The Wit, The Humor and Talent Extraordinaire!
It all looked so familiar, yet so different. The chairs awaiting their patrons, mikes neatly placed next to each other, small whispers in the room packed with people, the excitement et al. As the buzz got louder, the wait got shorter, and finally ended with the trio walking in. They had an easy going demeanor, a huge contrast from the star studded press conferences, and that is when it dawned on me that this was not going to be what I thought it would be.
Shankar Ehsaan Loy, the talented trio, took everyone by surprise with their casual candor. Shankar Mahadevan talked about his experience with Sankara Eye foundation, his visit to one of their hospitals, how he was enamored by the magnitude of their selfless work. He even went on to mention that it was a double whammy situation for them: to perform for such a huge audience and support a cause with it. The sombre start soon turned into laughter with questions asked about how do they choose a singer for their composition? To this Loy mentioned that the song has its own identity and it sort of chooses the singer, not us and the ego cannot find a place in this process. Ehsaan pitched in and said, “The song has the biggest ego” .
A press conference with creative artists at the helm cannot be complete unless writers/artists block is mentioned. Shankar was at his humorous best with this one. He said, yes we too face that and narrated an incident. He talked about how your brain shuts off as soon you land in goa. All you can think of is the beaches, the delicious seafood and the Feni. They couldn’t think of a song for two days after which they created, ‘ Mere man yeh bata tu from Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Shankar even sang a song on request. The end of the press conference was the cherry on the cake. On being asked to relay a message to volunteers across cities, He said, “We are also volunteers through our medium of music. Thank you for making us a part of Sankara Eye foundation, and we hope that we are able to bring about a change just like you people are doing” As I write this, we are nearing a sold out show, time to show your love San Jose!