Becoming a singer was a childhood dream, says Kanha Re singer Sanya Khurana

Mukta Munshi

Lean In India Founder and Author Sanya Khurana launched her first music video as a tribute to Lord Krishna this Janamashtami Kanha Re. The video was released on Youtube. The audio version of the song was released on a number of digital platforms like Spotify, Ghana, iTunes, Hungama, Wynk, JioSaavn. Life & More speaks to the author-cum-singer. Excerpts:

Sanya Khurana

Tell us about the making of the music video Kanha Re, including the lyrics of the song.
Kanha Re is a Raag Kedar Bandish. This composition is an old drut khayal from the Gwalior Gharana. This year, in February, my teacher at Shankar Mahadevan Academy taught me this Bandish as a part of the curriculum of my course. I fell in love with the tune of the Raag immediately. The raag is joyful, sweet and beautifully captures the essence of love for Krishna. Kshitij Bhargava, the music producer, added Western Style Music to the Hindustani Classical Raag to create an Indian Classical Fusion. I worked with him to compose the Sargam of the Song.  It took us five hours to record the complete song.
The script of the music video was entirely written by videoproductions.in. The founders Amar Kate and Khushi Khurana  took charge of writing this concept for me along with their friend Akshit Gupta, who worked closely with me to find the essence of my perspective. It was shot in pune, where videoproductions.in is established as of now.

How did a software developer, author and a Lean in Leader turn into a singer?
Even though I am professionally a Software Developer at Adobe, I keep looking for opportunities to expand my horizons and take up new projects in different fields. Music has been a part of my life since I was three years old. At 4, I dreamt of becoming a singer. But as life and studies took on, that dream seemed impossible to achieve. In January 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, I expressed to my younger sister, Khushi, how I would do anything to record a song and act in a music video of my own and she encouraged me to pursue it. My sister formed a team of people who agreed to help me record the song and create my music video. And that is how I became a singer and released my first music video.

You have been learning classical music for a long time. Tell us about that- how did you get interested in music and when and where did you learn it from.
My parents told me that I started singing before I started speaking properly. Apparently, I had difficulties in speaking at a young age, which prompted my Uncle to suggest that my father put me into music. I was three at the time. I started learning Hindustani Classical Music from a local teacher. Later, family circumstances led us to move out of town, and I thought that was the end of my bond with music — but life had other plans.
Music kept coming back to my life in some or the other form. I kept getting chances to learn Hindustani Classical and perform on stage. I was nine when I got a chance to sing at LTG Auditorium, Mandi House, Delhi through Sony Music Academy. I sang “Tum Samay Ki Ret Par”, and bagged the 1st prize.
But with time, I plunged into academics, became a software developer, joined Adobe. Music became an on and off hobby. Six months into my first job (at Adobe), I decided to go back to music, and joined the Shankar Mahadevan Academy. The rest, as they say, is history.

Of all the roles you play, which one is closest to your heart, and why
All the roles I play are very special to me. As a Software Developer I get to fulfil my passion for technology. As a Lean In India Leader and Author, I was able to impact lives and encourage women towards their ambitions. But being a singer was my childhood dream, and so it is the closest to my heart. 

Do you plan to write/sing more songs, make more music videos?
My projects are mostly spontaneous and I prefer doing projects that force me to get out of my comfort zone.  In music, considering devotional song and classical music has become my comfort zone, I am planning to try to work on something completely different — like a Punjabi song.

Who is your favourite singer and lyricist?
Shreya Ghoshal has been my favourite singer since school days. I love her versatility. I even got a chance to perform in front of her as a part of Sangam (Global Meet of Shankar Mahadevan Academy) last year, along with other students of Shankar Mahadevan Academy.
I love the lyrics written by Kausar Munir. My favourite works of her being Tu Jo Mila from Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Love you zindagi from Dear Zindagi.