Music labels tend to interfere in creative content: Nikhita Gandhi

With a series of songs in recently released films like "Manmarziyaan", "Mitron", "Stree", "Sanju" and "Beyond the Clouds", Bollywood playback singer Nikhita Gandhi is on a roll. She believes that while Bollywood music is becoming diverse for new talent, indie music is still a tough place to survive for newcomers.

The singer recently released her independent song titled "Humshakal", which she has composed and produced.

Asked why did she not release the song through a music label, Nikhita told IANS: "The interference of music labels in the creative content is one of the drawbacks in our country. Of course, there are some music labels that give artistes full freedom and support their music at the same time, but most of them do not function that way. Whereas abroad, the scene is different."

"In the international scene, music labels are only involved in promotion and distribution, and that gives many new independent artistes a chance to come up with new songs and new content. Having said that, the scene is changing in our country too," she added.

Nikhita lent her voice to songs in several Tamil films before making her Bollywood debut with the song "Raabta" for the film "Raabta" in 2017.

According to the singer, she learnt to have an individualistic approach towards music from the iconic A.R. Rahman, whom she has worked with extensively. Nikhita also studied at Rahman's KM College of Music and Technology, Chennai.

"I think writing my own song is something that I always wanted to do and with my independent solo song, I have just done that. Since I have worked with A.R. Rahman for quite some time, he influenced me as a musician," said the singer of tracks like "Ittefaq Se (Raat Baaki)", "Ullu ka pattha", "Aao kabhi haveli pe" and "Dhyaanchand".

Having worked with music directors like Sachin-Jigar, Tanishk Bagchi and Pritam, the singer believes that the new-age composers are really bringing a change in the music scenario.

As Nikhita travelled to different cities for the promotions of the "Manmarziyaan" music album, she noted that such musical tours are the best way to offer a good experience to the audience.

"Unfortunately, these days film music is not promoted in this manner most of the times. Perhaps that happens also because of the culture of multiple music directors. One of the reasons that the album of 'Manmarziyaan' is receiving people's love is also because it offers a wholesome musical experience which is a story in itself. From folk to the new sound, the album offers everything," she said.

--IANS

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