Circle of life

As Neeti Mohan turns mentor and judge on The Voice India Kids, the singer talks about life as an artiste coming a full circle

If Neeti Mohan’s rise in the Indian music industry is proof of anything, it is that if the right kind of effort is put into honing a skill, nothing can stand in your way. Catapulted into the limelight with a reality series that made her a part of music band Aasma, the journey from being a popstar to an award-winning playback singer has been a long and eventful one, she tells us. “Nothing happens overnight for anyone. To become a skilled, accomplished artiste, you need time to work on yourself first. You have to be gifted to begin with, of course, but what follows is a process that takes as long as it takes. You train, you listen, you travel, you follow artistes all of it goes into making you who you are as a performing artiste,” she affirms.

Born and brought up in Delhi, Neeti does not hail from a family of musicians, although two of her sisters — Shakti and Mukti Mohan — are dancers of fair repute. “When I was a child, the idea of coming to Mumbai and becoming a singer was a far-fetched one. I trained in dancing and for me, music and dance were inseparable forms of expression. I couldn’t distinguish between them; I couldn’t dance without singing or sing without dancing! I would watch a lot of movies too, and I always thought Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi sang as well as danced themselves — the concept of a playback singer was, ironically enough, entirely alien to me,” she laughs. Ask her if the two forms fed into each other in more fundamental ways and she responds, “Oh, absolutely. I still believe that the voice as well as the body express a song together — that’s my philosophy of performing a song. Moreover, it is easier for me to understand a rhythm as a singer because I can feel it as a dancer too. That’s why I’m glad I trained in dancing —Bharatanatyam, a little Kathak, Jazz, Contemporary. When you train in any dance form, you train in its corresponding music form too. So it has been a kind of double training for me!”

From reality show contestant to reality show judge, the singer feels that her life as an artiste has truly come full circle. She shares, “My experience as a reality show contestant changed my life and it was such a milestone in my personal and professional life that it will stay with me for as long as I live. I remember each and every feeling I went through and I think that will help me take care of these kids as a mentor and judge now. My aim will be to make them realise that they are the best judges of themselves — I’ll make them listen to their own voices and work on what they think needs improvement. Their dream is very important for me and what I want to do is just nurture it and encourage them.”