Lake Gardens girl Nikhita Gandhi, of Raabta fame, is the “all-rounder” in the Bengal Tigers team, captained by Shaan and Akriti Kakar, that has made it to the finals of Indian Pro Music League. Ahead of the finals on Sunday airing on Zee TV at 8pm, the girl, who describes herself as “Benjabi” since the age of five (being half Punjabi and half Bengali), speaks about the experience of competing with other professional singers and having Rabindrasangeet legend Geeta Ghatak as a grandma.

You are debuting on TV with IPML.
Yes. When I was first offered the show, amar ichchhe chhilo Bangla-y thakbo. But I was told the Bengal team was locked. Onno team-ey slot achhe as captain. I refused as I wanted to represent my state. When they later approached me with the slot of all-rounder in the Bengal team, I agreed.

Your team was tied with UP Dabbangs. How did it feel to make the cut as the last of the four finalists?
You know, we were mentally prepared to be eliminated! We had thought: “Thik achhe, this is it for us”. Before the semi-final, we had met as a team and had a farewell party. We were performing in the bottom two quite consistently. The fact that we tied with UP came as a shock. We got the highest votes of all time in that episode. We did not see that coming! They (the channel) decided to put an extra round to make us compete for the last slot. I felt bad for UP as they must have thought they’d surely be in the finals (laughs). Once it became UP vs Bengal, that episode was unexpected. We performed so much better.

What made you be in the bottom two at the start?
We were given a long set of instructions before each episode, like out of four songs, one has to have string instruments predominant and such things. Sometimes that confused us. Still we would do our homework and put up a niche performance adhering to rules. When we heard others not doing that, we would think: “Arre yaar, we are being goody two shoes!” (Laughs)

Yet you reached the finals...
Our team has the best chemistry. I believe that’s why we made it to the finals. We’d always perform as a team. As individual singers, each of us has different styles. But if we have to choose songs so all of us could take the stage it meant you didn’t get to show off as an individual. Others were doing Sufiyana qawali songs, with their captains singing solo. I thought may be that was touching the viewers more as they got more votes. In our team, Akriti and Mismi (Bose) have very classical voices. I told Akriti: “Why don’t you do something harkati? That will make us win this round.” She said: “No, we have decided we all have to come on stage. We have to figure out a way to show our talent together.”

So did Bengal put up the most group performances?
Hundred per cent! I used to think this was our problem. Later I realised this was our biggest strength. In the semi-final, they (UP Dabbangs) sent one person against us. Salman Ali is a fabulous singer. But this contest is a team game. In the episode, where the semi-final results would be declared, whichever team made it would get to perform. We had to keep two acts ready. One song was to be Raabta, which is my song. I could have done it alone. But we decided Rituraj and I would sing together so that Shaan, Akriti and Mismi could come for the next act. That way nobody sits out in an episode. It was magical how Rituraj (Mohanty) and I did the harmonies together.

Which was the turning point?
The episode where I had asked Akriti “Aap log gao” but we ended up performing together — Shaan did his song Jab se tere naina, then we did Bhare naina and Naadaan parinde. Salman did a solo from UP Dabbangs. A jump from the bottom to being tied with UP and then beating UP… that was amazing.
Usha Uthup wished you on camera for the finals.
I helped organise that (laughs). Usha (Uthup) aunty is a dear friend of my parents... she was my mom’s patient... and we wanted some motivation from a well-wisher of Bengal. My first recording was in her studio. I was about to appear for my Class X boards. She heard me sing somewhere and asked my parents to send me with some tracks to try things out. I owe a lot to her in terms of many musical moves I made in life.

The show pitted star singers against each other.
A lot of them come from reality TV backgrounds. To be contesting after having been judges must have taken something. For me, this was my first TV show. I started with playback. So I got to be part of a brand new concept. I did not know a lot of them personally. It was a cool experience to perform in front them and see their rehearsals. For me, this was the gift of being on the show — getting to see someone like Kailash Kher perform, or Shaan.

How did it feel to compete?
We were asked this before and I remember Shaan replying that we get complacent sitting and judging, and we are not used to being judged. But to sing to win the hearts of the audience is a new position for us to be in. It keeps you fresh. All the artistes took it sportingly. We never stop learning even if we have reached some milestones in our lives. It makes you humble.

What did you pick from the others?
I would like to thank Kailash ji and Javed (Ali)ji for improving my Hindi. (Laughs) I learnt such complicated and awesome-sounding shudh words like shukr guzaar! Being a Calcutta girl, I am more comfortable speaking in Bangla. Speaking in Hindi on television was something. I learnt so much from Shaan and Akriti. They have so much understanding of television. They’d tell me: “You are doing it in a playback way. On stage, it doesn’t come out. Throw a bit more...” I remember Mika (Singh) coming up to me after what I thought was a very average performance of my solo, Burj Khalifa. He told me the track should have been arranged differently to make me more comfortable. The beauty of musicians as audience is they would not say: “Tum ne achchha gaya” or “achchha nahin gaya”. They’d understand your challenges, what makes you underperform and what helps you perform well.

Did you make friends?
Tonnes! I did not know Aditi (Singh Sharma) and Bhoomi (Trivedi) that well. On the show we bonded. In my team, Akriti and I have become really good friends. I come from a different space — I was studying dentistry, then I started singing in Tamil films and then came to Bollywood.

There was a bit of needling going on between the rival teams. Did that get serious?
I am new to this masala thing. Shaan and Mika fought all the time. I’d get confused whether this was real or not (laughs). Some of them kept pairing Mika paaji and Bhoomi. The Gujarat team even started calling him “jeeju”. Bhoomi later told me that her parents got worried and called her to ask what was going on. She had to tell them it was all in fun (laughs).

Is the team WhatsApp group still active?
Yes. We should have another get-together. We got along so well. I recorded a song for Shaan. I want to compose and collaborate with everybody in my team. I want to capture Akriti in a rustic, old-fashioned way. We should do gigs together as Bengal Tigers.

Tells us about your Bengali roots.
My grandmother is the third of four Chatterjee sisters. The eldest was Geeta Ghatak. Chhoto dida is also a big (classical) singer (Rita Ganguly, a disciple of Begum Akhtar). But I was never trained by boro dida. That’s why, though I have done a Nazrulgeeti album, I never attempted Rabindrasangeet. My style is so different. Ekhon mone hoy maybe I’d want to dedicate an album to boro dida.

Do you have a message for Nikhita Gandhi?
Tell us at t2@abp.in