Shraddha Pandit: The current generation of musicians is cooler

She has been penning and recording independent music quite frequently. In fact, of late, she’s also collaborated extensively with composer duo Salim-Sulaiman on back-to-back singles, including Door Na Raeen and Shankaraay. Ask if it’s difficult for a female singer-lyricist to make a mark in a male-dominated music industry like ours, and Shraddha Pandit says, “Yes, it’s challenging to get work with different music composers. If you know them well or they like your work, they call you for a jam and you get to be a part of their team and write or sing for them. It’s like breaking the ice each time you work with someone you don’t know personally.”
Shraddha comes from a family of musicians — late legendary vocalist Pandit Jasraj was her granduncle, tabla player Vishwaraj Pandit her dad, music composers Jatin-Lalit her uncles and late composer Aadesh Srivastava her aunt, Vijayeta Pandit’s husband. Did coming from such a decorated family of musicians provide an impetus to her career? The Ruk Ja Na Ja Re lyricist says, “Coming from a family of musicians and then wanting to work with their competitors has its pros and cons. When I started out, very few music directors were ready to work with me. Thankfully, all this doesn’t matter nowadays. The current generation of musicians is cooler. But earlier, I didn’t feel inclusivity from other camps.”
Apart from working on non-film music, the singer-songwriter has also rendered a few Hindi film hits, including Jigar Da Tukda (Ladies vs Ricky Bahl; 2011) and Sweety Tera Drama (Bareilly Ki Barfi; 2017). Does she find independent music more liberating vis-à-vis film music? “I like writing independent music for obvious reasons, it’s easier! But, having said that, I have recently written lyrics for two films for Salim-Sulaiman and I really enjoyed the process,” Shraddha ends.