The songs you ' ve sung so far and the projects you ' ve been associated with range from being religious , patriotic , feminist and experimental . How do you choose your themes ?
Recently I made a song for Shivratri . It is very close to my heart , if you read the lyrics . To me , that is the essence of life .
If you ask if I ' m a spiritual or a religious person , I would straightaway say : spiritual . India , by culture is a very spiritual country . I got into spiritual music after meeting Sadhguru . I went to the Isha foundation in Coimbatore . It was a year after my self titled album . My energies were pulling me towards doing something more cultural , more traditional .
The first album was chosen by Sri , Ahmed and Mom . They gave it a very school girl image . The second one also had a college vibe . The third , ' Masaka Masaka ' became very glamorous due to the demand of the song . It was more like an experiment . After ' Maska Maska ', ' Kalakkal ' happened . It was the first bilingual project . It also was the first Tamil Remix album . Post that was ' Smita '. Right after that , I said , " we ' ve done so much of school , college , glamour and remixes , we ' ve never touched the aspect of culture and tradition ." This was when I wanted to call my album ' Mantram '. The idea was to have an algamation of all the Indian traditional dances with a little contemporary music with a little Vedas and fusion .
During that process , a friend of mine said , " you should go and see this place in Coimbatore . It ' s amazing and there is a ' dhyana linga ' there . You should see it before doing anything next ." That weekend itself I took a flight and went to Coimbatore . I went around seeing the place . There was so much energy drawing my attention . It was truly magical . I found about the courses they offered and took up the first course . Before getting into this I was a very non guru and nonyoga / meditation kind of person . I never thought I would be pulled into something like this . My grandmom was extremely spiritual . She would go into dhyanam for 42 days without food and water . She was probably the most educated in the family ; she did an MA in economics and went on to be an MP MLA for 30 years . She was a self made woman . She passed away just a year before I went to Isha . I went there and just couldn ' t control my tears . This was what my grand mom was doing all her life and we didn ' t recognize it . We weren ' t with her in the process . I would say that she lives with me even more everyday now than she was when she was alive . She was a part of my first step into spiritual life , even though she is physically no more .
The ' inner engineering ' programme turned into a very beautiful experience . I was a very emotional and sensitive person . Every small thing would pain me deeply . This helped me a lot in transforming my inner self . Right after I gave birth to Shivi , I said I want to make one dedication album to my guru , where all the money that comes out of the project goes into the foundation activities . It was a permanent music piece that they owned . I wanted to release it in the Telugu market so that Isha is known more . This was the first time that Sadhguru ( Jaggi Vasudev ) actually gave permission to shoot a music video in Isha . It was a truly magical experience . That was my first step deep into spirituality . On the other side , whenever I felt there was a need to make music and build awareness on something , I worked on it . That ' s how ' Wake Up India ' happened . This was when I felt that we needed a strong leader . Saw that Modi Ji ( Narendra Modi ) was the only hope . As I offered ' Ishana ' to my guru and the foundation , ' Wake up India ' was an offering to Modi Ji . A lot of people asked me if I was contesting or if the party paid me to make this . It was a responsibility and not a personal agenda .
How do you juggle between owning a production house and an art and dance school , being an activist and an artist and managing your personal space ?
My first business started in December 2003 was Bubbles Hair & Beauty , a chain of salons in AP and Telangana . My mom always told me " you should have your eggs in different baskets . Don ' t put your energies just into one thing . Especially in the film industry , life can
There was a point when people started saying , " why are you getting into social and spiritual and losing all your pop . That ' s what you are known for ." But again , it has to come from within for me to do it .
be short lived . If you want freedom to be able to do what you want to , you should have a business . You should be able to build your career in different aspects ". At that time there were not too many salons in Hyderabad . The only good ones were in 5 star hotels . I said , " why not bring a 5 star salon outside a hotel where there is more access to people outside ." That ' s how Bubbles started . We had a first mover advantage . We grew much more than expected .
After Bubbles , my musicdance school happened out of passion . While doing all these music videos I learnt a lot . I went on to learn gymnastics , martial arts and different kinds of music . I did a lot of research while I was training ; I thought , " why not make this opportunity available to everyone ." That ' s how MAD started .
Another project I am closely associated to is called ' Aalayam ', which is a handloom initiative . I do a lot of work with weavers on setting up designs . We work on vintage handloom saree patterns . I ' ve always liked to be connected with handlooms in some way . That ' s how ' Aalayam ' happened . I partnered with Shravan , who is a very popular designer and we started ' Aalayam ' together .
I handle all of this because I always had a good team . I always trusted the people I would appoint and delegate a lot of work to where they also grow and learn along with me and the business . My husband , Shashank is also involved in Bubbles . He is more the systems persons .
I ' m the one who brings in ideas and he brings in the system . It ' s a good balance .
Going back to music , how did Kilikki happen ?
There was a point when people started saying , " why are you getting into social and spiritual and losing all your pop . That ' s what you are known for ." But again , it has to come from within for me to do it .
I soon felt , " it ' s time for me to do something very pop , very fun , very stupid , very everything ." Bosco ( choreographer ) has been a very close
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