Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Brunch
Raag & roll forever
Sitarist and actor Neha Mahajan sees Indian classical music as a base for all kinds of tunes
For sitarist and actor Neha Mahajan, the daughter of sitarist Pandit Vidur Mahajan, accompanying her father in his performances and then going solo were both just a matter of time. Although her love for theatre was born quite young, today she has a Latin Grammys-nominated collaboration with singer Ricky Martin.
Hailing from Talegaon, a small town close to Pune, Neha says she grew up in “an incredibly rural” environment. But her home was a pit stop for travelling musicians, which meant she was exposed to all genres of music, mostly Indian classical. She picked up riyaz, but also had her share of Bollywood music. “The ones I could hum were the songs I’d listen to, mixed with rhythm and percussion. Old Hindi film songs were akin to poetry,” Neha says, stating that Roja is her favourite among A R Rahman songs.
Turning point
Neha learnt kathak while growing up. Watching her brother learn the sitar, she also twiddled with it. In 2006, after her brother passed away at the age of 21, she started taking the sitar seriously, the 30-year-old reveals, taught by her father. Her move to Mumbai brought more teachers and techniques into her life.
“It’s a tricky and interesting genre and I was also focussing on being an actress. I’m still a student with the sitar,” she insists.
“INDIANS GET BORED OF CLASSICAL MUSIC. BUT INDIAN RAAG CAN GIVE YOU THE SAME EXPERIENCES AS METAL AND HARD ROCK” –NEHA MAHAJAN
When Neha got a scholarship to study theatre in Texas for a year, she jumped at the opportunity. In 2012, she played a young Shabana Azmi in Midnight’s Children and recently, she had a role in the Netflix adaptation of Prayaag Akbar’s Leila.
“My parents gave me books, music, freedom and love, which armed me to learn from the outside world,” says Neha. Though people remarked that she needed to lose weight and fix her teeth to get into acting, she ignored them. “Acting is just another creative field,” she says, adding that she’s inherited her sense of freedom from her father.
Balanced approach
The lockdown last year gave her a lot of time to focus on her music, though she’s now mastered the art of balancing acting and music projects. “As long as I can do 30 minutes of riyaz before or after an 8-hour shoot, I’m good,” she reveals. She makes sure that if she’s shooting for two months straight, she gets 15 days after to practise and re-energise. This has paid off because her collaboration with Ricky Martin, titled Mi Sangre, is part of his album Pausa, which was nominated in the Best Latin Pop or Urban Album category. Neha was really surprised when Ricky Martin’s team connected with her, because she wasn’t very familiar with Latin pop. “I thought it was a prank call till I got a voice note in my inbox. I look up to him and how he’s evolved over the years and even spoken up for political issues. And of course, I had a crush on him growing up – who didn’t?” she giggles.
The song she played for wasn’t fusion. “Fusion is about combining two ideas together. Zakir Hussain can pull it off because he has a deep understanding of his instrument, but he’s one of the very few people.”
Essence of the East
Neha has learnt the piano and can play a few chords on the guitar for fun. “I literally can’t play because when I play the sitar, it causes calluses on just two fingers,” she says. “When people see me with the sitar, they are quick to call me Saraswati. This is sweet but I feel the intention is old-fashioned; boring. Indians get bored of classical music. But Indian raag music can give you the same experiences as metal and hard rock. There is peace and serenity and incredible depth in it. Yes, the structure is traditional but you’re comparing something that’s evolved over a thousand years with something being sung now. You never say a river is old, right?"
karishma.kuenzang@hindustantimes.com Follow @kkuenzang on Twitter and Instagram