Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is a composer and playback singer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy composing trio team for many Indian films. He is a four-time winner of the National Award: three times for Best Male Playback Singer and once for Best Music Director. Mahadevan founded the Shankar Mahadevan Academy, which provides online music lessons in Indian music for students worldwide. In 2015, he made his debut as an actor in the Marathi film Katyar Kaljat Ghusli, a film adaptation of a 1960 stage classic by the same name.