Mahadevan’s
magic at work
Sreya Basu
chats up Shankar Mahadevan, who perfectly balances his career as
a singer and music composer
You were born in
South India and brought up in Mumbai. Do you miss Kerala?
I am an Iyer from
Palakkad but born and brought up in Mumbai. But if you come to
Mumbai and see certain areas, especially areas like Chembur
where I grew up and Matunga, you are not going to miss South
India because, the people over there, the markets, the clothes
that people wear, the way they talk`85you will feel that you are
in Palakkad.
From a software
engineer at Oracle to a musician, what made you take such a
plunge?
There’s
something called a livelihood and something called passion. It
should always be your aim to make your passion your
livelihood`85you will be able to work 24 hours if you are doing
what you love to. I was singing here and there a little bit. I
was from a middle-class South Indian family and education was
very important for us; it still is. Education is important for
your confidence. So, as I was saying, I completed my education
and started working. But after sometime, you need to introspect.
What made you
change your profession?
I was hugely
motivated by Sangeetha`85she was not my wife then, we were still
going around and about to get married. She was the one
responsible for me turning full-time musician. Unless you have
correct support from the person you love the most, it’s very
difficult to take a decision; and she supported me.
So, what is music
to you?
All that there is
to music are the seven notes; everything is created through
these, mixed in various proportions and intensity.
What makes you get
involved in so many things at the same time — composing songs,
jingles, playback singing, cutting your own albums, live
concerts?
Someone told me
that I am a supermarket of music with special deals everywhere.
It’s an extension of your passion. If there’s a particular
thing you want to do, you will do it. I don’t believe in
excuses like ‘I don’t have the time’, or ‘I am too busy
doing this’, or ‘I can only focus on one thing’. I can
only focus on music. But within music, there are so many
branches for me to explore and I am a very restless student. I
always want to learn more about music and till I learn about a
particular thing perfectly, I am never at peace. My interest
towards ghazals, film music, fusions, western music,
jingles`85all are part of my interest and my craving to learn
beyond.
You were an
overnight success with Breathless.
Breathless was
the album that brought me to public and said: ‘See this
guy`85he is Shankar Mahadevan’. That was the first time my
face and voice came together.
Dil Chahta
Hai was a major
breakthrough for Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy as music composers. Do you
believe it to be your best work so far?
I can’t say
that. But Dil Chahta Hai took us to places and it
completely changed the way people listen to Hindi film music.
But success didn’t come so easy. When we made Dil Chahta
Hai, the first impression from two-three major music
companies was — ‘It sounds like jingle’. Why? Because, the
music was given by people who also make jingles.
Your sons are also
good singers
Siddharth and
Shivam are really dedicated and passionate about music. Give
them a shruti and they will sing it. But we (wife Sangeetha and
me) as parents, never push them with music. We never tell them
— ‘See, you try to become like your father’. Both of them
are very good in music and we are letting them be what they are.
We heard you are a
complete foodie
Yes`85food totally
does it for me. I will give you an example. I recently went on
Teacher’s Origin Highnights trip to Kolkata. Seriously
speaking, I agreed on the trip mainly because of the food;
Sayantani, a member of our team, used to get us lunch from her
home and her mother prepared amazing Bengali delicacies like Golda
Chingrir Malaikari and Ilish Bhapa.
It has been long
that we had another Breathless
All I can say
right now is that we (Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy) are working on a new
album and it’s going to be something different. — TWF
|