Neeti Mohan – An Interview

Just in case you happen to listen to ‘Isq Wala Love’ from ‘Student Of The Year’ and ‘Jiya Re’ from ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’, back to back, you are in for a treat! Versatility, attitude and technique, all packaged into one voice is what Neeti Mohan has in store for you. Chasing her dream from a young age, Neeti Mohan found her inspiration in all genres of music. From singing ‘bhajans’ (Indian religious songs), folk songs and classics, she went on to win a music contest hosted by Channel V  and ever since then, has never looked back. Neeti Mohan is now a regular contributor to A.R. Rahman’s music, has delivered two super hits and has also appeared with A.R.Rahman on MTV. Read on as Neeti Mohan speaks about her musical journey.

narrative essay

1.  Your first stint in music?

My career in music began at a very young age. I used to frequently travel with my parents from Delhi to the Iskon Temple at Vrindavan and I would always get mesmerized by Lord Krishna devotees; especially the way they used to look so happy and lost in their own world. So I started dressing up in my mom’s sari, did make up, wore garlands and started singing bhajans with them.  That’s what I used to look forward to in every visit. And I started performing like that in my house and school.

I also used to imitate Lata ji’s semi classical songs and bhajans from films and private albums. Then I went to a Boarding school in Pilani Rajasthan and it was there that I repeatedly heard AR Rahman sir’s music for the movies: Roja and Bombay. It was then that singing became a serious hobby for me. And being in Rajasthan for 6 years helped me pick up local folk and traditional music as well.

2. How different is Channel V’s ‘Pop-Stars’ from other regular reality shows?

Channel V Pop-Stars was one of the first reality shows in the country and broadcasting the entire journey on TV was an interesting concept. We also got to record with big names from the industry like Salim-Suleiman, Vishal Bhardwaj, Jatin-Lalit and many more, in our first album itself.

3. What is the experience of performing with A.R. Rahman like and how did he first notice you?

I had sent my demo for Rahman sir’s US-Canada tour in 2007. As they were looking for a fresh voice I made it through. It was again a life changing experience for me. And Since then I have been part of almost all his concerts across the world. In all I must have done about 40 −50 concerts with him so far.

I would say it’s a Dream come true. Because when I was in my boarding school I used to listen to his music a lot. And all I ever wanted to do was quietly sneak into Rahman sir’s studio and just keep listening to his music. My friends used to tell me that I was mad.

I actually regard him as my mentor. Knowingly, unknowingly he has taught me that music is not just about melody, rhythm and Lyrics; it’s a way of life. You feel the music from the purest form of your own self or in other words Rahman sir has taught me how to live. He is divine and I can go on talking about him…

4. ‘Ishq Wala Love’ is a soft romantic number while ‘Jiya Re’ is an energetic number. How does it feel to be a part of two popular songs?

I am very thankful to god, AR Rahman and Vishal-Shekhar for giving me such wonderful songs. They have always helped me give my best.

5. How exactly did you prepare for the recording of ‘Jiya Re’?

When I was recording the song I was lucky to have Rahman sir, Gulzar sir and the Late Yash sir around. It was an honour to sing amongst these living legends. Rahman sir asked me to sing ‘Jiya Re’ with a lot of attitude and I did just that.

6.  You recently performed on MTV unplugged with A.R. Rahman. How is it to connect with the audience through an unplugged concert or a public event?

MTV unplugged was a totally new experience for me: live audience and a new version of “JaaneTu” created by Ranjit Barot sir. I lived every moment of it and loved it.

In fact I get to feature on MTV unplugged various artist’s episode again with ‘Jiya Re’s’ new version. So I am thankful to Rahman sir that I have been given the opportunity to feature twice.

7. Your upcoming projects.

Well, get ready for more playbacks, I guess! My first single ‘JA JA’ has already been uploaded onto youtube and is going to be aired on MTV soon. It’s my first composition and has been co-authored with my father.

8. And any special message for aspiring Journalists?

Stay Inspired.

When Shreya Ghoshal Showered Bangalore With Her Soul-Stirring Voice

The Songstress of our times, Shreya Ghoshal, mesmerised a 10,000 strong audience during her three hours performance.

 ‘Ooh La La Bengaluru with Shreya Ghoshal’ was a live concert in Bangalore on 12th of May in which the nightingale performed her best numbers in both Hindi and Kannada. Backed by 12 brilliant live musicians, the concert soon had the crowd on their feet, swaying to her melodies.

The event was an initiative by Rajashekar Brigade in aid of ‘Hiteshi Mahila Maneyangala Trust’ and was organised to perfection by a reputed Bangalore based event management firm, ‘Filmconsepts’. When rain threatened to play spoil-sport before the start of the concert, the group promptly shifted to a closed venue. The excellent seating arrangements, smoothly managed parking facility, sound systems and above all, the musical extravaganza added to the overall experience of the concert. The volunteers too pitched in with their timely contributions.

The concert started off with a bang as Vasanthi Hariprakash took the city by surprise, as she welcomed the audience with all her energy. Soon, Singer Shivprasad Mallya rolled out some outstanding numbers like ‘Ishq Sufiana’ and ‘Dil Sambhal Ja Zara’ and following that came the moment everyone had been waiting for: Shreya Ghoshal’s performance.

Shreya Ghoshal, arguably the best voice in the Indian music industry with a 4 million strong, fan and a career spanning over a decade; justified it all with her soul-stirring performance. Starting with her latest blockbuster ‘Teri Meri’; she sang all her popular romantic numbers in the first segment and displayed her energy in the second segment by singing her dance numbers. Her avatar changing numbers like ‘Ooh La La’, ‘Chikni Chameli’ and ‘Zoobi Doobi’ were just some of the numbers she performed. However, the audience was left enraptured when she began performing her Kannada numbers. Dressed in typical south Indian attire, she had her audience enthralled with the beauty and charm of her personality and voice.

 But we all know that to experience the true bliss of music, a single concert of Shreya Ghoshal is insufficient. But the audience wasn’t the only one that was took back happy memories from this concert. Dubbing Bangalore as one of her favourite cities, an elated Shreya Ghoshal said “For an audience like this, one concert is never enough. I shall come back really soon”.

 And thus, Bangalore received the best monsoon gift that it could hope for. At the end of it, everyone had to scream out a “hurray” for the team that had put their heart and soul into making the concert one of the best musical experiences!

Television- a new vision

The television continues to hold the lions share of audience interest and this tim this industry too, saw a lot new things thanks to digitization yet again. India continues to be the favorite of some broadcasters. The industry has been aggressive in increasing their presence across international market. Digitization phase two has already happened and is still in progress. New players are entering the market giving rise to better television viewing experience.

Television replacement has contributed to a large chunk of the industry while people switched from simple television sets to HD, flat screens, LCD television sets for a better viewing experience. Complete digitization will give rise to more transparency and people are eager to witness these changes.

General entertainment is still the spice of television while the family entertainers still rule the roost with innovative ideas and shows. Besides relaity shows on the segments have seen a rise moving away just from singing. Dance, comedy, action seem to have taken better shape in the reality segment.

Movies continue to be a strategic method to create a buzz and hold viewerships. Some of the biggest movies have been aired on television to penetrate amongst audience.

Besides, television shows or even channels to have realized the online potential for the channel and individual shows too. This has increased audience engagement and created a community of loyalists.

Challenges to the television industry will be the new rule being limitations in advertising durations which has created a buzz. The advertising rates will boom to keep up to the competition but will also have to plan better strategies in order to stay up to the production costs.

The big box office

Last year, Bollywood served a buffet of movies. Most movies were received very well drawing the success growth to an exciting shape. The domestic revenues grew by 23.8% contributing 76% to the INR 112.4 billion film industry. Driving force being digitization which provided the distributors a god quality movie experience at a give away price.

The indian film industry will be growing further with digitization and a global reach. The Indian film industry also saw new trends in film productions such as a crowd funded films and online release of films.

In the wide spread platter of films, indian films offered new concepts without the typical stories and a song list. Movies are getting more story centric and focuses on better scripts. However action films too seem to be having a good market. Films like English Vinglish set new trends again with women centric films which was a blockbuster again.

Movies are now more easier to reach. They appear on television faster than before and new concepts such as ad free streaming, DTH services is improving the films scene.

In short, Indian film industry is growing bigger both in terms of reach and quality of movies.

A promising player-New media

Even the world economy doesn't seem to have stopped the new media to grow. it managed a 40% growth in advertising revenue. Mobiles are the new carriers of the trend. Wireless devices have driven the penetration, taking it to a whopping 124 million connections! the digital interface has increased internet penetration in whole. Fixed line connections have grown by 11% while wireless connections have grown by 50%.

India currently has 174 million internet users which is expected to grow triple fold. With smartphones leading the market and integrations doubling, it is taking a wave in the industry. India is on the highway to the internet revolution.

Study says that indians spend about 2.5 hours everyday on mobile data and less than quarter on voice calls or texts. This privies that internet is engaging. There is a desire for more content and power to buy the same. Data consumption is the key to mobile technology.

Online mobile users in India is on a rise too. Facebook recently claimed an increase of 81% in mobile. Mobile phones have enhanced entertainment with engaging content such as videos, music, print, news, social media.

The industry is seeing something new on a daily basis. New technology is knocking doors and the pricing is coming down. Internet is much cheaper and affordable which is again increasing the engagement.

The application industry also is seeing a rise with most brands and products coming on the application platform in form of games and interactivity.

Other online services such as ebooks are also seeing a rise in consumership with books going digital on the mobile platforms.

PC and TV games are being converted to applications leading to a convergence.

E-commerce too saw an unbelievable growth with new players filling the market with innovative ideas and niche products. Not just nothings, all commodities are now available on the internet.

Online payments, which earlier was a not so trusted method of transaction, saw a boom with new players who converge all the utilities in direct payments using secure gateways for transfers and credits.

Print-not so good news

Last year was not bright and happening for the print industry. The industry grew by only 7.3% while it was estimated to grow 8.3%. This was essentially due ti high level of dependence on advertisements being dampened by a gloomy macro-economics scene. However the print industry has made better moves by starting new editions in existing areas. It has also cut corners in it's running costs. Dainik Bhaskar leads the market here by bringing down its delivery radius from 350 kms to 200 kms.

On the other share of print being magazines, it has not been a great year. The magazine industry witnessed a decline in readership. However the niche publications continue to grow with a special focus on the genre.

Advertising continue to be the dominating contributors of the print industry. The industry seems to be ready to cope with the new trends ad are focusing on tier two and three cities for readerships. New trends have also increased the subscription costs and rural market makes up to 70% of this industry.

Most print players are going digital in lot more than few forms. The big players have social med to instantly update on latest news, social media to interact with readers. Mobile applications saw a steep increase as more interactive form of reading.

Mobile technologies and digital interfaces are giving raise to new trends in the print industry making a better branding for the players.

While magazines seems to be disappearing from the stands, they are making themselves visible on the mobile platform. Some players also moved to complete digital with online subscriptions.

All though print is vanishing, its essence remains the same and offers large verity to readers. It is certainly good as this is also becoming digital which directly cuts down on usage of papers which is environmental friendly.

Who are you?

Digital Natives: People born during the digital era. Technically, these are the people who are exposed to digital interfaces and use devices for more than one purpose. From education to networking. Here people are exposed to digital revolution to a wider use and are in most cases upgraded with new technologies. The use of technology is more, learning is faster, more dependency and more faith in info available on the internet.

Digital Immigrants: A generation before the digital era. People in this case are less exposed to technologies. They have practiced everything practically by using other traditional methods. Lesser awareness, lack of usage more dependant on other sources of info such as books.

There is a great deal of cultural differences one could encounter due to lack of knowledge in the digital era. Firstly the cultural differences. Since the natives are exposed to greater amount of info, there is a lot more perspective attached which has its own pros and cons.

Immigrants on the other hand do not appreciate the easy approach towards everything creating a gap. Further some can be a sport and might show interest in learning.