Deepti Sivan’s fascination for Shankar Mahadevan’s journey from a software engineer to one of Bollywood’s biggest musicians, led to the inception of Decoding Shankar. The 45-minute documentary bagged the Best Biographical Film award at the Toronto International Women’s Film Festival last week. “What made this documentary stand out is the fact that we also highlighted other facets of his life, including his relationship with wife [Sangeeta], and his love for food. It takes a non-linear approach,” says Sivan, who is currently in negotiations with various OTT platforms for an India release.

An array of celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Javed Akhtar, and Sachin Tendulkar, enabled the director to breathe life into the documentary that traces the composer’s relationship with music, and how he approaches his craft. While Mahadevan is no stranger to awards, he acknowledges that the recent win holds a special place in his heart.

“It is humbling to have a film about my life. The documentary is accurate because it has a narrative style. Since there was no script, I had complete freedom to express myself. What you see on screen is the real me, in my own space,” says the musician.