Top of the pops!

AR Rahman’s feat on the global stage certainly seems to have opened the doors of opportunity for many Indian composers in the world scenario. Bollywood’s prominent composer trio Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa (SEL), who have belted out several hit tracks for years now, have been approached by well-known American record producer/singer Jim Beanz who has worked with Shakira and Britney Spears to work on his album.

Jim is also renowned for working with other biggies like Nelly Furtado, Duran Duran, Ashlee Simpson and Whitney Houston. After Hrs has learnt that the trio will head to the US in August and September this year to finalise the project and discuss the nature of the collaboration with Jim and also Timbaland – one of the highest paid music artistes in the world having earned $22million last year according to a Forbes article.

Says Ehsaan, “We have been contacted by Jim, who we hear is very close to Timbaland. We think we have to meet Timbaland too when we fly to US in August/September this year. We will discuss everything about our collaboration with them and then it will take off.” He adds, “We are collaborating with many people in this international venture of ours. We are teaming up with a group called The Rebel and singer Amar (who specialises in hip-hop and Bollywood style), a British artist of Indian origin who has worked with Talvin Singh. We don’t know what the title of the album will be or the number of tracks it will have. We have just jammed with them a little.” Amar has also worked with Timbaland sometime back and is a well-known name in the Asian underground scene in England.