Priya Bapat on her first live musical stage performance with Indian Ocean: The euphoria of the audience was crazy

Priya Bapat opens up on her first ever live musical performance on stage that she recently did at an Indian Oceans concert, her musical history and future plans

Recently actor Priya Bapat got to live a dream of hers as she had her first live musical performance on stage at an Indian Ocean’s concert. Ask her about it and she gushes, “It was magical, and it was surreal. I am a theatre actor, so I am used to being on stage, but that is acting where I have rehearsed for months and that's what I do every day. This was something else, that euphoria you see in the audiences, it’s crazy.”

Priya Bapat on her first live musical stage performance with Indian Ocean

The actor adds that she felt a sense of responsibility during her performance. “The audiences had not come to watch me play, they had come to watch an Indian Ocean’s concert. So, it becomes a bigger responsibility to not spoil that moment. I was nervous but my team and my husband told me to go and enjoy. The most frightening part of it though were the lyrics as they are Piyush Mishra’s words and that made me a little nervous, but the team of Indian Ocean is outstanding. They are rockstars in the true sense,” she says.

Priya Bapat reveals that this opportunity came to her when a friend of her saw the band’s concert in Gurugram, where they performed a song which was a part of one of her Marathi films. It led her friend to propose a collaboration, and the band also said yes. “We met on a video call once and then I was off to Italy for a vacation. When I came back, I did one stage rehearsal which was just one hour before the show and then, I was live,” she shares.

Interestingly, many people don’t know that Priya is actually a trained classical singer. She started training when she was five but left it after six to seven years. “I kind of didn’t enjoy it, or maybe I didn't understand the value of it then. When acting took over, I kept music aside, but not entirely. Every expression of mine is related or maybe in sync with music. Also, my Marathi fraternity knows that I sing, and I did playback for two of my own film songs and they were very popular. Currently I am doing a play where I sing live and it made me realise that it's time for me to go back to learning classical music, and it's been three to four months since I started riyaz again,” she informs.

So, is a professional musical stint as an alternate career option on the cards now? “I have reached a stage where I really want to explore this part of me too as now, I understand it more. I don't know whether to call it an alternate career option, but it's definitely something that I would like to add to my vertical, because I do have that in me. If I get an opportunity, I will take it or maybe I will work towards getting an opportunity or try my best to create opportunities for me to sing more,” Priya ends.