With close to 500 songs to her name across all mainstream Indian languages, singer Shweta Mohan is an established vocal artist who needs no introduction.
After working with top composers in India, such as AR Rahman, Ilaiyaraaja, M Jayachandran and many more, she recently released her own independent single in two languages – Yaavum Enadhe in Tamil and Sab Mera Hai in Hindi. The song is composed by Bennet Roland, a long-time friend of hers.
While most people usually think that Shweta would have been rigorously home-trained considering that her mother was a hugely popular singer (Sujatha Mohan), she says otherwise. “During my childhood, I had no interest in music. I used to run away from my music masters. It was only in high school that I developed a liking towards singing, mainly due to cultural events. From there on, it was no looking back.”
Talking about her single track and her journey towards achieving it, Shweta narrates, “We have been jamming together for close to 6 years, even from the time when YouTube was not so popular. Bennet and I used to travel together for shows like Music Mojo, which is where this idea came from. We felt now was the right time, as the indie music market is opening up in India. When it comes to films, things hinge on a single person’s choices and cinematic deciding factors, but the indie scene helps you set your imagination free.”
After this start, Shweta and her team plan to add more to the pile. Additional singles will first come one by one and then a whole album. Going forward, she also wishes to collaborate with other singers and musicians for innovative new patterns of work.
Apart from the ability to sing beautifully, Shweta also mentions the importance of being presentable and glossy onscreen as a big crowd-pulling factor these days.
“In the olden days, people would just stand in front of a mic and sing and enthral audiences. But now, it has become very important to be technically and visually equipped for every video that goes online. Even in concerts for that matter, people get restless when they listen to melodies continuously. A lot of colour and energy is required,” she says.
In the same way, the categorisation of singers has changed these days, with composers being spoilt for choice with the amount of options available. Gone are the days when it was just the Janakis and the Chitras. Music composers tend to find unique vocals, sometimes within their circle itself.
Shweta agrees, “Composers look for originality. They don’t want us to mimic any other singer, we should have a style of our own. When it comes to me, composers pick me for melodies predominantly. I’ve noticed that.”
Having working with almost all the notable musicians across the south Indian film industries, Shweta has a ton of hits including Innum Konjam Neram (Maryan), Enna Solla (Thangamagan) and the recent hit Maacho (Mersal). But when it comes to her toughest song ever, she says it is the Telugu number ‘Amma Thale’ from Puli, where she had to memorise lines and go really fast on the rendition.
With such a strong musical background, it’s almost impossible not to ask Shweta if she has any plans to compose music in the future.
Shweta smiles, “It all depends on evolution. I’ve just stepped into the indie field, if I’m able to do a song on my own somewhere in this journey, I’d definitely do it. But I think composing for a film requires tons of time and is a huge task, that’s a far cry for me. For now, I’m totally tied up with my music – I’ve got classes, recordings, shows and, of course, my family. I’m in a happy space yes, so let that flow.”