Jonita Gandhi: Pandemic opened people’s minds to remote working

Singer Jonita Gandhi says the virtual way of working due to the pandemic since last year, opened more doors for her.

“If you want to continue working, continue collaborating with people, you have to be open to the idea of people sending their vocals virtually,” says Jonita Gandhi, pointing out how working remotely has become a norm, leaving people no chance to challenge the new realities of the world.

Singer Jonita Gandhi says she wants to now focus on her original music

“I have always been self reliant. To be honest, I’ve always recorded my singles and covers and put up on my digital channel. But the pandemic has opened other people’s minds to the possibilities,” the singer shares.

Earlier, as she points out, people from the music industry preferred artistes to “come into the studio” and make music.

“While that process is irreplaceable because we feed off of each other’s energy when one is with them in person, everybody has no choice due to the pandemic,” says Gandhi, while talking about the need to work virtually.

The singer, who started her musical journey in Bollywood with the Chennai Express (2013) title track, feels that the changing scenario amid the virus crisis has opened more avenues.

“For me, the pandemic has opened a lot of doors because a lot of people, who earlier were probably not comfortable with working remotely, are open to it. Now, it has become the norm. And that is amazing because I already have a studio set up at home that I’m used to using,” says Gandhi, who has also lent her voice to popular songs such as Sau Tarah Ke (Dishoom; 2016), Lagdi Hai Thaai (Simran; 2017), and Main Tumhara (Dil Bechara; 2020).

And while she is getting used to the new working style, Gandhi is yet to habituate herself with ‘pre-Covid’ and ‘post-Covid’ connotations, while talking about the past and present.

“I think [the terminology] is normal now for everybody, no matter what industry you’re in. And likewise, I am also structuring pre-Covid and post-Covid in my mind. But I can’t really say ‘post’ yet because it is not over… But there are a lot of changes that I’ve already started to implement in my life post when the pandemic hit,” says the singer, who most recently crooned the song, Main Janu Na.

Now, she is more focussed on writing her own music, and doesn’t hesitate in denying the projects that don’t excite her.

“That (working on her music) is something which I always wanted to do. But it was on the back burner. Another thing is making more trips to my family in Canada. And I have a really hard time saying no to projects and to people. But now, I’m a little more aware of the projects I want to do,” says the singer, who has explored her calibre as a singer in different languages as well.