Suneeta Rao pledges support to climate with single ‘Vaada Karo’

The songwriter, singer and stage performer teams up with Dharavi Rocks and composer Dhruv Ghanekar in her comeback video

Updated - May 21, 2021 04:30 pm IST - Hyderabad

Suneeta Rao’s returns with ‘Vaada Karo’

Suneeta Rao’s returns with ‘Vaada Karo’

 

Though cloaked in the exotic, Suneeta Rao’s songs have always had an underlying message. The pop diva of the 1990s who shot to fame with her Hindi single ‘Paree hoon main’, returns with ‘Vaada Karo’, a Hungama Artist Aloud presentation. Written by Suneeta, the song is a pledge to save the environment from global warming and climate change.

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A couple of hours after the song was released on May 20, 2021, Suneeta, speaking over the phone from Mumbai, says she wrote the song 11 years ago when she was pregnant with her daughter Maya. Alarmed at the worsening environment situation, Suneeta penned her fears and thoughts into a song and when Planet Alert, an organisation that initiates eco-consciousness, requested her for a theme song, she recorded ‘Vaada Karo’.

During the pandemic, however, feeling the need to carry the campaign forward, Sunita ventured to make the video. She roped in Mumbai-based band Dharavi Rocks and incorporated a rap interlude by a band member, Balaji Devendra. The song is composed by Dhruv Ghaneker. Minimal locales and existing footage were used in the video, owing to the lockdown.

‘Vaada Karo’ has Suneeta’s trademark high-energy vocals and the lyric is passion-filled. “Music is my means to draw attention to environmental issues. We must not allow ourselves to destroy the earth and make every effort we can at every step of the way to make the world better for our future generations,” she says.

Three decades after the release of ‘Pari hoon main’ from her album Dhuan , Suneeta still gets requests to sing it during her live shows, along with her other popular number ‘Kesariya’. Would she have preferred her fans moved beyond ‘Pari...’? “No, I’m happy. I couldn’t have asked for more,” reacts Suneeta fondly recalling the time when her songs played on TV repeatedly.

‘We paved the way’

In 1990, Suneeta was part of the few artistes who was making music outside the Bollywood realm. With satellite channels just making inroads, the culture of Hindi Indie pop music soon found acceptance. The music videos were being shot at different locales, costumes for the artistes were trendy, choreographies were innovative – essentially, indie artistes were doing everything a Bollywood heroine was doing on the big screen in addition to singing their own songs. Agreeing they were much ahead of their time, Suneeta says, “We paved the way. Music companies used to have small budgets, unlike the huge sponsorships that musicians enjoy now. I see that people are dependant on social media now. I’ve learnt to reach out to people, which I never knew before.”

Suneeta had also been part of amateur theatre, playing roles in musicals like Evita , They’re Playing Our Song and Greased Lightning , an opportunity that few artistes had. With exposure like that Suneeta’s transition to Bollywood would have been inevitable but it is her love for music and stage performance that kept her away. “I did get a couple of big film offers, one from South and one from Bollywood at the beginning of my career. I have nothing against Bollywood, I respect the industry a lot. But I found my calling in pop, where I could bring out original music and stayed focussed.”

Suneeta trained in Carnatic and Hindustani music, Bharatanatyam, ballet and hip-hop — the disciplines that shaped her career as a stage performer. “With all my training I could see myself only in the pop world,” says Suneeta who now intends to amplify the social message through her songs, more than ever. And that, she says, is a ‘vaada’.

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