JOIN USShankar Mahadevan is one of the well- known names in the field of Indian
music today. He is part of the composing trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy that has
created music for numerous films in various Indian languages.
Shankar has also lent his voice to several Kannada film tracks. He studied music under Marathi composer Shrinivas Khale and has trained in Indian classical — both Hindustani and Carnatic — styles.
He is a three-time recipient of the National Award in the category of ‘Best Male Playback Singer’ . Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy also bagged the award for ‘Best Music Direction’ for the movie ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’. Last year, Shankar made his acting debut with the Marathi film ‘Katyar Kaljat Ghusali’, for which the trio also created music.
The singer-composer also runs the Shankar Mahadevan Academy.
Music
Kishore Kumar
“Film music is just one little path in my journey. Today, I feel, your CD player or your mobile phone, where you’ve downloaded all your music, is also your guru. I always see myself as a student; I want to invest in creative knowledge.
I listen to everybody from (Carnatic vocalist) Semmangudi Srinivas Iyer to ‘Pink Floyd’ to Miles Davis to Ghulam Ali Khan saab to Bobby McFerrin. I want to analyse what they have done and learn from their work.But Kishore Kumar is by far my favourite in the Hindi film music industry. And in the current generation, I’d say, it is Arijit Singh.”
Inspiration
Javed Akhtar
“Javed saab (Javed Akhtar) is my favourite lyricist, but he’s also much more than that; he has always been a pillar of support, someone I can count on. Apart from that, I’ve got the most wonderful family. My wife has inspired me from the time I met her — I’ve been married for 25 years now, and I knew her for 10 years
before that. She has stood by me, inspired me, motivated me and this is true for our two children too.”
Travel
Goa
“Within India, I love Goa and Bengaluru. I also like Pune a lot. But since I travel a lot, it’s very difficult to keep going back to one place. However, when I think of travelling, the first place that comes to mind is Kerala; I love to go there. Outside India, my top travel destinations would be New York, Paris and Switzerland. And Dubai is great for shopping. Each place has its own attractions, so it depends on what you want to do and what mood you’re in.”
Director
Zoya Akhtar
“‘There are so many directors from our industry who have done brilliant work, some of whom I have worked with. Of the films I have been a part of — ‘Taare Zameen Par’, ‘Rock On!!’ and Zoya’s (Zoya Akhtar) ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ are among the ones that stand out. Zoya features high on my list of top directors. When it comes to films, ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ is my all-time favourite. Then, there’s ‘Dil Chahta Hai’.”
Books
Asterix
“I’m not an avid reader, like many people I know. I consider my vocabulary very weak. What happens is that when I read, I get distracted and start creating music. So I’m not very intellectual and don’t read novels much. That said, I read a lot of comics. First on the list is ‘Asterix’. Along with that, I used to read a lot of ‘Phantom’, ‘Archie’, ‘Tintin’, of course and ‘Mad Magazine’ as well.”
(As told to Chetana Divya Vasudev)