Actress and musician Monica Dogra is currently judging India’s first English singing talent hunt The Stage on Colours Infinity. She tells Rupinder Kaur that she’s on a lookout for someone ‘who is beyond just a good voice’
Tell us something about The Stage which is being called India’s first homegrown English singing talent hunt.
Yes that’s what everyone has been saying (laughs). I think it’s going to be an incredible show. The talent is insane unlike anything anybody out here has ever heard before. The show has a tremendous amount of integrity and I can’t think or say about other singing reality shows having the same amount of integrity. My experience with my fellow judges was that we were so emotionally invested. It was almost that like what was happening to the contestants was also happening to us because all of us in one way have struggled quite a lot to make the place that we stand in now in India. We struggled in the sense that none of us ever felt like we fit in as musical energies in the industry.
As far as reality television goes, it will most definitely be a heart wrenching and an evocative experience. The level of production in phenomenal, the channel is incredible and I’m very excited.
Every year, many singing shows come on air. The drama goes on and, of course, people get emotionally involved too. Will there be a twist of some sort here or is it on the same linesIJ
I’ve heard about what goes on in the shows but never seen one. But this one will be quite different.
There was always a disparity. Though I’ve fallen in love with all the judges after working with them, but we come from extremely different schools of thought. Ehsaan is looking for that voice he can record with, the one who would just walk into the studio and nail everything in terms of pitch and rhythm. I’m looking for someone who has a presence, an identity who is beyond just a good voice. Devraj Sanyal is looking for someone he can sell from a marketing and a record label perspective. So all of us would argue.
We would be moved by different things and we’d fight a lot actually. But that was a good thing though because as a result I learned about other areas in the industry that I haven’t really interacted with like Bollywood. Same way Ehsaan was aware about the areas he’s not been familiar with like how the young artistes go on a stage at a bar and make a 100 people who don’t really care to actually pay heed to what these performers are doing. Those were things he had to do for so long but that is how I became who I am. In the end, we became really good friends and started to value each others opinion.
What about the X-factorIJ
The X-factor is extremely important and in Bollywood currently you deal with a lot of manufacturing and if you want to create tomorrow's next big star out of India who has footing in Europe, America or Australia then that person needs to have that X-factor they were born with.
Do you think there is not enough encouragement for English musicians here due to lack of sufficient platforms in the countryIJ
I do think that a lot of the contestants featured on the show have the X-factor which comes in from repression or suppression and obstacles. It is not like the artistes who changed the musical history had easy lives.
We last saw you in the film Fireflies. What other projects are you currently working onIJ
At the moment I have a film in post-production, The Stage has happened and everyone knows about my crowdfunding project called ‘Shiver’. I have a record coming out in and also have a music video which will be released soon.
Your high-art music video project ‘Shiver’ drew a bit of flak on social media platforms...
I can say that the experience really changed me for the better. As for the work, we are figuring out ways and we are hoping to shoot in early December. But as a result for everything that happened, it got really ugly. A lot of people dropped-off and a lot of them showed who they really were. What is sad about the experience is that the same people trolled and contributed to the hate are now calling me and are asking for forgiveness or help with their own work. And it’s very easy for me to also say no. With my record releasing soon and films, I have enough going on.