Kavita Seth: I don’t want to sing any and every song that is offered to me

While many artistes were unhappy about the restrictions that the pandemic-induced lockdown brought about last year, for singer Kavita Seth, it was the other way around. “The lockdown gave me the opportunity to share more music with people across the world. Kanishk (her son; composer-singer) and I collaborated on Rangi Saari, a traditional thumri with a new-age production,” shares the singer.

Seth, who scored the music for Mira Nair’s A Suitable Boy (2020), featuring Tabu and Ishaan Khatter and also rendered a couple of songs for the series, hasn’t been heard in a Bollywood soundtrack for a while. “I am quite picky about the songs I choose to sing,” says the singer, adding, “I don’t want to sing any and every song that is offered to me. After Tum Hi Ho Bandhu from Cocktail (2012), I was offered a lot of item songs, the lyrics of which I’d be ashamed to sing in front of my children. I am happy singing a few songs that stay with people. Good poetry is what I love.”

Meanwhile, an ardent lover of Sufi music, Seth goes on to explain why the genre has become a rarity in Hindi film music of today. “I think Bollywood is all about phases. Everyone follows what is working with the fans and then a lot of the same kind is created in the industry. It gets saturated and then something new springs up. Everything has its own time, but good music always finds its way in people’s hearts,” says the Iktara singer.

There’s often been discussion around the authenticity of Sufi music and how new-age experimentation takes the essence away. Commenting on that, Seth says, “I think there are two sides to this – a part that keeps the soul intact and gives it a contemporary feel in order to make it relatable for the younger listeners, which I endorse. However, there is the other lot, which loosely uses words like maula or khuda and tags the songs as Sufi. I think the problem exists there. Sufi music is all about beautiful poetry with a truly divine feeling.”