Robin Sitoula of the PartyNepal fame, Nirakar Yakthumba of 1974 AD, and Cabinet Shrestha from Mahindra Motors invited the 22-year-old to perform in Nepal. In her four-day visit, she was able to captivate a huge crowd in pubs and restaurants of Kathmandu like the Tantra, The Factory, and Fortune Lounge.
She also faced “weird” audiences in the crowd.
“I was performing when one from the audience came up to me and gave me a thousand-Rupee note. I was surprised but it was really sweet of him to appreciate my voice,” Sharma recalled.
“That was nothing. Another person came up to me, took out his wallet, opened it for me and asked to take whatever I wanted to.” While she said this, you could see the awe in her eyes. “It was weird, funny and cute.”
Her fans’ antics did not stop there. She even received a proposal for relationship by a random Nepali guy in Kathmandu. But before she could relax to think about his proposal, she had to pack her bags and head back to Delhi.
Sharma was in town basically to take part in the Sundance Music Festival where she sang popular songs like “Come Together” of The Beatles, “Light My Fire” of The Doors, Silk Route’s “Dooba Dooba,” KK’s “Pal” and the Nepali “Musu-Musu.”
The bold and outgoing singer “never cried as a baby,” it was more of “a musical wailing.” And now she’s getting herself ready to fight hard in the big world of Bollywood. She has already worked as a playback singer in such Bollywood flicks as U Me Aur Hum, Sorry Bhai and Dev D. She also lent her voice to the Indian version of High School Music 2, a Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens Hollywood blockbuster.
Bollywood may be too big and hard, especially for an upcoming singer like her with a background in rock. But Sharma is not giving up easily.
“I know I’m a struggling artiste. In addition, I’m a female rock singer. So there are many challenges ahead. But the rock genre has nothing to do with any gender. It’s basically a choice. Like many others in Bollywood, I don’t want to try my hands in everything. I know I’ll do well with rock and definitely don’t want to be the next Alka Yagnik or Kabita Krishnamurty.”
However, Bollywood will be her playground and she’ll remain faithful to her playback singing. And the main reason is because she doesn’t want to remain limited to garage band rock. “I wanted to be known as an artiste and not just a lead vocalist of a rock band nor a playback singer,” she said.
After singing in the soundtrack for “U Me Aur Hum,” “Sorry Bhai” and “Dev D,” she also lent her voice to an upcoming film of Himesh Reshammiya, Bappa Lahiri and Gul Panag.
However, while doing all Bollywood, she’ll not forget her roots – the band Crimson. She said she’ll remain committed to the band members and the stage.
“My band members have been very understanding. I don’t want to be the biggest name in Bollywood. And Crimson will always be my priority.”
Having said that, she declared that she “belongs to rock.”
Clad in a V-neck, hip black top with a faded jeans and a shiny half glove, the extrovert rocker smiled and bade farewell to Nepal on May 5. She said she loved performing in Nepal and is very keen to come back to the country for more performances in the future.
“Your Musu-Musu girl will be back again!”
(All photos by Bijay Gajmer.)
avash@myrepublica.com
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