Singer Neha Bhasin, who recently celebrated her 40th birthday, says age has made her “seasoned and more confident about who I am”. On her recent Chandigarh trip, Neha candidly spoke about staying the course despite being criticized for her bold personal style ala western popstars.
“My career has been more than just playback singing, and everything I do is very audio visual,” she says, adding, “I grew up on western music, so my perception was based on what I consumed as a child, on the divas of the 90s- Madonna, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and 90s was a time when music was becoming more visual. So, I felt alienated and judged being this way. People commented, ‘talented toh hai but I don’t like her as a person,’ or, ‘this is not how a singer should behave,’ and ‘she is an attention seeker.’ Because of this criticism, my persona did get diluted during the growing years. But I stayed consistent and didn’t change. So now they know, whatever they say, I am not going away in who I am.”
Commenting on being trolled for her dressing, she says, “This has been my struggling point. In our patriarchal society, a woman living like a man, dressing as she wants, doing bold dance moves- that’s not our culture and is viewed more as titillation than owning one’s sensuality, which comes with confidence of self-worth. I know who I want to present myself as, which is not acceptable to many. Initially it was unnerving because I’ve been taken off stage because of my lyrics and dress. And I wondered if I should change. But, then I realised if I changed, its being apologetic for who I am. I don’t feel I am wrong.”
Besides music, Neha also did a stint with Bigg Boss and gives credit to it for bringing her face in front of people, from being a playback singer. However, she won’t like to enter the show again. “Let’s blame my participation in Bigg Boss on COVID. They approached me for 4-5 years and I kept refusing. Then pandemic happened and I just dived into it without thinking because I realised live shows are not happening for a while. But, there is no way I am doing it again. I am so unfiltered as a person, while other people on the show have so many masks. I should stay away from reality shows. It did me good though since the platform made me a familiar name with people.”
