Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy () is an Indian musical trio consisting of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, and Loy Mendonsa. They have composed music for over 50 soundtracks across five languages: Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Marathi and English. Amongst the most critically acclaimed Indian musicians, the trio have won numerous awards, including National Film Awards, Filmfare Awards, and IIFA Awards.
They are often referred to as the Amar Akbar Anthony (AAA) of the Hindi film music industry. They are known for their compositions in Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), My Name Is Khan (2010), Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and Dil Dhadakne Do (2015).
Members
Shankar Mahadevan
Shankar Mahadevan, the main vocalist of the trio, was born and brought up in Chembur, a suburb of Mumbai, in a Tamil family from Kerala. He learned Hindustani classical music and Carnatic music in his childhood and started playing the veena at the age of five. He studied under Shrinivas Khale, a popular Marathi music composer. After graduating in 1988 with a degree in Software Engineering from Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology in Navi Mumbai under the auspices of Mumbai University, he worked as a software engineer on Oracle Version Six. After working for a while for Leading Edge Systems, Shankar ventured into the field of music. He earned his first award as a playback singer in a Tamil movie, collaborating with A. R. Rahman and winning a National Film Award for his song in Kandukondain Kandukondain. A prominent star in Tamil cinema, he gained further recognition upon the release of his first music album, Breathless, in 1998. In 2019 he was felicitated with the Padma Shri Award for his contribution to Film Music. He has two sons, Siddharth and Shivam Mahadevan, both of whom are singers as well.
Ehsaan Noorani
Ehsaan Noorani is the guitarist of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy. He studied music with Bismarck Rodrigues from a young age. Prior to going abroad to study further music at GIT (Los Angeles), Ehsaan was an integral part of two local bands in Mumbai, Pegasus and Crosswinds. Ehsaan returned to Mumbai and was in demand for his musical skills in composing jingles, working for all the top composers of the time. Until the day Magic Box productions approached him to compose the jingle for Sona Spices, and that marked the beginning of Ehsaan's independent journey as a composer of jingles in India.
Ehsaan was approached by Mukul S. Anand to compose the music for his film Dus, and he in turn asked Shankar and Loy to join him in composing the music for the film. Dus never made it to the big screen, due to the death of the director.
Ehsaan is the only Indian musician to have endorsed a signature line, 'The Ehsaan Noorani Fender Squier' signature series, for Fender guitars, one of the largest and most reputed guitar manufacturers in the world.
Loy Mendonsa
Loy Mendonsa plays the piano, bass guitar, and harmonica and is currently learning to play the trumpet. Loy was a genius music teacher for a school in New Delhi, when he was invited to write the music for the show Quiz Time by Siddharth Basu, who gave him his first break. Loy then went on to compose the title track for The World This Week and for the Shahrukh Khan TV serial Fauji. Loy moved to Bombay and met Ehsaan in 1989, and together they composed several ad jingles. His daughter Alyssa Mendonsa is a playback singer who has lent her voice to their songs.
History
Formation (1985–96)
Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy came up from the ranks of the non-film music scene, performing rock, blues, jazz and pop before entering the film music industry. Shankar Mahadevan, a software engineer, worked on Oracle Version Six and studied Western, Hindustani and Carnatic classical music. He made his debut with the 1985 Marathi film Vahinichi Maya. A leading playback singer with Pukar, Sapnay and Biwi No.1 to his credit, he also composed Breathless.
Ehsaan Noorani studied music at the Musicians' Institute in Los Angeles and worked with the likes of Ronnie Desai, Laxmikant–Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji and Louis Banks. He composed Alien Desire, did several jingles and like Loy, was part of a blues-and-acid jazz band. Loy Mendonsa is trained in Western classical and also learnt the rudiments of Indian classical music. He performed with several group bands and plays (Godspell, West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar) and composed jingles and signature tunes (Fauji, The World This Week).
Ehsaan was doing jingles and Loy was in Delhi before the union. Loy was writing for television then. The show Quiz Time was his first work and Siddharth Basu gave him his first break. Then he did Prannoy Roy's The World This Week. A few more shows came along and he also did theatre and Shahrukh Khan's Fauji. Loy had also worked as keyboardist with A. R. Rahman and Shankar had sung many famous tracks for him. In 1989, Ehsaan met Loy, who was working for Ranjit Barot, an ad film composer. From then on, they joined and composed several ad jingles together. Later, Ehsaan and Loy met Shankar when he was roped in by Ranjit Barot to sing for the Pepsi ad directed by Mukul Anand. Since then, they started to compose for ads as a trio.
Early years (1997–2001)
Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy were to make their debut as composers in Mukul Anand's film Dus. Director Anand wanted Ehsaan to compose the music for the film, but he insisted that Shankar and Loy work with him and Anand agreed. The film remained incomplete after Anand's death, though the album was released later in 1999. After Dus, they had composed music for a couple of films like Rockford and Bhopal Express, but all of them went unnoticed. Their entry to mainstream cinema was with Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Mission Kashmir, which was a musical hit and earned the trio a place in the Bollywood film industry. They also earned IIFA nominations for the same.
Dil Chahta Hai and rise to fame (2001–04)
In 2001, they made their film debut in Tamil film industry, as Kamal Haasan signed them to compose for Aalavandhan. The music sold well due to the hype surrounding the movie, though the movie itself was a dud in the box-office. The turning point of their career as music directors though, was Dil Chahta Hai, which was the debut film of Farhan Akhtar as a director. Initially, A. R. Rahman was considered to do the music, but he backed out due to other assignments. Then the trio composed a title track for the film, which Farhan liked, and he signed them for the film. The film won widespread critical acclaim and went on to attain cult status among audiences, and also earned them their first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. This marked the beginning of the trio's friendship with Farhan Akhtar and long-term association with Excel Entertainments.
Post Dil Chahta Hai, they composed music for several small budget films like Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai?, Nayee Padosan and Ek Aur Ek Gyarah, where all of them went unnoticed as all the movies were panned by the critics. They also had two big ventures, Honey Irani's Armaan and Rohan Sippy's Kuch Naa Kaho, which yet again, failed to impress both critics and audiences – though their work in Armaan was lauded by critics.
Kal Ho Naa Ho and First National Award (2004–06)
Following Dil Chahta Hai, their next big venture was Dharma Productions' Kal Ho Naa Ho, directed by Nikhil Advani. The album received a highly positive response when the film was released and it became one of the best selling Indian music albums of the year and was the highest seller album of 2003. The soundtrack won numerous awards including the National Film Award for Best Music Direction and their first Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.
The year 2005 saw them collaborate with Shaad Ali for Bunty Aur Babli, as his first choice, A. R. Rahman, was busy with other assignments. The soundtrack, despite the initial mixed reaction from various critics, became immensely popular among the public, and went on to win several awards including their second Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. The song "Kajra Re" featuring Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan became a rage among the listeners.
In 2006, they reteamed with Dharma Productions for Karan Johar's musical romantic drama Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. The soundtrack and background score of the film received universal acclaim and became the second highest-selling Indian music album of the year. Their next album that year was Farhan Akhtar's Don: The Chase Begins Again. They composed seven songs, including two versions of "Yeh Mera Dil" and "Khaike Paan Banaraswala", from Don (1978). The track "Aaj Ki Raat" was also included in the Academy Award-winning soundtrack Slumdog Millionaire. The soundtracks of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and Don: The Chase Begins Again earned them several nominations at various award ceremonies, including their fourth and fifth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.
Later career (2007–present) 2007 was arguably the best year of their career. The year started off with Nikhil Advani's multistarrer Salaam-e-Ishq, which was lauded by critics and music lovers alike, and went on to rule the music charts. The music was praised by the movie critics too, despite the movie itself receiving mixed-to-negative responses. Same was the fate of their next release, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. Despite the music getting positive reviews and becoming quite a sensation among listeners, the movie failed to make a mark. However, this pattern was broken by their next release, Akshay Kumar's Heyy Babyy, where both the film and the music were commercial successes.
In August, the album Johnny Gaddaar was released, which was co-produced by the trio and Adlabs, first of its kind in the history of Bollywood. Both the music and movie received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics.
Their last album of the year, Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par, was well received by critics, and both the film and the music got a cult status among audiences. Most of their albums for this year made the top 10 lists of all major websites.
In 2008, their major release was Rock On!! – which was a cult favourite and rage among the audience, and went on to become a huge commercial success, despite the initial cold reaction from the critics. The soundtrack earned them their sixth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. Luck By Chance was their last album of 2008, which garnered positive reviews from both Indian and international critics.
In 2009 they scored music for the Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan starrer London Dreams. Although the music received favorable reviews, the movie didn't fare well in the box office. They also composed the music of Ayan Mukherjee's debut film Wake Up Sid starring Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma along with Amit Trivedi. The music, especially the title track, topped charts, and received widespread critical acclaim. The soundtrack earned them their seventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.