Shankar Ehsaan Loy

Ehsaan was doing jingles at Mumbai, and Loy was in Delhi. Loy was writing for television then. There was a show called Quiz Time, and Siddharth Basu gave him the first break. Loy then did the music of Pranoy Roy's show "The World This Week", and some theatre, Shahrukh's first serial "Fauji". When Loy moved to Mumbai, he hooked up with Ehsaan and they started working together on jingles. Shankar used to sing for their jingles (Indian parts). He used to freelance as a singer with several music composers, and then launched his first album 'Breathless'. 

It was that time in the 80's when things were different. There was a lot happening in the world of music. Engineering was becoming technology, and music was becoming visual. SHANKAR was busy with his engineering career, EHSAAN with his music, and LOY was thinking & drifting, thinking & becoming. A film-maker, late Mukul Anand, got the 3 together for his magnum opus 'Dus'. The track "Hindustani" struck a chord, ripped through the charts and turned into an overnight anthem. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, the band, was born.

Scoring for films, advertisements, the works. S-E-L started to merge with something that everybody would sink into with open arms. The freshness of good vibrations, melody and beats. "Dil Chahta Hai" perched them atop the rest and "Kal Ho Na Ho" fetched them a National award. SEL is here to stay. But behind these layers is the other side of SEL that constantly engages in creating awareness, raising funds and helping those who really need it. This is the most definitive pitch with which the trio continues to walk on... making every listen worthwhile. 

Following the popular practice in Bollywood music where individuals with varied musical backgrounds collaborate together, Shankar Ehsaan Loy are the first Bollywood trio of music composers. Exploiting the unique strength of its members — the Indian classical music of Shankar Mahadevan, the rock and acoustic pop of Ehsaan Noorani, and the electronica-fusion of Loy Mendonsa — the trio has created successful music that is both traditional and progressive.