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Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s hit series ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’ is going viral not only because of the opulent sets and story, but also the songs from the series. One such song ‘Nazariya Ki Maari’ has been on everyone’s Instagram reels timeline, and we spoke with the singer Madhubanti Bagchi.
Bagchi shared that she was originally approached by Bhansali for an album he was creating a few years ago, and that’s when they first met and connected.
A few months later, he called Bagchi again regarding “Heeramandi”, and asked her to be a part of it.
“Apart from the seven or eight songs that were released, he had some twenty songs ready for the series, and he was going through all of the songs with the singers, to see which song suited which singer … and he wanted me to sing the song because he liked the thumris I would sing.”
Thumris are a subgenre of Hindustani classical music that combines both Hindustani and folk music. They are mainly done in the Western and UP sections of India.
When Bagchi sang and recorded the song in the studio, she wasn’t aware of who would be dancing on which song, so she didn’t try to match her voice to who would be portraying it on screen.
“Even if you look at Aditi’s dance track, you’ll find that her voice also doesn’t match with the singer that is there. I feel like Sanjeeda has a thinner voice compared to the delivery that I did … so I left it to Sir’s judgment.”
Bagchi also praises Bhansali for his keen focus on music in any of his projects.
“He is one of those directors for whom music is a very important part of what he’s doing … He’s very well informed and well read on music. I was extremely surprised to know that he’s well aware of what other bands are doing, what Billie Eilish is doing!”.
