Those who have followed Hindi music (film and non-film) over the years would vouch for the fact that Shankar Mahadevan has been one of the brightest musical talents to have emerged out of India. Shankar, who embarked upon a professional career in music in the early ‘90s, has made a name for himself not just as a vocalist but also as a music composer.
While Shankar has lent his voice to several popular songs over the years, he has also composed a plethora of evergreen melodies with his partners Ehsaan Norani and Loy Mendonsa as a part of Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy, India’s first composer trio. Along with winning every reputed award given to artists in India, including the National Award, Shankar has also won the Grammy’s Award for the best Global Music Album with his teammates from the band Shakti.
‘The Musical Maverick’, authored by Ashis Ghatak, is the first-ever authorized biography on Shankar. The book spans 374 pages and has been published by Rupa Publications. Since this is an authorized biography and Shankar has been involved in it, one expects to come across several anecdotes that one has not read or heard about earlier. Apart from giving a lowdown of the maestro’s musical journey, one also hopes the book will familiarize one with some moments and incidents from his personal life. The final draft of the book, interestingly, was written just a while before Shankar won his first Grammy’s Award.
As you open the book, you come across a heartwarming foreword written by Javed Akhtar, the legend with whom Shankar has collaborated on several films and non-film projects over the years. The foreword is just two and a half pages long but it gives you an idea about the kind of admiration the veteran writer and lyricist has for Shankar. “His singing is as effortless as breathing is for you and me”, this line written by Akhtar in the foreword makes one realize the kind of devotion Shankar has had towards music.
While the foreword written by Akhtar sets the tone for the book, gives one a glimpse into a Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy. As you read the prelude, you get an idea about the vibe and ambiance a concert put together by the trio has. If one has not been to any of the concerts organized by the trio, one would feel compelled to go for one after reading the prelude.
Every chapter in the book has a title. However, the author has done a very interesting thing. He introduces the readers to a chapter through a song (or lines borrowed from a song). An entire page is dedicated to specifying the number and the song associated with each chapter. So, the first chapter is called ‘Childhood in Chembur’ and the lines leading it to are “jugnu jaise hain armaan”. These lines, as fans of the singer-composer would know, are from the song ‘Jungu’ from ‘Panga’. The first chapter, very beautifully chronicles Shankar’s childhood in Chembur. There is an interesting anecdote about how Shankar, as a child, got attracted to the veena and developed a love for music.
In the second chapter, titled ‘The Ultimate Teacher’, one gets to know Shankar and his elder brother Meena took their first steps towards learning music. We also get to know how nobody in Our Lady of Perpetual Succour High School, had any idea about Shankar’s musical talents for the longest time. The story behind how his abilities as a singer and musician got discovered by the school is quite incredible.
Every chapter in the book plays a key role in introducing the reader to Shankar’s journey as an artist and a human being. While chapter 5 gives one a glimpse of the relationship between Sangeeta and Shankar which culminated into marriage, chapters 9 and 10 take us through Shankar’s journey from taking up an IT job to leaving it behind to pursue a career in music. The more you flip through the pages, you more you gather an understanding of the things that led towards Shankar becoming the legend he is today.
Through this book, one gets to know about many qualities of Shankar which helped him climb up the ladders of success in his professional life and also endeared him to people around you. Despite reaching where he has reached in life, Shankar is always hungry for knowledge. From his mentors and peers, he amassed a lot of musical knowledge which contributed towards shaping his sensibilities. This is something young musicians could take a note of. The book also familiarizes us with Shankar, the father, husband, brother and friend who is always there for people in his life. The fact that he is still very close to the people who weer with him when he started his professional journey speaks volumes about his character.
A lot of Shankar Mahadevan fans would pick up this book hoping to stumble upon some rare trivia about his songs. Such fans would not be disappointed as the book provides them with a plethora of information which they would find enriching. It is extremely fascinating to read about the journey of ‘Breathless’ and how it was Javed Akhtar who initiated it. One would also get introduced to some lesser-heard songs sung by Shankar including ‘Amma’ from ‘Manjunath’. One also gets to know about some of the hidden musical talents of Shankar. Most people, for instance, would not know that he played the sarod in ‘Mitwa’ (‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’).
The latter half of the book features several chapters dedicated to albums put together by Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy. While the author has written about the popular albums in detail, one wishes he had given a little more space to some brilliant albums created by SEL like ‘London Dreams’. These albums have been mentioned briefly. It is good to see a chapter being devoted to ‘Mirzya’, an album which deserves a lot more appreciation. The author does a very good job of detailing the kind of equation Shankar shares with Ehsaan and Loy, two individuals who have been an integral part of his musical journey. To get an idea about the three of them compose music together, turn to page 193. In the chapter titled ‘My Country, My Music’, the author talks about how Shankar worked towards popularizing folk music.
While the author seems to have done tremendous research to wrote this book, some mistakes have creeped in. On page number 105, the author has stated that Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy did all the songs for ‘Dus’. That is not correct information. Two songs in the film (‘Piya’ and ‘Dus’) were composed by Sandeep Chowta. The third paragraph on page number 156 states that ‘Heyy Babyy’ released a year after ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’. ‘Heyy Babyy’ came out four years after the Nikkhil Advani directed film released. On paeg number 178, ‘Telugu’ has been spelt as ‘Telegu’.
On page number 87, it has been mentioned that ‘Mourya Re’ is one of the two original numbers in the film. ‘Don’ (2006) had three original numbers in the form of ‘Main Hoon Don’, Aaj Ki Raat’ and ‘Mourya Re’. ‘Main Hoon Don’ had no connection with the title track of the original ‘Don’ composed by Kalyanji – Anandji. On page number 189, the author has stated that “producers Mukesh Talreja and Sunil Manchanda produced three movies with Salman Khan as the lead and Himesh Reshammiya as their music director”. In two of these films (‘Tere Naam’ and ‘Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha’), some songs were also contributed by Sajid – Wajid and A. R. Rahman respectively.
A paragraph on page number 240 informs the readers that Hrithik Roshan has lent his voice to ‘Tum Bhi Ho Wahi’ from ‘Kites’. Hrithik did not sing the song. He had crooned ‘Kites In The Sky’, the only English track on the album. The second paragraph on page 243 states that Alyssa made her debut as a singer with ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’. Alyssa had earlier sung for ‘Housefull’ and ‘Karthik Calling Karthik’.
‘The Musical Maverick’ is a must-read for anybody who has been a fan of Shankar Mahadevan. Through this authorized biography, Ashis Ghatak gives readers the opportunity to delve deep into the singer – musician’s personal and professional life. This book shall also appeal greatly to those who had heard Shankar’s music fleetingly and wanted to have a deeper understanding of the artist and human being he is.