In a candid tête-à-tête, singer-actor Monica Dogra shares about here inspiration, life, music and journey so far. By Jigyasu Joshi
There is something about Monica Dogra that makes her stand apart from her contemporaries. Always on the front foot, be it as a singer, an actor, dancer or a lyricist, she never fails to surprise. “life inspires me to write music. So I try to make sure that I live it. I take time out from work so that I can write and create music,” said Monica.
Her latest music video Shiver from her latest album Spit, which was released earlier this year, ignites fire around a very important social conversation. “Shiver is my largest collaborative effort to date. I roped in artists from all over the world from choreographers and dancers from California and a cast that exemplifies true influencers in the realm of making space for a multitude of feminine expressions. My hope is that this art will quietly enter people hearts and minds, starting very necessary conversation. But for me, the gift was just creating it. That was just pure magic,” she shared.
The singer-actor is also one half of the popular Mumbai-based electronic duo Shaa’ir and Func. Calling herself Shaa’ir, she explains, “Back in the time when I was in New York, I worked with a producer who asked me to find an alias as Monica was a very common name. So I though long and hard about what I want to call myself. At that time I also use to write poetry and Shaa’ir just sounded beautiful to me. That’s that. I have been called by this name ever since.”
Taking life in the most optimistic sense, Monica said that she likes to keep exploring. “I like to keep exploring different arenas in both my professional and personal life. It is only by making mistakes that we learn afterall.” As a leading face of the indie music scene in India, Monica believes that we need to explore other genres of music also apart from just filmy stuff. “It is high time that we start thinking beyond the filmy masala music. There are genres which are still unexplored and we need to go for them. We should become brave enough to dream big,” said Dogra.
Monica, who has also shared screen space with actor like Aamir Khan in Dhobi Ghat, is now seen judging the contestants for the second season of India’s only English singing reality show on Colors Infinity, The Stage, along with Vishal Dadlani, Ehsaan Noorani and Devraj Sanyal. When asked about how does mentoring the singers feel like, she said, “The singers who come on The Stage are really not in business or have always been far from this business. Mentoring them makes me realise the need to explore the English singing more. Also, it teaches me so much and reminds me of why it is I do what I do.”
Sharing about her journey so far, she said that it has been a wild ride. “There were a lot of surprises. Things happened to me I never guessed would happen. Despite all that, it has also been a really lucky and lovely journey too. I was lucky enough to be a part of so many music fests. Being a first female Indie artist to be nominated for various things is one of the best things that happened to me,” concluded Monica.gy