India’s first all-women band VIVA reunites to beat lockdown blues

90s kids, brace yourselves. VIVA, India’s first all-girls band from the 2000s, is back after 18 years with a ‘naya roop,’ as four members of its five members have reunited to reproduce one of their biggest hits — Jaago Zara.

Dressed in white, Anushka Manchanda, Neha Bhasin, Mahua Kamat and Pratichee Mohapatra came together in a new music video that was shared by Anushka.

Kids of the 90s will all agree that Channel V played a huge role in defining pop culture in their growing years. It was through Channel V that artists shot to fame, including the all-woman indie pop band. VIVA, which became popular soon after winning the Coke Channel V Popstars contest in 2002.

And while their legions of fans were devastated by the band’s break up 18 years ago, they now have reason to cheer as Jaago Zara 2.0 was shared online to beat the lockdown blues. 

“Jago Zara..my most favourite song of VIVA, an all girl band I was part of, my first step into the music industry. Coming from rock n roll, the two years I spent with this indipop band were sometimes confusing, sometimes exhilarating, and most times just downright crazy!” Anushka Manchanda wrote. 

She recounted partaking in the auditions for the Channel V contest as a joke and said it was her way of getting out of studying. “I had absolutely no idea that this would be the start of an absolutely new life direction. Today I can't imagine a life without my work and passion for music, and for this I am ever grateful. The universe guides, and you flow. It's been so many years and so much has happened, and still today, people come up to me, to us all, to tell us what Viva meant to them,” she said in her post. 

The artist dedicated the video to VIVA’s fans and thanked them for the love they have shown for the band for almost two decades. “For the people who have never heard this song before, Jago Zara is the sign of the times, and yet, it is timeless. For the downtrodden, the broken, the suppressed, the marginalised, sidelined, the outnumbered. For the ones that are asleep, unconscious, blinded, confused, hypnotised. For the ones that need strength, love, power, support..... Jago Zara! Savera Ho Gaya!” she added. 

The band was formed in 2002 with five members - Seema Ramchandani, Pratichee Mohapatra, Neha Bhasin, Mahua Kamat, and Anushka Manchanda. Some of their most popular songs include Jaago Zara, Hum Ne Geet Sunaye and Jaha Ho Pyaar Ka Mausam. Within a year after the band’s first album was released, Seema Ramchandani quit the band. At the time, TOI had reported that she had quit to follow Art of Living and wanted to complete a teacher training course. 

In 2003, the band came out with its second album VIVA-Reloaded. However, by the end of the year, the four members parted ways and went on to become successful singers. The break up came as a shock to fans of their music. However, 10 years later, the band members came together for an interview with writer Ashish Kate. Their candid conversation about how Channel V demanded that they must lose weight to get paid more money, was one of the many controversial claims the artists had made. 

Pratichee Mohapatra had said that the channel had offered them an incentive to get paid Rs 5000 extra if they lost 10 kilos of weight. Neha Bhasin too has spoken of how sustaining in such an environment had taken a toll on all of the band’s members, due to which they had broken apart. 

The video shared by Anushka Manchanda has come as a surprise to many VIVA fans, who had hoped the band would come back together over the years. The new video only reminds us of how timeless their music is.