Mahesh Shankar shot to fame with his Telugu film debut through Vennela, in which songs were very different from regular style of Telugu film songs, and the audience took notice. He was only rarely heard of, due to his stay in the USA then, but again, his songs in Chandrasekhar Yeleti's Prayanam drew attention. Now, the music director has teamed up with Deva Katta of Vennela again for the film Prasthanam, which is a lot different from their first combination. As their second combination film gears up for release this week, I wanted to speak to him for an interview. He was totally occupied with the final audio mixing for the film when I first called, and I had to call him later in the evening. Still, we had to take a break and he promised to call me back when he's done, and I finally finished interviewing him at about 1:30 a.m. IST on Sunday, after all his work for Prasthanam was completely wrapped up. He was patiently detailing me about Prasthanam and the "prasthaanam" (journey) of his career also, even after a full day's work, to present what's going to be an exclusive interview for the readers of TeluguCinema.Com, the excerpts of which are presented here. (Some of the things we spoke about were already published in an earlier interview and are thus skipped for brevity, though I loved knowing about his personal and professional association with the classical music stars.)
NaChaKi: ...So, you worked with several classical music performers as a college youth and... you also worked with Ganesh-Kumaresh for the film Dance Like A Man , right?
Mahesh Shankar: It was an interesting situation! I met them at one of their concerts in USA, at a time when they were finishing up the music work for Dance Like A Man. They needed to finish one of their end peieces and some filler music bits left and they had to send back the pending bits immediately. So, we sat together and completed it.
NaChaKi: I am a fan of the violinist-duo (Ganesh-Kumaresh)! It was in my recent trip to India that I got a chance to watch them perform live...
Mahesh Shankar: They are absolutely brilliant! I learnt a lot of stuff from them, really...
NaChaKi: Did you plan to get into films after coming into the USA or before? When did the movie bug bite you?
Mahesh Shankar: Music has always been a passion to me and so I planned on doing music records, of course. But, with the films, there's not been much planning and stuff... I was doing films as they came to me really. Until Prayanam, it all just happened, but after that I started taking my steps more seriously. Just about the time I completed working for Prayanam, I was on this film (Prasthanam).
NaChaKi: It's interesting to note that all your films were more or less off-beat films. Was that intentional?
Mahesh Shankar: No, absolutely not intentional! It's like someone approached me and ask me to score music for their film, and I have no idea why they'd choose me. That's how all these movies happened. It's by chance but not by design.
NaChaKi: So, is that why you'd say you scored music for only four films in Telugu, in the last five years since your deubt? Well, there were other reasons such as you being outside India... and that you worked for non-Telugu films (one number in Hindi flick 99 , and an NRI-themed film Knock, knock, I'm looking to marry!) also during this time. Shouldn't you have done more films here?
Mahesh Shankar: I don't know if I should feel that I should have done more, but I think the entire process was very educational for me. Scoring was a movie never even on my mind before I stepped into the film-world. It was, for me, a very new, different experience to start with. I was kind of learning "on the job". ...And, yes, if I were in India after Vennela, I could have signed for more films... There was this huge gap because of that... and I don't even know why Chandu (Chandrasekhar Yeleti) chose me for Prayanam...
NaChaKi: Oh, yeah! You being associated with NRI film-makers is understandable because you were an NRI too then, but how did you get to be associated with the Prayanam team?
Mahesh Shankar: I honestly don't know! Chandu worked with Keeravani gaaru for his movies earlier but he was looking for a different music director for the film for some reason. Different names were coming up, and I guess my name was also one of them. He knew of my work, and of course, he had an idea of what kind of music he'd want to have in his film. He thus contacted me and asked if I'd be able to work with him. I said I was in the USA, and he said it shouldn't be a problem. The distance barrier would have been a problem for a lot of people to reach me, but not for Chandu.
NaChaKi: In the Hindi film 99, the song that you scored was very different, even in its name (Punjabi Size )! That made me wonder what's the formal music training you had, because you ventured into so many different schools of music!
Mahesh Shankar: Actually, none! I haven't had any formal music training...
NaChaKi: Whoa! Yet you performed with the stalwarts in Carnatic music?! That's interesting!
Mahesh Shankar: I should say I am lucky! In a way, I had a lot of music training, but not of the formal kind. I was learning constantly through the numerous performances with all these people, during their conversations... It's the best way to learn, especially if you are receptive and open-minded. And, I was lucky to be at the right place at the right time.
