Give Bollywood twist to classical music, says Shankar Mahadevan

Musician Shankar Mahadevan says the plunging popularity of Indian classical music can see an upswing if Bollywood music composers infuse classical tunes into their tracks.

The composer also feels classical music is neglected in the country.

"It is the responsibility of music composers to add some classical music elements into their songs to make the music genre popular," Mahadevan told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

The singer, who has rendered foot-tapping numbers like "India waale", "Senorita" and "Hoth rasiley", added that he really feels "that the kind of respect Indian classical music gets abroad is missing from India".

Mahadevan, who scored new heights in the musical world with trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, said he strives to bring the soul of classical music into his compositions.

"We have always tried to do that with songs like 'Mitwa' or 'Sapnon se bhare naina'. We try to add some classical elements so that a layman is also exposed to our great classical music," Mahadevan added.

He is now geared up to judge a radio talent show - 92.7 BIG FM's 'Benadryl BIG Golden Voice'.

"I'm looking forward to the whole experience that I had last year. It was so much fun and so different from other reality shows, which you normally do on television," said Mahadevan, who will help the winner of the talent hunt to sail into the silver screen as well.

On the movie front, Mahadevan is working on music for a bunch of films like "Katti Batti", "Rock On 2" and "Mirzya".