Former Indian Idol contestant Purva Mantri is sure excited about her upcoming projects — she is singing two songs for movies in the next two months. “As an independent artist, I also have two big videos coming up. One is going to be a reloaded version of a beautiful Punjabi song; it’s different and the second is a single. Yes, I am trying to follow the trend prevalent in the industry,” says Purva who began singing at the age of 13.
She says that the videos have been shot at some very beautiful locations in Thailand. “As always, you are going to see them in a big way. I am sure that the songs will touch people’s hearts. I usually prefer going for a grand video so that it connects with the listeners’ emotions,” says the singer, adding, “According to me, a nicely shot video plays an important role because presentation is very important. If you are portraying yourself as an independent artist, it doesn’t matter if you have shot the video in Bangkok or Greece, what matters is the presentation. You are trying to present it as part of your personality and people want to see something different.”
Purva has, in the past, released Punjabi song Kangna: Reloaded which crossed one million views on YouTube in a matter of weeks. She has created a niche for herself with her popular covers but is now concentrating more on independent music than films. Says she, “The journey of independent music is different. The advantages are different from film music and everybody in the industry these days is trying to be an independent artist though they have a good line-up of film songs. They are trying to get into official singles or collaborations.”
Purva over the years has worked on original singles and a few covers. But the latter managed to get more attention like her Punjabi cover Haye Mera Dil which had reached more than four million views in a few weeks. “With this one, we tried to recreate a popular song in our own zone. People love the new flavour of the old song which we recreated. Even in movies, this is the trend. People are trying to recreate old songs and it’s going really well,” she says.
Purva has done stage shows with well-known singers like Vishal-Shekhar, Sonu Nigam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and says that each one of them has contributed to her life in a big way. “They have their own USP and style. Vishal-Shekhar are bombastic on stage, Rahat Fatel Ali Khan is soulful and so on. I am trying to follow that and trying to create my own USP on stage. I am trying to portray a Purva style and people are loving it.”
Not many know that Purva has also sung for famous TV serials like Balika Vadhu, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and others. She says that the experience of singing for television is quite different. “Those songs are more into the folk zone because our serials are more community-centric. They are trying to portray a particular community but in movies, you are trying to create emotions through the story,” she signs off.
