An artiste in progress

FOLLOWING HER HEART

She symbolises the ultimate cool. Singer Anusha Mani has always wowed music lovers with her robust rendition. Whether it was ‘Lazy Lamhe’ where she crooned huskily, or her powerful vocals in the superhit song ‘Gulabo’ from Shandaar, or the lilting ‘Tera Rastaa Chhodoon Na’ from Chennai Express. Now, the singer has taken to thundering across the country, burning up the asphalt on her motorbike.

The music trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy gave Anusha her first break with ‘Lazy Lamhe’. “That song gave me an identity. Following that, most of my songs have won appreciation from friends, family and fans. Amit Trivedi’s ‘Gulabo’ worked its magic for me and is my biggest hit so far. You can say that I have gone from the ‘Lazy Lamhe’ girl to the ‘Gulabo’ girl,” says Anusha, laughter ringing in her voice — the same voice that we have enjoyed in songs from movies including Dev D, Johnny Gaddar, Don 2 and Aisha.

It has been a fruitful journey for the versatile singer who has established herself firmly as a performer on stage, and a lyricist as well. She is multilingual, with Tamil as her mother tongue. Her upbringing in Mumbai gifted her fluency in Marathi and Hindi. “Doing jingles helped me immensely in developing a comfort level with languages,” she shares. “My father used to make me listen to a lot of Marathi Natya Sangeet as a child, so I have always had a special place for those songs in my heart. I have even sung for a Marathi film called Hrun for Sangeet-Siddharth Haldipur.”

“Music, as a career, happened by sheer chance,” she confesses. “While I always loved music, I never intended to pursue it professionally. Somehow, work just started coming my way, and I slowly realised that I was born to do this. Chorus singing was a very enjoyable experience for me, and it taught me aplenty.”

Anusha’s mother, being a “conservative South Indian”, was not very convinced about her choice of career at the beginning, but then managed to make peace with her daughter’s decision over the years. “My father and brother supported me tremendously,” she admits. Anusha also evolved by absorbing the works of voices she admires in Shankar Mahadevan, Javed Bashir, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Abida Parveen, Bombay Jayashri...

So, how does she pick and choose her songs? “As an artiste, I am happy to do good work. Frankly, the song does not matter, as long as I feel like I can do justice to it and I enjoy singing it,” Anusha confesses.

Of course, having a spouse in the same area of work is a double bonus for her. “My husband Sangeet (Haldipur) is immensely talented. I take his opinion very seriously but always do what I feel is right at the end of the day. We are very independent as individuals and creative as artistes. So, we never tell each other what to do but share our perspectives and are very supportive.

We completely understand each other’s struggles and joy being in the same profession. It gives us a lot to talk about and connect mutually on a different plane altogether,” she shares. Schedules are often hectic and play around with her riyaaz. “Earlier, when I was younger, riyaaz used to happen in the morning. Now, it is pretty much on the go. I usually just make sure I do not exert my voice too much on the day of the recording, and get enough sleep,” says Anusha, a confirmed nature lover.

What is her opinion of all the singing competitions on the telly: do they actually sift out real talent and end up promoting new voices? “I believe that there is talent everywhere, and competitions help new talent by providing a new platform. It takes a lot to participate and sing under so much pressure. About lasting long term, you can never say. It is talent and luck that decides the fate,” she says. “But, as a secret wish, I would like to see independent music flourish in India.”

As of now, Anusha is busy composing and writing songs and is commencing the shoot of a video for her “first ever original song”. We are all eyes and ears.