows where you are going to convey it. Normally rap is also done as a source of expressing your views in a rebellious, romantic, or particular situation in one’s own manner. Rap is a very strong medium; it’s not the way how we perceive it — it’s a very strong medium and form of music. A lot of extempore expression and creativity is involved when you meet a rap artiste who is really authentic and true to their genre. So, I would really be very excited to be work with any of the rap artistes in the future. This will certainly bring in a different level of creativity to our work.
Gratification of work through social media
Social media is the current logical way in which you can gauge the success and popularity of your music piece. One should evolve with the change and just can’t say I will only be selling CDs or records for the matter because those things don’t exist anymore. You have to move ahead with the trend as Gulzar Saab says: “You have to hold hands with moving times and go ahead otherwise you would remain where you are and everyone else will move forward”. So, the current trend of social media is the way forward and with this, you can gauge one’s popularity, success and connect with the fans. Interaction with fans and gratification of your work comes through social media now.
Indian folk music in a modern atmosphere
We tend to underestimate the modern youth of our country. We say just because they put western beats or some dubstep or something: Oh! this is youth oriented. Our youth is very intelligent as their thought process is quite deep, they understand music, and they understand the nuances of music which is why they have an interest in classical and folk music. Even though they use a modern palette or modern backdrop for any form of music to be presented today, they are inclined towards presenting our classical music, our Indian folk music in a modern atmosphere which is fabulous. This eventually brings in something new to the table.
Music that expresses and educates
I think music is a very important song of expression and communication. I use music not only to perform or record but also as a way of communicating things which is why I had opened Shankar Mahadevan Academy. It is the first online academy of this magnitude, and we are present in 88 countries. Through music we aim to bring a change in humanity. We perform for terminally ill patients, cancer patients, various people who are in trouble, lonely, senior citizens. There is a program called SM Nirvana, in which we raise money for musicians who are in really bad shape. SM Muskurahat is another program where we teach children from economically backward strata; Inspire India and many such programs. So, it’s not only about learning and performing. We use music also as a medium to bring a change in people’s life in whatever little way we could do.
Treasure chest of our country
Our country has got music for every purpose, for every occasion, starting from birth of child to their marriage or from harvesting of crops to some celebrations — everything is celebrated through music. I strongly feel folk music of our country is much more natural form of music than classical music because in Hindi they say ‘Mitti Di Khushboo’, you can literally smell the soil of that particular region or culture when you hear the folk music from any specific part of the country; it is because of the voice, because it is in their DNA. Bringing light back to the folk music by Canara HSBC Life Insurance’s Me For My City initiative is a one step ahead for taking folk music seriously and giving it due importance amidst the hush-bush of urban cities. For me personally the treasure chest of our country lies in the folk music of our country. I am really happy being part of the Canara HSBC Life Insurance’s Me for My City initiative. I have been part of many musical events of the corporate, but this is really special because the emphasis is on folk music and selecting raw talent from various cities and states of the country representing different genres and its beauty. The hunt for singers was divided into 4 zones so each zone had a winner which was beyond any comparison as folk music is incomparable since it brings in the uniqueness of its culture and also an individual. The whole concept was very unique, and we could see the happiness of the young talent when they got an opportunity to perform with some of the musical maestros who were there at the event. All in all, it was a fantastic platform.
The Ganesha idol by the ‘Queen of Melody’
Well, if you want to define the sound of the Indian film industry, one word would be Lata Mangeshkarji. She is the definition of music in our film industry, her loss is a huge loss, but the fact is such masterpieces never die, their music lingers around till humans exist on this planet. I have had a wonderful relationship with her. She appreciated and respected my music. We were always in touch through WhatsApp, and she used to send me beautiful songs and pictures including some rare songs that she had sung. I used to share with her my work and what better than receiving an acknowledgment from Maa Saraswati herself? She used to immediately reply giving me blessings and good wishes for the work. I still remember, when I celebrated my 50th birthday she gifted me a Ganesha idol, which is there in the altar of my house, and with this, she is always going to be there in our hearts and part of the universe till we exist.
