‘AR Rahman’s mother started chanting’: Shankar Mahadevan recalls how ‘intervention from above’ cured his voice before US concert

Shankar Mahadevan recalled an anecdote about losing his voice before a concert show in the US, and said that he recovered because of divine intervention.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | June 9, 2023 11:13 AM IST

3 min read

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Shankar Mahadevan used to tour with AR Rahman.

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Singer Shankar Mahadevan recalled how the collective prayers of his friends and companions during a US concert tour with AR Rahman also brought his voice back. He said that he had given up on performing that day, and had even told Rahman about this. But Rahman’s mother began praying for him, and to his great surprise, he was able to not only go through with the performance, but also hit the high notes of the song “Kay Sera Sera.”

In an interview with O2 India, Shankar Mahadevan said, “The song starts on a very high note, and when we used to do the Rahman concerts in America, in one of the concerts, my voice had gone completely. And the concert, my entry, used to start with the high note, ‘naujawaano’. And to start your evening with a bad voice is a bad idea. I know that.”

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He continued, “I remember, that time, Rahman’s mother was also there. The entire unit, including Chitra ji, Kavita ji, Balu sir, all these people, we were all together. And they were all praying for me. I remember Rahman’s mother, she used to have beads, and she was chanting. Chitra ji gave me a kind of a powder that soothes your voice, and it opens up. It was next to impossible, but there was some intervention from above. I went on stage and hit that note, and it just worked.”

Shankar conceded that he wasn’t at ‘100%’, but he managed the concert, which was ‘an impossibility’. “It was the prayers of everybody, Rahman’s confidence, his mother’s prayers…” Shankar said that the moment he hit the high note, singer Hariharan, who was also present, left the stage area and retreated into a green room. He was too nervous about listening to Shankar’s entire performance.

In a recent interview, also with O2 India, Shankar reflected on how Rahman has evolved over the years, and said that in the past three decades, Rahman is still the ‘god-fearing, modest’ person that he used to be, but is now less self-conscious.

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