Breathless (Shankar Mahadevan album)

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Breathless
Breathlesscover.jpg
Studio album by
Shankar Mahadevan feat. Javed Akhtar
Released15 October 1998;26 years ago (1998-10-15)
Genre Indi-pop, Indian fusion
Length41:04
Label Saregama
Producer Shankar Mahadevan
Shankar Mahadevan feat. Javed Akhtar chronology
Breathless
(1998)		 Nine
(2003)

Breathless is the 1998 Indi-pop album by Indian singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan with the tracks written by lyricist Javed Akhtar. It was the album that first made Shankar Mahadevan famous.

Contents

The title track "Breathless", is a steady stream of a song that goes on without a break, stanzas or verse. However, Shankar didn't sing in one continuous breath. The song's audibly unbroken flow is achieved through studio editing and clever manipulation of the recording. Shankar has confirmed that he recorded different sections of the song and then pieced them together in post-production. [1] He revealed multiple times that it's a concept song in a raga with free improvisation. [2] During the writing, Shankar gave a meter to Javed for writing the lyrics while catching the meter and Javed gave him four sheets of the lyrics which looked like a magazine article with which Shankar felt challenged. [3]

The final track "Breathless (The Reprise)", is a similar song whose story takes off from where "Breathless" ended.

The album won the award for Best Non-film album at the 1998 Screen Awards. [4]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Javed Akhtar.

No.TitleLength
1."Breathless"3:05
2."Tu Paas Hai"6:20
3."Tere Khayalon Se"5:35
4."Mano Ya Na Mano"5:30
5."Jane Kya Hua"6:11
6."Koi Nahin Hai"5:21
7."Ghul Raha Hai Sara Manzar"6:02
8."Breathless (The Reprise)"2:58

Reception

The music album was a huge success, selling over 300,000 copies and topped all major music charts in India for about 10 straight weeks. [5]

Music video

The music video of the title song "Breathless" was directed by Farhan Akhtar and his sister Zoya Akhtar. [6] Shankar himself appears in the video with actress Renu Desai. [7] This was the beginning of a long association, as Shankar, along with Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa (as Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy), went on to score music for all of the films directed by Farhan and Zoya Akhtar.

Recreation

In 2018, Mahadevan recreated the song to highlight the programmes and initiatives of the Narendra Modi-led government. [10] [11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Shankar Mahadevan Fans 'Devastated' Breathless Was Not Recorded in One Breath". Times Now. 2025-05-28. Retrieved 2025-06-30.
  2. ↑ Shankar Mahadevan Reveals: Was 'Breathless' Recorded in One Take? . Retrieved 2025-06-30– via www.youtube.com.
  3. ↑ How Shankar Mahadevan made "BREATHLESS" . Retrieved 2025-06-30– via www.youtube.com.
  4. ↑ "Award Winners". Screen . Archived from the original on 22 October 1999. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  5. ↑ New Straits Times - Google News Archive Search
  6. ↑ "Star World 'Cover Story' to grill Farhan Akhtar - Indiantelevision.com's Tube Talk". Indiantelevision.com. 2004-04-15. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
  7. ↑ "Friday Flashback: 5 things about Shankar Mahadevan's biggest hit that will leave you 'Breathless'". India Today. March 3, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  8. ↑ "Shankar Mahadevan's song Breathless appears on "Tumiye Mur Kalpanar"".
  9. ↑ "This cover of Shankar Mahadevan's 'Breathless' will take your breath away". The Indian Express. 2023-07-10. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
  10. ↑ Gupta, Kriti (16 August 2018). "Shankar Mahadevan Recreates 'Breathless', Highlights Modi Government's Achievements". Indiatimes. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  11. ↑ "Shankar Mahadevan recreates 'Breathless' highlighting govt schemes, PM Modi praises his composition". The Indian Express. 15 August 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
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