He began his musical career as a self-taught drummer, co-leading a rock band called Human Bondage established in 1970 in Bombay and Bangalore then hitting the road gigging in clubs all over the subcontinent.

During the mid-seventies Shotham returned to Madras to take up study of the thavil (a traditional temple music drum), under Vidwan K.P.Ramu.

[1] He has performed not only with leading European and American Jazz and Rock musicians, but also with artists from Africa, Australia, China, Korea and several Arabic countries.

During the last 20-odd years, Shotham has recorded over 250 LPs and CDs and has worked for almost all the leading TV[2] and Radio stations in Germany and Europe.

[3] His current solo project, Madras Special, features Christian Zurner on electric bass, Zoltan Lantos on violin and Sandhya Sanjana on vocals.