"Where's the party tonight?"
It's a question I must ask the three men in black, for their music in the just-released Karan Johar directorial offering, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, has - like in their previous films, Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya and Kal Ho Naa Ho, to name just three - set the charts afire. On a roll, Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa - are busy at work in the cool confines of a suburban studio, almost round the clock…. For 2006 is yet another big year for 'SEL' - as the trio is popularly called. After the release of KANK, the musical maestros are giving the finishing touches to their compositions for Farhan Akhtar's Don and Nikhil Advani's Salaam-E-Ishq, to name just two of their biggies due to hit the marquee soon.

Apart from the interesting fact that SEL unconsciously mirrors the popular Amar Akbar Anthony combo, they are probably the only music directors to work as a threesome. Musical duos (Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, Jatin-Lalit, Salim-Suleiman) - have functioned in smooth harmony. But three…. Isn't that one more than is the usual wont? "The concept is just like a band," says Shankar, the most visible of the trio, who sets the conversation ball rolling. "With Ehsaan strumming the guitar, Loy, on the keyboard and me, singing, we are perhaps the only complete self-sufficient music composers around. We are constantly jamming, throwing ideas at each other and our music emerges from our often informal interaction."

Once earlier, when Loy was asked what it was like working together, he had replied, "It is almost like sitting on a two-legged stool…. We may be a little stressed out sometimes and everyone will be on edge if we have to meet a deadline but otherwise three is a nice number. There is a certain synergy which is continuously moving. It is like a ball of momentum….."