MUMBAI: Singer Neeti Mohan, who recently collaborated with her long-time friend Aparshakti Khurana, on his debut single, Kudiye Ni, had a fabulous experience working on the song. “Aparshakti loves to write very simple, cute Punjabi melodies and I knew this single will happen,” she said.

Speaking about, how this collaboration with Aparshakti happened, Neeti shared, “Aparshakti and I have been friends for many years now (about 10 years). There are some people who are there for you and he is one of them. Two years ago, Aparshakti called me and said, ‘let’s go for a drive.’ I said, ‘let’s go.’ We went and he was like, ‘can I play you a song, I have written and composed?’ I was like, ‘Wow! Play it.’ When he played it, I loved the song as it was so cute, honest, sweet. He then told me, ‘Will you sing with me as I will make this a duet?’ I replied, ‘100 per cent.’”

“I just loved the honesty in the song, which comes so naturally to him. I mean to be able to write something so simple and straight forward is tough. Also, he has not left his Punjabi touch, which you can see in the light banter among the leads in the music video. Also, I found it so refreshing, young and there is true emotion and simplicity. There are these cute moments, the old world thing, I ideally relate to,” she said. 

She further shared, “We recorded the song two years ago like a rough version so that we knew where it was going and what kind of instruments, we could use. But, last two years were quite busy and he too was so busy with his acting assignments and wasn’t sure about the music video. But, finally things fell in place. We recorded the final version of the audio. Aparshakti locked down the video, which is directed by his sister-in-law Tahira Kashyap.”

On her experience of recording with Aparshakti, Mohan exclaimed, “I totally trusted him and sang the way, he wanted me to sing because he is the composer of the song. And it didn’t matter if it is his first song or 100^th song, what mattered is that it is his tune and as a singer, I have to trust him. So, I totally surrendered myself. While he was recording, at a couple of places, I felt if he would sing in a certain way rather than stopping it early, elongating the word and breathe slight later or early, he would sound better. We helped each other in bringing the song nicely. We also had music producers John and Aditya Dev, who worked on the song with us.”

“For me, it was very natural to see him sing as I have always seen him singing. He is someone who will just pick up the guitar and sing and no matter where we have met, he always had his guitar even when he was an RJ in Delhi. We have even sat and sang songs while sitting on India Gate. Hence, singing with Aparshakti was not new for me, but yes, I sang with him in the studio for the first time.”

Kudiye Ni is Neeti’s another single with T-Series. On collaborating once again with the giant music label, the Kanha Re singer said, “I feel proud that I get to collaborate so often with T-Series. They are equally promoting independent music like my previous song, Kithe Reh Gaya that released in February 2019. After it, I have done two T-Series Mixtape Season 2 songs, then this single with Aparshakti. We are also in talks for more collaborations.”

Neeti also answered, what makes T-Series number one, “There is a reason T-Series has become one of the biggest YouTube channels with most number of subscribers in the world. The label aims to bring new Indian music and take it globally. Among its so many subscribers, all of them can’t be only Indians because there are so many non-Indians, who are subscribing to T-Series and listening to our Indian music.”

 “As a music label, they are taking responsibility to bring as much as film music and indie music and taking it forward and making us do new kind of stuff and promoting it as well. Also, while working with T-Series, you also get to interact with so many people, which individually, you might not be able to do. It is also beneficial as our song reaches out to the most number of subscribers immediately in just one day, which we as artists want to reach out. Hence, I am very happy collaborating with T-Series again,” she exclaimed.

Further, on being quizzed if she is an official T-Series artist, Neeti answered, “There is nothing like official or non-official and that you are exclusively singing for one. I sing for all music labels. My last two songs from Kalank were with Zee Music Company.”

“Today, you don’t just have to have only a music label, but can release your songs on your YouTube channel as well,” she further informed.

Lastly, speaking about her upcoming projects, Neeti Mohan concluded, “There are some really cool songs that I have recorded and I am super excited about them. All of them are very different, some are dance tracks, sad songs, and romantic numbers, but I can only talk about them once they are up for release. This is because sometimes, some songs, I have recorded yesterday will be released next year since the film releases next year. Hence, I have to hold on to my excitement, but yes, I am looking forward to more good music.”

Kudiye Ni composed, written and sung by Aparshakti Khurana along with Neeti Mohan has garnered over eight million views on YouTube as of now. The video is out on the official music handle of T-Series.

Watch video here