A girl from Toronto who believes that old Indian classics can never die is now a new Bollywood sensation — with her recent number The Breakup Song from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil topping the charts. Jonita Gandhi is an Indo-Canadian singer who started her career on YouTube, doing covers of songs such as “Someone Like You”, Pani Da Rang, Tujhko Jo Paaya, Tum Hi Ho, Suhaani Raat, Yeh Honsla among many others. That’s how she garnered huge fan following on YouTube. And then came her big break in Bollywood, with Chennai Express. She says, “I think I am very blessed because I am doing a lot of fun and exciting things from which I am learning a lot. From where I started in Toronto as a singer singing on weekends as a hobby to now as a professional singer. It is very overwhelming to see my journey and inspiring me to push it forward and moving up.”
Speaking about her debut in Bollywood, Gandhi tells Guardian 20, “I was visiting Vishal-Shekhar’s studio. I wanted to meet them and I think Vishal had already seen my cover on YouTube. I had sent my videos to them and to their team and then they showed it to Vishal. So, when I came to meet them, he already knew who I was and he asked about me and how India is treating me. So, I told him I was just trying to meet everyone. He then told me that they were doing a song and asked me to sing. They said, ‘Let’s see what happens.’”
She adds: “We were just anyway trying out a popular song which was already made for film Chennai Express. So, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam sir had already recorded this song as a solo singer but the director wanted a female voice to it for the lead actress Deepika Padukone. So my voice was tried out and when the song really came out well, I could not believe that it happened.”
Gandhi, who has a very chirpy voice, doesn’t want to limit herself to one genre. “I want to sing all types of songs. I am formally trained in Western classical music and also trained a little bit in Hindustani classical singing. So, I want to sing all kinds of songs. So far in Bollywood, my song in Chennai Express and The Breakup Song fall into the same category as dance numbers but I have also sung a soft ballad in the film Highway, Kahaan Hoon Main, and that music was by A.R. Rahman sir. So, I already had a very nice contract going.”
“You don’t have to be a big name or you don’t need money to upload your song online. Whatever you upload on YouTube, it reaches to every corner of the world.”
Gandhi can easily modulate her voice according to the need of the song and the film, and she thinks that sometimes modulation can have both good and bad effects. She says, “After Kahaan Hoon Main, The Breakup Song happened. People are still not able to make out if both are sung by the same singer [laughs]. They cannot recognise me. Even when The Breakup Song came out nobody knew it was me and so, I heard from a lot of my fans that they couldn’t recognise my voice. I am doing different kinds of styles but going forward, I would love to try something in classical music. I have sung a lot of that in live shows but I haven’t done this in Bollywood yet.”
Also, not being recognised by your own fans can’t be all that good. Gandhi says, “I just hope that once people have heard me they should recognise me. Thats the idea. The other funny thing is that in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, there is a portion of Lag Ja Gale song in the background which I have recorded. I have just sung the mukhda of this song and then Arijit Singh sings it. So my fans recognised that it’s me because they have heard me sing this song on YouTube so, when you hear that and when you hear ‘The Breakup Song’ you can never think that it’s the same singer.”
Gandhi, who has also worked with A.R. Rahman on his album Raunaq, says that the Rahman has a different aura altogether. “He is amazing. Sometimes, I keep watching him because I am a really big fan of his and I am just awestruck when he is around. He is so awesome as a musician and of course as a person and I learnt a lot from him as a musician and above being a good human being, above being a musician, he unites people through music. So, I am very inspired by his philosophy as well and he also pushed me to work harder. I never thought of singing a Tamil song to be very honest, but now I have done a Tamil song with him. It’s amazing!”
Gandhi is also known for reviving old classics of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. “Personally, I am a huge fan of the old classics. Living in Canada, I am very influenced by older songs especially since I have lived far away from my country. So I kept my culture alive by listening to older songs of Lata ji and Mohammed Rafi, and it’s very funny that my band in India, which is based in Bombay, doesn’t know many of these songs ironically, and I grew up in Cannada. It is very astonishing how they could not listen to all these amazing classic songs. I thought of bringing these songs back in my own way, in my own style, so that they could appeal to more people and younger people. And I think they’re based on beautiful melodies that can never be forgotten.”
The singer owes her success to YouTube. For her, the online platform is where anyone can record and showcase their talent. “You don’t have to be a big name or you don’t need money to upload your song,” she says. “Whatever you upload on YouTube, it reaches to every corner of the world. It is a strong medium which we did not have before. Now that we have it, new talents are being recognised and I am one of them whom people first heard on YouTube. And all the fans I have, it is because of my YouTube videos more than Bollywood songs,” she says.
When asked if there is any difference between performing in India and abroad, Gandhi says, “I think it’s not that different except in colleges in India, which is a completely different story. They are extremely exciting and so much fun. I have never seen an audience like I have in colleges in India. They are so happy and excited and so involved in the performance.”