When life literally is a musical: Akriti Kakkar

Starting her career on stage at the age of four Akriti Kakkar gave herself to the world of music. Surviving challenges that came up to her at a young age she never gave up on what she is today. Being a contestant in singing reality shows to judging them, she has proved that hard work pays you the best.

Excerpts:

You started singing when you were 5, how did you start off your Bollywood career and how has your journey been so far?
I started off at around 4.5 years on stage gladly due to supportive parents who saw my talent and wanted to groom me further. Back in the day, there used to be an insane number of music contests and national level music competitions. The benchmark then used to be ‘SaReGaMaPa’ for all singers. I won the final for children’s special. None of those roads led to Bollywood. Now things are very different with reality shows, exposure and the social media revolution. 

The competitions then gave my family and me a reason and motivation to come to Mumbai and give it a shot for playback singing. On reaching Mumbai after receiving my board exam results, the journey and time weren’t easy as expected. Financially and morally it was as challenging as could be. I was doing opening acts for big artists so that was a big relief where I could directly speak to a few receptive ones. 

After relentlessly calling music composers, some would answer some just wouldn’t, finally, Vishal and Shekhar were the ones who gave me my debut song in ‘Dus’ namely “Chham Se”. After that Himesh Reshammiya, Shankar-Ehsaan -Loy, Pritam Da, everyone was kind enough to give me different kind of songs in films.

How long did you have to struggle to reach this position today?
Times were surely tough initially, but I choose to never use the word struggle. I find it very negative. I address it as a journey. If it was all a bed of roses it would be quite boring. Train travel has now become business class travel, but my principles and core remain the same. Waking up each day, starting from the scratch. So, it’s a new journey, a new page, every morning in all creative fields.

You have judged SaReGaMaPa Lil Champs. What is the story behind that and how was your experience?
I started singing in Bengali films all thanks to Jeet Ganguly da. I’m completely his find! He has given me such lovely and popular songs in the Bengali film industry that paved the way to becoming a judge on SaReGaMaPa on Zee Bangla. I initially wasn’t even sure if I’m fit to be a judge but the team and people there showed so much faith. I’ve done two seasons of the show and evolved massively as a human being and as an artist in that journey. 

Do you think singing reality shows have deviated from their main purpose of getting good singers to the fore?
Saying that won’t be entirely true. Sometimes yes when the results are voting based, there is the chances of a biased decision coming out. I see it differently. I see reality shows as a fabulous platform for budding talent to find ropes, learn the art, polish themselves and prepare for the final run. Whether you win it or not is somewhere irrelevant now. It’s about what you make from there and take it ahead. 

What do you think of the new crop of singers in India and what advice would you like to give them?
The newer lot of singers is fabulous! There is so much evolution that’s happened where composers and audiences are all ready for new voices and that is great! The only thing is that the competition has grown too. So, all I would say is, hang in there, keep polishing your skills and the right music would land up in your lap.

By: Preeti Putti