Success of Rangi Saari made me realise you can’t achieve everything with money: Kavita Seth

During the lockdown last year, singer-composer Kavita Seth released Rangi Saari, a contemporary rendition of late classical singer Shobha Gurtu’s popular thumri, in collaboration with her younger son Kanishk Seth. While it took time to pick pace, it became a raging sensation on social media this year with actors, influencers and netizens joining the bandwagon as they made videos and reels with track playing in the background.

“I saw a video where a guy was putting butter to his bread and Rangi Saari was playing in the background. Roz hi kuch na kuch naya dikhta hai. While some are dancing to it, others are chopping vegetables to the track,” says the singer with a laugh.

Seth shares that she had spent no money in promoting the song and that makes this success even more special. She says, “Humne socha ki isko khubshoo ki tarah phailne de. It saw wider popularity during Diwali this year when a few Bollywood actors made reels on it. It made me realise that you can’t achieve everything with money. You might be able to buy likes but if a song is genuinely good, it will surely travel far and wide, organically.”

The musician, who has gained popularity for her ghazal series Main Kavita Hoon, recently performed at a virtual ghazal concert. Talking about how the millennial generation is open to traditional music, Seth says, “They have an appetite for Sufi, ghazal and thumri. A lot of songs composed by me from A Suitable Boy were also well-received. If the audience didn’t appreciate such music, these songs wouldn’t have become popular.”

She adds, “There was a time when the live audience would only enjoy upbeat dance tracks. Now they have begun appreciating Sufi numbers. It’s great that the audience is open to and eager to listen to good music in its truest essence.”