Shahana ready for singing debut

Actor to perform live for Rohan Sippy’s musical, alongside Rahul Dev and Ali Fazal. The actor reveals the only advice Rohan gave her while preparing for the character was to “immerse herself in the music of that era”, which helped her a lot.

Actor Shahana Goswami is poised to make her singing debut in Rohan Sippy’s yet-to-be-titled musical, based on the ’60s jazz era in Mumbai. “During that era there were a lot of jazz bars along Marine Drive,” says the actor, who plays a chanteuse in a popular club.

“I am undergoing vocal training with Samantha Edwards to help achieve better control over my voice for the compositions I have to sing,” she reveals.

Is she nervous about her live performance? “It is a challenge to sing live, given that it’s my debut as a singer on stage. With training though, I will achieve some confidence,” she hopes. The actor reveals the only advice Rohan gave her while preparing for the character was to “immerse herself in the music of that era”, which helped her a lot.

Actors Ali Fazal and Rahul Dev have also been roped in for the musical, which is a first in this genre for the director, who is better known for films like Bluffmaster (2005) and Dum Maaro Dum (2011).

While Dev will play a suave gangster, Fazal has been roped in to give Shahana company on Ranjit Barot’s compositions and Terence Lewis’s choreography. She says, “We begin training from tomorrow to get the body language right since musicals require different training as compared to regular acting. We need a lot of rehearsals.”