Shankar Mahadevan: I feel extremely humbled and honoured to have been given this award

Music composer Shankar Mahadevan talks about his first reaction when he learned that he was being awarded with the Padma Shri

Apart from being “joyous” and “over the moon”, singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan was “humbled” after he learnt that he was being awarded the Padma Shri this year. “It’s the fourth highest civilian award and suddenly it dawns on you that you have been chosen from a country of a billion people. So, I feel extremely humbled and honoured and all I can say right now is that I will continue to work hard and keep entertaining more people with my music,” he says.

CBFC Chief Prasson Joshi informed Shankar Mahadevan about being awarded the Padma Shri.(Photo: Facebook)

CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi was the one to inform him that he was being given the award.

Recalling the conversation, Shankar says, “I was with my family at Boman Irani’s place, where we were celebrating the music I had composed for his production venture. Prasoon called and said congratulations and I thought he was congratulating me on the success of Manikarnika.”

“But then, he said ‘you have been awarded with the Padma Shri’, and I remember shouting out to my wife,” he adds.

Shankar is one of the biggest composers in the film industry, having composed music for films such as Dil Chahta hai (2001), Kal Ho Na Ho (2003), Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and Manikarnika.

Shankar understands his responsibility as a star and wishes that the Padma Shri pushes him to carry on doing things for music. “My music school is now seven years old and we have started teaching music to the underprivileged kids, as they might not get an opportunity to learn music. I hope that this recognition by the government encourages me to keep doing things like this and I hope to establish the world’s best music school someday,” he signs off.

Interact with the author on Twitter/@sammysamarth