'I have nothing to complain about'

It has been more than 21 years for the trio in the music industry but their music still weaves a magical spell on their fans.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have been churning out some of the most loved and popular tracks in languages like Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and English.

The turning point in their career as music directors came with the film ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ was another movie that garnered them the much-deserved popularity. Since then, there has been no looking back.

In a conversation with Surupsree Sarmmah, Ehsaan Noorani talks about his journey with Shankar and Loy, the band scene in India and more. You started off composing music for jingles... how did the shift to the film industry happen?

It was pretty much through ads that I entered the film industry. Mukul Anand made ad films in between, that’s when he approached us to compose the music for his film ‘Dus’, which never got made, unfortunately.

 It has been 21 years of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, how has the journey been till now...It has been a fantastic journey. I have nothing to complain about. There have been creative conflicts but those are important. We have resolved them all.
We have come a long way but everything still feels fresh.

What do you think about the band scene in India?

It has a very healthy approach to music and there should be more young bands coming in. You three have been churning out hit music that ultimately becomes an anthem.

What is your mantra for making great music?

The mantra is to make good songs without thinking anything else. Good music also comes with different things that go with it, like a good movie.

What do you think of people doing cover songs?

I think it is a trend. It will be here for some time and it will go. I don’t know why people are doing that, as it feels like they don’t trust the composers to compose good songs.
Any favourite musician from the younger generation...

I like Amit Trivedi a lot.

You are composing music in three languages - Tamil, Telugu and Hindi for Prabhas’s next film ‘Saaho’. Tell us about it. 

We are currently working on it and it has been going really well. It is great to work with a young director like Sujeeth. It is good fun and he has great knowledge about music too.