Ashish Palanna, Ria D’Souza and Sumanth Shetty go by their stage names Sheesh, Ryo and Kanasue; together they make up Curry — a South Indian pop band slowly making a name for themselves.

“We’ve been friends from school; Mangalore is a small city with a few good schools so almost everyone ends up studying at the same place,” says Kanasue, adding that Sheesh was a senior while Ryo and he were batchmates.

While all three were musically-inclined in school and participated in different musical shows, they did not perform together. Eventually, they caught up in Mumbai where they began working after graduating. At the time, Kanasue was working at a music studio, and Ashish and Riya had individual projects underway. “When we met up, we decided to form a band. All three of us sing and compose, and I produce the music. We also play the guitar and piano which we learnt in childhood.”

Why Curry? “We were looking for a name that would immediately sound Indian and though we came up with a few options, the possibility that they would be mispronounced was always there. Finally, we zeroed in on Curry; all three of us felt it gave out the right Indian vibe.”

Kanasue laughs as he recollects how they started out with a name comprising their initials. “We kept it for about a year before realising if someone added an ‘e’ at the end it would sound rather unfortunate.”

They banded up in 2020 and rechristened themselves Curry the following year. In the six years since, the trio have sung songs in around 22 languages. Kanasue says they sing in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Tulu, Konkani and Marathi, apart from Gujarati and Hindi.

“We have also sung in Spanish, Malay, Swahili and other languages too. When we perform, we do not present our compositions alone, but covers too. That is how we came up with this idea of learning popular songs in other languages. The next thing we knew, we had gone up to 22, but beyond that, I don’t think it makes sense,” he laughs.

Curry’s most famous foreign language cover is ‘Despacito’ in Spanish, while their most unusual could be ‘Wili Yaba,’ an Arabic number with French influences.

Their four-track EP titled Suprabata debuted in April with the band releasing one song every month. The first was ‘Seetha Kalyana’ which was followed by ‘Manase’ in May. All their original compositions are in Kannada, says Kanasue, adding, “They are inspired by our lives, memories and nostalgia. At times, I write down names for songs when something captivates me, and then go back and work on the lyrics.”.

Their show in Bengaluru this weekend is another milestone; this the first time they will be performing as a band here. Curry will be present their originals and covers as well as “present interesting takes on Kannada songs from the ‘90s and from Suprabata,” he adds.

For the near future, Curry is looking to blend Kannada and Tulu in a song, with a possible release in August.

Curry will perform at Mantri Square Mall on May 23 from 7pm onwards. Tickets on BookMyShow.