I want to work with Bruno Mars. Everything about him is so cool: Monali Thakur

Monali Thakur says singing for Bollywood alone is limiting; talks about her wish to go international.

“I would like to make my way into the international market. Singing for Bollywood limits me,” says singer Monali Thakur, whose life seems to have come a full circle. She started off as a participant in a singing reality show and is judging shows now. She also won the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for ‘Moh moh ke dhaage’ (Dum Laga Ke Haisha; 2015).

Bollywood playback singer Monali Thakur says she is a diehard fan of Bruno Mars.(HT Photo)

With her soft, melodious songs such as ‘Sawaar loon’ (Lootera; 2013) and ‘Tu mohabbat hai’ (Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya; 2012), Thakur has soothed souls. The singer says she cannot be restricted to only one genre. Although, she has proved her versatility time and again by singing songs across genres, she says that she still wants to do a lot. “I enjoy how my mood changes over a period of time. There will be weeks where I will just sing R&B. And then there are weeks when I would like to concentrate on classical music,” she says.

The singer is currently judging the singing reality show Rising Star on Colors TV. (HT Photo)

Thakur, who was part of the Global Citizen concert featuring Coldplay, goes on to say that our country doesn’t have more concerts similar to Global Citizen. “The concert space in our country is bad. We either have corporate or wedding gigs. There are limited festivals. Performing at the same concert as Coldplay was a brilliant experience.”

Ask her if she has a dream artiste who she wants to collaborate with, and she instantly says, “Bruno Mars”. “There are many artistes I would like to collaborate with. But first, I would like to join hands with Bruno Mars. I am a diehard fan of his voice. Everything about him is so cool,” says Thakur.

Interestingly, the singer has also acted in a couple of movies. The most prominent of them is Lakshmi (2014), which was based on child-trafficking and flesh trade. Does she want to act in more movies? “I am an entertainer. I want to entertain people, be it through acting, singing or dancing. I would like to do everything,” she says.