Neeti Mohan, one of the most cherished song-stresses in the Indian music industry, has a melodious voice that does more than just win souls. She and her sisters are on a mission to empower women through ‘Mohan Sisters Live’. The crooner takes The Pioneer’s Tejal Sinha through her music, Mohan Sisters bond, and more.
Singer-songwriter-composer Neeti Mohan has been at the zenith of her career ever since her breakthrough albums Ishq Wala Love and Jiya Re happened. It’s surely safe to say that she has created her own brand in the music industry. And why not? Just think of her name, and a number of hits will pop up in your mind.
Neeti had always considered singing her ‘serious hobby’, which resulted in her creating her own niche in the industry. When we say she has come a really long way, her journey says a lot about it. From emerging as one of the winners of Channel V’s reality show Popstars to being one of the most loved chanteuses in her more than decade-long journey in the industry to being a judge in several singing reality shows “It’s been so rewarding, fulfilling, and nothing short of a dream come true,” says the First Class singer.
With a good melody, music gets us through everything. Every time that you listen to a melody, you simply get carried away by the imagination and beauty of music. As a listener, all that we wish for is a good melody, isn’t it? In fact, a good melody is what inspires Neeti the most as a singer. The vocalist says, “It just makes my day if I listen to a good song with a lot of soul in it. It just makes me very happy; I get happy tears, and I feel, ‘Wow, my day is made!’”
Irrespective of the profession that one is in, there’s always a difficult and challenging phase that they go through. That is how it is for the singers, too. Every song that they sing or compose has its own challenges. So, what has been the most difficult song in her career? It was the entire album by Bombay Velvet. Let’s hear more from the connoisseur herself. “Every song is challenging in a way. But I feel the entire album of Bombay Velvet, and I was the voice of Bombay Velvet many years ago. I think that the entire process was very interesting and, at the same time, very challenging because I had to cry and sing. I had to prepare myself for jazz vocals, and that too was 60s jazz. I had to listen to a lot of jazz vocalists from America and, at the same time, India, and then sing that entire album. So that was a very interesting and memorable experience for me.”
Ask your forefathers what, according to them, defines a piece of good music, and they’d say, “Humarae zamane ke gaane, kya gaane the! Abhi ke gaanon mai woh baat nahi (The songs of our days—what songs they were! Today’s songs don’t have the same flair.) To an extent, we may or may not agree to it. If we look at the other side, in today’s music, there’s a mix of everything; there are experiments; and there are different genres too. Neeti was really delighted when we asked her about this, and she enthuses, “I’m so happy you said that because a lot of people are made to believe that old songs were better, and today’s music is not good. I would not like to say that. I would say, in fact, that old music was rich and nice, and even today’s music is so apt for today’s generation. We have moved on. We have moved from audio cassettes to music on our phones. The generation is also different. I feel Bollywood has every type of music. In fact, we also have independent music now. So I think it’s fabulous.”
Now, as we’d been discussing the mix culture, the Tumhe Apna Bananae Ka singer had recently become associated with Royal Stag Boombox, celebrating the spirit of ‘Living it Large’. After some amazing rounds in various cities, Seagram’s Royal Stag Boombox held its final on-ground experience in Dehradun, where Neeti had performed along with Armaan Malik, rapper EPR, and DJ Yogi. In fact, she’d also created a cool track with EPR.
Enunciating her experience, she gleefully says, “It’s been an absolute pleasure to be part of Royal Stag Boombox. I feel like when hip-hop meets melody, it’s really cool. We have performed in Dehradun, and connecting with youth through music I think is the best thing to do. People love hip-hop. People love Bollywood melodies, so I think when you have a combination of these it’s the best for youth, for people who love melodies and hip hop.”
The Mohan sisters have been quite a big name in the entertainment industry. It’s not that they rose to fame because of one of them, but all of them individually made a mark of their own. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the trio is here for more than just to entertain through their talent. Their recent property, Mohan Sisters Live (MSL), proves that they are more than just entertainers. Through MSL, they’ll not just perform together but also empower women and bring shows that’ll tell women from all over that The Mohan Sisters are here to help you all. Empowering women around us is all that we need to work on, and this is what the trio is consciously working on. They’d together released two songs, Naari, a song dedicated to all the women, and Kanha Re, where Neeti played Meera, Shakti played Radha, and Mukti played Rukmini.
The Mohan sisters together have not only achieved a lot but have also been an inspiration to many out there. And so, as we asked her about the ‘Mohan-sisters’ journey, she says, “The journey has been very exciting, challenging, and fulfilling for us. And we sisters believe in, uh, bringing good entertainment, good music and dance, and good performances in front of people, and three of us individually are doing music, singing, dancing, and acting. But when we are together, we only want to spread the message of empowerment, and whatever you want to do, just do it with a lot of conviction. That’s really important. So we feel amazing because we are good supporters for each other. We love working together.”
Out of all the many things, one thing that you just can’t ignore on her social media is her son, Aryaveer. Such a mushy-gushy baby, one can just not stop adoring. And breaking all the stereotypes of mothers giving up on their careers because of their kids, it’s safe to say that the Meri Jaan singer’s music has not seen much of a difference, like they say, but has only grown post-her son, and in fact, music has become an integral part of him too. “Music is something that children love,” says the Manwa Lage singer, who revealed to us that she started singing to Aryaveer while she was pregnant. “And since then, he connects with music very strongly. He wakes up, and he has a playlist. I have his morning playlist and night playlists separate. I just switch on the music, and he just grooves to it, and he starts singing these small nursery rhymes, and that’s really cute. So, music has to be part of his life. Now he is naturally picking up music,” adds the singer.
Now that someone has made it big in any industry, people always have the notion that their kids will also get into the same industry. But that’s not what Neeti believes in. “I would surely expose him to good music and training,” gushed the Mere Yaara singer. “But it’ll be his choice. He will decide because I chose music, and it was not my father or my mother. So the same way my son will decide what he wants to do, and I would respect that,” signs off the melodist, who’s got several songs, collaborations, and independent music on the list.