MUMBAI: Neeti Mohan is back from the USA after performing live for the maestro A R Rahman’s tour. She is back with loads of memories and an injured ankle.

Therefore, we started the interview while enquiring about her ankle and Neeti says, “Thanks for asking. It's not a fracture sort but something like Edema. It takes a long time to heal and it been already seven months with me. For it to fully recover, there are still four weeks to go.   Therefore, I am resting a lot. But whenever there are any music commitments, I try my best and complete it.”

However, that has not dampened Neeti’s spirit, as the singer is excited about her new track in collaboration with Rushil Ranjan and Kurt Hugo Schiender. Ask the singer about it and one can hear the sheer happiness in her voice, “It all started as Rushil and his team approached us in the month of March. We connected on the kind of music we like and enjoy. Then there were many discussions on doing Raag based composition or Hindi film song cover. But, we all thought it was already done and we wanted to do something new.”

Thus, Neeti Mohan, Rushil Ranjan of ‘The Fusion Project’ and Kurt Hugo Schneider, the American musician and singer, collaborated together for the first time and released their beautiful mashup, Kya Jawab Doon. The song is a mashup of half cover of Coldplay’s ‘A sky full of stars’ and the other half is an original piece of music, Kya Jawaab Doon. “The Hindi part of the song is written by my friend Ashwin Sriniwasan. It turned out to be really amazing. I remember singing and recording my vocals in a hotel room in Los Angeles. That file was then sent to Rushil in London, who mixed it with A sky full of stars. The whole process was extremely exciting,” adds Neeti.

“This is the first time I have worked with Rushil Ranjan and honestly didn’t know much about him. But since the time I have known him and his musicality, I am so happy that we got a chance to work together. When I had just twisted my ankle and was in a bad state, I somehow managed to board the flight and travel. Rushil and his team went out of their way to make me comfortable while we shot the video. I am really touched by him as a musician and a human being too,” spoke Neeti about her fellow musician.

About the American musician and singer, Kurt Hugo Schiender, Neeti says, “I remember Kurt rehearsing the Hindi lyrics, as this is the first time, he is singing in Hindi and it was adorable. I really admire that he learnt a new language for this song. He is a YouTuber, whose sense of putting out music is amazing. He has played the piano for the song too.”

Apart from the new song, Neeti has amazing memories to share of her USA tour with A R Rahman, as she tells excitedly, “This is my tenth year of performing with Rahman sir and I have done over 100 shows with him. It has always been amazing. It’s an audio-visual treat for us. Also, we get to sing the songs composed by him. I am deeply honoured to be a part of his shows.”

Neeti feels grateful for the success the tour witnessed, “All the shows were houseful and out which one show was for charity. We were able to raise one crore INR for the Kerala disaster and contributed to the Chief Minister Fund too.”