Sanjeeta Bhattacharya adorns multiple feathers in her hat. A singer, songwriter, and actress who has been busy with her tour titled Dear Diary following the huge commercial success of her acting venture in Jawan (2023). In an exclusive conversation with The Movie Mail, Sanjeeta emphasizes the powerful emotion of vulnerability and the cathartic nature of music while talking about sharing personal stories and anecdotes in intimate settings during her Dear Diary tour. She deeply values the connection she has with her fans and describes her performances as gatherings rather than concerts.
Sanjeeta advises budding artists and independent musicians not just to hone their skills, but also to collaborate. She gives some incredible insights into the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in music and whether it’s here to stay.
Edited excerpts:
What’s with the name of your tour, ‘Dear Diary’? It almost sounds as if you’re pouring your heart out to a non-living thing, like a diary. Where did the idea come from?
A. It came from actually writing my songs in my journal. The idea of the entire tour was to share songs alongside the stories behind the songs with my audience and make a genuine connection with them through not just storytelling and the music itself, but also through being in a very intimate, cozy space. So, it is very much like being vulnerable, expressing, and wearing your heart on your sleeve, pretty much for strangers and friends alike. On tour, you meet not just people that you’ve met before, but also a lot of people that you might be meeting for the first time. It’s not easy to be so honest about your personal life with people you’re meeting for the first time. I think it’s very cathartic as well to be honest and vulnerable. And it’s not just cathartic, it’s powerful. I think it’s brave to be able to do that. As musicians, as artists, part of our job is to put out a reflection of our living human experience. And that is what the tour is all about: to have that connection and find where you relate with your audiences as well.
You just pointed out that it’s not very easy to be vulnerable, especially in front of those with whom you’re not very familiar, or who you’re meeting for the first time. What made you decide that you want to share your deeply personal emotions with the world?
A. I think it happened because of my experience of having done this before, where I found that my audience has always enjoyed the banter, not just the banter, but also the story behind the songs. They want to know why I wrote what I did and how personal it is to me. I’ve always felt that, though it’s not easy, I feel lighter after doing that, after sharing my traumas, my stories, my experiences with people. And I’ve also seen that, because my music is very personal and raw, I’ve observed how people often tear up, and then after gigs, after the show, they would come up to me and tell me how it made them feel. It’s not just about, “Oh, you were so good,” or something like that. It’s not just a compliment. It’s a compliment, coupled with, here’s what it made me feel. So that’s what triggered me to want to do this more often, and really get to know my audiences, not just as fans, but as friends. And that is why I did it.
Do you feel closer to your audiences now?
A. Oh, 100 percent! When you are in a room with people, it almost feels like you are hosting a party or a gathering, and everyone’s just come to gather and listen to my stories. It’s that kind of vibe. There is no audience-artist distance. It’s very much like you’re cracking jokes about random things. You are even asking the people, for example, what I did in the tour was, I told them, “I’m being really raw and vulnerable with you. I want you to be the same with me.” So, I distributed chits (pieces of paper) around the room, and I gave them pens and markers. And I said, “Since I am letting my heart out to you, why don’t you also confess anonymously to me? I would love to know things that you haven’t told anyone, because I’m telling you mine.”
I think it’s powerful and it’s also fun. I think these kind of things remind you to feel, because in today’s day and age, we’re going towards a very unfeeling society where we come across so much information on the internet, we barely give ourselves, our hearts, and our minds a chance to even feel something. There is war, there’s trauma, there are murders, there are all kinds of violence around the world; we are so accustomed to it by now that we don’t even give ourselves a chance to process our emotions fully. I think that is one of the reasons why I did it as well.
Do you think music has the power to heal people?
A. I think we don’t give art enough credit even today, because Indian society has always leaned towards our children becoming doctors or engineers, or government workers. And we need those people, but where do people go when there is nothing left? In your moment of peace and quiet, you do listen to music. No matter who you are. You do resort to art. You do resort to that human experience because, after all, that is what keeps you going. That is the reason for your living. That is the reason why you wake up in the morning and you feel like you can go to work. Because it’s not just that art is also something that exists, so the duality of that experience has to be there. You work, but you also consume art, and so art absolutely has the power to heal. We’ve literally seen that through scientific methods like music therapy. Why does it exist? Because it has the power to heal. Why do mothers sing their babies lullabies? Because it has the power to soothe you, to calm you, and to make you fall asleep.
Music has the power to rile you up. Why did Bob Marley make the kind of music that he did? It was supposed to speak up against the authorities. Art is not supposed to just be something that you rely on, it’s supposed to rile you up. It’s supposed to make you feel, it’s supposed to remind you that you’re not supposed to conform to everything that’s in front of you, you’re supposed to question it. So yes, art has the power to heal. Art has the power to make you feel. Art has the power to remind you that you are your own person, not defined by society. And there’s power in that.
Sanjita, how has the response been on your tour?
A. Incredibly moving. Because I have been on tours like this with a duo, acoustic, intimate kind of tour before, and of course, with the band in larger venues with larger audiences. But this time around, I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was the new repertoire that I’m performing. Maybe it is the fact that I’m performing with Rag Sethi, who is accompanying me on guitar. Maybe it’s our chemistry on stage, coupled with the music that we are playing and the stories that I’m sharing, something about it has really brought out the most beautiful words ever spoken to me, by strangers.
People have said things like, “I look at you and I know you have a good heart,” and people have confessed things that they have never told anyone before, in their little chits. For example, in Kolkata and the northeast, a lot of people are musicians. So, they’re like, “We’ve heard music before. We’ve heard lots of musicians come and perform before. We’ve never heard anything like this, though,” and that is a huge compliment. It’s humbling. I’m so grateful that I could perform and give them a piece of art that they have probably never experienced live, at least, because the repertoire that I’m playing has some of my own music, as well as maybe a flamenco, a Coppola, or a Balkan folk song, and a Bengali folk song. Not everyone in our country is familiar with such a diverse range of music. So, a lot of people are hearing this music for the first time, and the reaction that they have to it motivates me to make art. It’s amazing!
What kind of thoughts go on in your head just before you hit the stage to perform? Is there any particular ritual or tradition that you follow?
A. Lately, I would say, interacting with the audience a bit before I go on stage has always helped me calm my nerves, because it humanizes everyone. It humanizes me to them, them to me. And I don’t feel like anyone’s judging me, or this is not a safe space to not be able to share your heart with people. So, interacting with the audience before I go on stage has always really helped to kind of become friends. And even now, after all these years of performing, I do get nervous, and I have to do this (shakes both her hands one by one), and then I do the same with my legs. And I just, like, shake, shake, shake, and let it out. And it’s that’s the one ritual that I do (laughs).
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What kind of songs do you personally gravitate towards?
A. So lately it’s been acoustic songs, guitar, and voice-driven. And a lot of folk music, actually, from not just India, but around the world. So folk music like Flamenco, which is Spanish, Fado, which is Portuguese, and Balkan folk music. From India, I would say, Baul as well as Rajasthani folk. There is so much more to explore. I feel like India itself has a plethora of untapped folk music. So I’ve been really enjoying listening to that. But growing up, I’ve been listening to everything from Metal music to like R and B to Jazz to Reggaeton, literally everything. But lately, that’s been my go-to.
How easy or difficult is it for an independent artist or musician to make it in the industry today?
A. It’s not an easy industry to just get into and be successful. It also depends on what your idea of success is. Depending on that, you have to measure it. For me, the fact that I get to make music, play music daily, I’d say I am already successful (laughs). I feel good, I feel I’m content. Of course, there’s a long way to go in terms of my ambitions and what I want from it, but I am content with what I have at the moment, and I know I’ve worked hard for it; it’s not easy to get into this industry. I feel like there are many elements at play. For example, firstly, how skilled are you in what you’re doing? Your skill matters, despite people thinking otherwise. Because a lot of people might think, oh, ghar baithe main AI se kuch bana ke post kar dunga woh ho jayega, that’s not really how it works. I mean, that could work short-term, perhaps, but not in the long run. So firstly, I feel like it’s your skill.
Secondly, a lot of musicians and artists are afraid of connecting with people and reaching out. That is a big factor. I feel like people cringe at putting themselves out there. People cringe at it because they’re like, “I should not toot my own horn.” But if you don’t toot your own horn, no one will. You have to put yourself out there. Reach out to people that you want to work with. Collaboration is a huge key aspect that has worked for me. I’ve worked with producers, with other songwriters. It’s a small community. So, to reach out and make friends is important. You cannot be an island. Other than that, I think playing live is very important. If you are an indie singer-songwriter, at least, I would say play live as much as possible to garner an audience, as well as get that experience of how it feels to play your music live in front of strangers.
One trend in the music industry that you think is here to stay?
A. Trends are just that, right? They trend for that particular amount of time. I feel like hip hop was a wave that has come, and now it’s kind of going. I feel like maybe AI is a trend that’s kind of here to stay, because the more we inch towards the future, I feel like people are using it more often to write lyrics, ideate a composition, make an entire song, and form a band. I don’t know why, but there are distribution platforms that are actually supporting and propagating AI bands and artists, which is like the worst trend, in my opinion. But I think it’s kind of here to stay for a bit, until we realize that that is not human, and you can come up with all kinds of melodies and words, but they will all sound generic, and they will sound like 500 other songs, because no human is behind it. So I think that is a trend that’s here to stay, but not for too long.
Why do you think that so many old songs are rehashed and released as part of music albums or films these days? Is it because of a lack of creativity, or are people just too lazy to experiment?
A. I think there are a few reasons. One is, people want to tap into nostalgia. They know that these songs have, previously, in the past, done explosively well. These songs are what we call ‘evergreen songs’ that our parents have grown up with, and then we also grew up with, and then we want to hear a rehashed, new-age version of it, or so they think (laughs)…
Do we? Really? Need rehashed new-age versions?
A. Or so they think. I think because they did so well back then, and nostalgia is a huge part of how people feel. That Hamma Hamma song, for example, we heard it as a kid, and now we hear this new song, it doesn’t matter how we feel about it, we will still kind of like it because it has tapped into that part of our brains. So maybe that, and, of course, a little bit of laziness, definitely comes into play, because you’re afraid of experimenting with something new, so you want to just do something that’s already definitely done well. It’s playing it very, very safe. I mean, it could go either way. It could become a hit again, or it could completely flop. It’s a hit or a miss.
I don’t personally enjoy listening to any remixes, unless, maybe, if done creatively, it could be fun. It really depends on what you are adding to it. Are you adding anything, or are you just trying to make it sound new and modern and with faster beats, making it more up-tempo? And they also have this way, when the original singer might have sung it some way, and then the new singer comes and sings it more sexily. I don’t understand. So what are the elements that you’re adding? Is it creatively more fun? And are you adding elements that are making it better? If yes, then it could be a new, fun rendition of it. But otherwise, it’s not my cup of tea.
If you could give an advice to your 10-year-old self, what would it be?
A. 10-year-old self! Wow…(Thinks hard)! I would say, learn the piano. I remember my mom put me in piano lessons, and I was already doing Kathak and classical (vocal) lessons, and I was like, “I can’t do this and school also”, so I gave up on piano. I would say continue doing that, even if it feels like a lot for a 10-year-old, I’d say push through.
What’s next for you, both in music and the acting space?
In the music space, I’m releasing an EP next year, maybe with four or five songs. After the India leg of Dear Diary concludes with Mumbai, Pune, and maybe Deemapur, next year we’re trying to get Dear Diary to become international and go to Europe. Acting-wise, my Bengali movie is supposed to come out next year, so I’m rooting for that. Can’t wait!
