Shankar Mahadevan Singer

He’s a software whiz who has been killing them softly with his song. Shankar Mahadevan, the voice behind Pretty Woman in Kal Ho Naa Ho and Koi Kahe in Dil Chahta Hai, once worked as a software development programmer.

Mahadevan, the 34-year-old singer and music composer, found his calling early in life. However, there were several diversions before he reached there. He did his schooling from Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Chembur, an eastern suburb of Mumbai. “I was a good student but more importantly participated in all musical activities in school,” he says.

That was natural. Mahadevan had been trained in classical music from the age of five. But he never imagined that one day it would be his bread and butter. Mahadevan is also a proficient veena player.

Before music took over his life, Mahadevan did a computer science engineering course from Ramrao Adik Institute in New Mumbai and graduated in 1990. After that, he worked on advanced computer languages like Oracle while simultaneously pursuing his Muse — music.

But pursuing parallel careers isn’t easy and the time came for Mahadevan to take a call. He chose music. Says Mahadevan, “Before I arrived at my decision, I spoke to several well-wishers including musicians, singers and friends. Then, overnight, I changed my career.”

He started pursuing singing seriously in 1992. In between his engineering course and working for a software company, Mahadevan used to sing with a couple of bands. That’s where Ranjit Barot spotted him and offered him a chance to sing for an advertisement. The song was for Pepsi’s Yeh hai right choice baby and a new voice was born.

Says Mahadevan, “The advertising world might come across as a vast place where it is difficult to notice talent. But it is quite the opposite actually.”

Mahadevan was soon flooded with offers to sing ad jingles. “At that time, I was the only singer who could sing ads in 10 different languages,” says he. Mahadevan had in his repertoire Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Oriya, Bengali and Assamese.

It wasn’t long before Mahadevan caught the eye of tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, who asked him to sing for his film In Custody in 1993. Since then, life has been one long musical journey. A few years later, he teamed up with his pals Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonca and started composing film music.

If one listens carefully to the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy music, one will observe that Mahadevan sings very few songs. Says he, “I deliberately sing very few songs in films for which I compose, because I would prefer a wide repertoire of songs.”

And so he has not confined himself to Hindi film songs alone. He has released music albums like Breathless and Nine with Javed Akhtar. He jams with international greats like John McLaughlin in the fusion band — Shakti. According to Mahadevan, his musical success can be attributed to his constantly reinventing himself, his willingness to learn from anyone, and knowing his limitations. He adds, “The last one is very important for any musician. Knowing your limitations helps you work on them and be better each time.”

Mahadevan is an example of a person who has made a career pursuing what he loves. What advice would he give to people who wish to switch careers? “Do not switch careers looking at the success of others,” he warns. Mahadevan feels it is always better to talk to people in the field. Apart from this, what any professional must have are perseverance and patience.

When Mahadevan isn’t making music, you can find him in the kitchen cooking delicacies. He is very clear about his priorities. When not busy singing or composing, he takes his kids out to movies and restaurants.

Despite such a varied musical experience, Mahadevan feels that he has a long way to go. “I have not even scratched the surface, there is so much music in the world waiting to be heard,” he says, signing off on a positive musical note.

Based on a conversation with Aparna Harish in Calcutta