Another 'Breathless' by Shankar Mahadevan?

Shankar Mahadevan was in the city recently to perform at IIT Kanpur’s cultural fest Antaragni, when we caught up with the musician.
Campus cool While Mahadevan performs on stage regularly, performing at a college fest is “different”, he says. “There is big difference between other stage performances and performing at a college. We always look forward to campus fests.The energy at such events is incomparable to any public or corporate event. Like in IIT-K there were about 13,000 students gathered to listen to us, swaying to the music, with their hands in the air. It’s an incredible feeling to perform before such an audience, and even we are forced to deliver our best,” he says.
Early bird The singer and music composer, who started taking lessons in music at the age of three, says he owes his entire success to his parents. “Music is part of the culture in every middle class South Indian family. So, I started taking lesson on music at age of three. I used to play the harmonium then, and whatever I am today, I owe it completely to my parents who made me learn music,” shares he.
Singing a new tune Shankar never thought of composing music for films and started his career in the industry as a singer. “I never thought I would be a music composer. Like a typical South Indian kid, I completed my education first (studied for BTech) and after working for some years in corporate firms, I decided to make my passion my livelihood. I started as a singer for some jingles, Slowly I got popular, and people began recognizing my voice. And then I met Ehsaan and Loy. We together composed the music of the film, Dus. And since then, we’ve never looked back,” says Shankar.
Mixed bag The trio has their kitty full with a variety of assignments. “I am working on folk, classical and instrumental music and will hopefully come out with something as innovative and unique as Breathless soon. But right now, I am composing music for Bhaag Milkha Bhaagand Karan Johar’s next venture 2 States. We’re also composing music for a number of Marathi movies,” he says.