Happy Birthday Shankar Mahadevan, The Man Who Gave Us Some Soothing Underrated Tracks ( Photo Credit – Facebook / Shankar Mahadevan ; IMDb / Mirzya / Kill Dill / Katyar Kaljat Ghusli )
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If you are a 90s kid like I am, congratulations, we have grown up together listening to the melodious era Shankar Ehsaan Loy created with their music. Shankar Mahadevan, a man who has defined his phase and continues to do so is a music school in himself. For years, he has evolved with the times and has given us the most soothing ballads to listen to.
If you are a keen music lover, you could realise that Shankar Mahadevan’s songs aren’t those shattering numbers that will make their way to you regardless of anything. Instead his songs are the ones we have to discover and fall in love with. While his music in the 90s and early 2000s has been bliss, the ballad composer in the decade that just concluded gave us some soul-stirring numbers. But sadly, not many of the deserving ones made it to as many playlists as they deserved
Today as the man turns 54, I list some of his most underrated songs in the recent times. Because let’s be real, no Mahadevan song was ever left underrated in the days of yore.
If there is one Shankar Ehsaan Loy album that is criminally underrated, it has to be Mirzya. A collection of the most soothing songs where Gulzar’s words meet the trio’s brilliance with fusion. Aave Re Hitchki is a person remembering his better half in the lands far away. The sheer opening music is enough to hook you, and you dare to leave when Shankar Mahadevan enters takes those alaps and spreads his magic all over.
DER LAGI LEKIN
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara will always be about friends discovering their life while on a trip. Zoya Akhtar’s saga is always active and running until Der Lagi Lekin tunes in. The number sung by Shankar Mahadevan seeks redemption and expresses how it looks like. While Paint It Red and Senorita received all the love, this track was lurking around to be noticed.
KILL DILL
The Kill Bill album deserves a complete case study for itself. Including elements from the core Bollywood, to Rock to poetry, the songs had a range. The title track though, a jugalbandi between Sonu Nigam and Shankar Mahadevan, is all kinds of adrenaline pumping marvel. Plus it has Gulzar himself reciting his lyrics. Do we even need anything more?
SUR NIRAGAS HO
The Marathi folks out there might not find this one to be underrated, but their is a majority of non Marathi audience that has not discovered how beautiful Shankar Mahadevan can sing in other languages too. Sur Niragas Ho from Katyar Kaljat Ghusli doesn’t need you to be a Marathi to understand, it is the melody that does the magic. Let yourself sink in.
SAPNO SE BHARE NAINA
Luck By Chance is about ambitions and dreams that lakhs come to this city with. Especially the tinsel town is the most sought after destination. Sapno Se Bhare Naina talks about the plight of all of these bright eyed people walking towards their aim with dreams in their eyes. Farhan Akhtar elevates it with his performance.
Happy Birthday Shankar Mahadevan! May you croon more tracks that touch our hearts the way they always have.
