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A taste of my culture | Rajnigandha Shekhawat | TEDxYouth@NMS


I’m from a very very conservative family
strict parents singing is like a
complete nono good girls from a
checkered Keilar Kia guarana got my
regard for the child you have to see my
music videos my car is the typical a
checker so it was such a such a
challenge because I had decided I want
to be a singer I thought I had singing
talents and I had a lot of these ideas
in my head which I thought made for a
great singer
it meant you had to have great singing
skills and that’s it people will come
and say come we will give you work we’ll
make you famous
and I thought that’s how it’s gonna be
with my life at my time if you had to
become a famous singer because the thing
is you are always a singer if you’re a
singer then you are a singer but we all
want to be famous or we can all be just
singers at home and we’ll still be
singers but we want to be famous right
the only stars we want people take
selfies with us take our autographs so
there are two ways of doing it in my
time you either go and become a playback
singer or you become this bigshot pop
star okay so both of them required you
to go to Bombay and I was in Jaipur from
a very very conservative family do you
see what I’m wearing this is what we
wear for our weddings and this is what
our mom wore at home so going to Bombay
becoming a singer was like no way so I
did one big con job with my dad I never
took permission to go to Bombay I told
him I’ll go to visit I nicely went to
visit I took up a job in Bombay and then
said hey Dad
you know what I don’t think I’m coming
back now it was such a cleanly done
thing because if I’d asked him it’s very
possible I could have been locked up in
the house it’s very possible I could
have gotten you know married off to some
other Tucker and moved from my heavily
to another Harley and it would have been
you know no one would have batted an
eyelid because that’s the kind of family
I’m
from so instead of creating a scene at
home and fighting and this and that I
just said I’m going to visit I visited
and I got a job and I said that’s it
the main thing that you have to do when
you are rebelling against your parents
is you have to make sure you have your
own money okay because rebellion doesn’t
work that you say dad I don’t like your
views but I like your money so you have
to have your own money right basics pay
so I had been collecting money all this
while I’d been working since I was in
school and I barely attended college so
how about fifteen thousand rupees and I
said shallow Tigger that’s enough so I
shifted to Bombay and I thought now I’m
gonna send my demo to everybody not
wanna be a star no such thing happened
Oh
for two years two years is how long
that’s a really long time I did not have
the numbers of music directors how are
you gonna go and tell people you’re a
great singer if you don’t even have
numbers of people in another city it was
not my city plus I had to pay for my
living my lodging boarding eating but
the one decent thing I’ve always done in
life and any of you who want to be
singers and actors please go with money
and start working don’t get into this
trap of I am going to be a struggling
singer or a struggling actor because
everything requires money and Bombay is
a very very expensive place okay so
anyway I had the money and I had started
working but there was still a time when
I had very little money and I found this
little dozer shop that say that sold the
masala dosa for 10 bucks
so my dinner was set get 10 rupees was
all that I required for dinner so I was
very happy because I’ve staying in a
good hostel and the salary that I was
making I was paying exactly the same
amount for the hostel that I was staying
in so money was tight anyway and I was
not going to take money from my dad
because you know is that Gaza Valley so
that’s where I was stuck anyway I
started working I got a better job sorry
getting more money and so that took care
of that part of it that I was not
struggling like other people then I did
one more thing I started
doing live shows so by the end of it by
the end of those two three years I was
actually making double the money that
most strugglers do I had a salary coming
and I had money over the weekend from
gigs so each one of you please
understand if you’re going to Bombay to
become anything that you want to be make
sure that you have a job do not fall for
those stories of whom the platform
pistoi way or you can follow platform
pea babies or immunity stories go any
pasta only when you become successful
people start asking you your stories
otherwise no one is interested in the
story of a poor person sleeping
somewhere or struggling to be somebody
so be very careful when you go out there
specially girls make sure that you are
financially secure okay so now the two
things that I needed to become a
successful playback singer or get a big
music video who are not happening I had
met a lot of music directors I met the
entire spectrum from the really creepy
to the Palais Jurists to the really nice
guys and you have to be smart enough
that they are enough creepy people and
they are not creepy people only in
Bollywood there are creepy people in the
world okay you are going to run into
them everywhere you just have to know
how to avoid them if you run into them
please be firm and say not interested
why because the world is full of very
nice people as well I met some really
nice people in Bollywood so I met Hassan
okay and he’s such a nice human being I
told him I’m from Rajasthan I sing a
folk anole and he said listen just tell
me do you have enough money on you I
said yeah I have a place to say he said
I see so many singers who come from
small towns they don’t have money to
stay they don’t have money to eat and I
feel really bad so it was really nice
that I had started meeting the nicer
people in Bollywood as well but nothing
was happening so I said okay if playback
is not happening let me just go and do
my own thing let me go to a music
company and get my big video and be this
big star like Adnan Sami you know the
big guys now I tried to do that and
music companies don’t give you time of
day why he’s only one famous people now
how am I going to become famous if no
one makes me favor
right so this was a big catch-22
situation so what I did was since I was
working in a had experience in marketing
I joined a music company I said cello to
America with her sending our ado get her
salami
so I started working in the music
company I understood the business and
that’s when I realized that pop singer
then pop boom had died people are not
buying pop songs no there was no money
being made by music companies so how are
they gonna put money on me if they’re
not making any money so ok now I again
come back to the point number one money
everything needs money investment so I
said ok so there’s only one thing left
to do I’m gonna make my own music video
I’m gonna do my own thing
so all the money that I had collected in
the world I put in recording a song
recording an album and making a music
video the music video came out and I
said ok now it has to come on TV and
that’s when I realized after the music
video has been shot all my money has
been put in it that TV channels don’t
play Rajasthani music so I did not
realize that but I went with him and I
said but you pay Panjabi music you play
the mill music why aren’t you playing my
Rajasthani music they said no we don’t
so all the money that I had had been put
in the music video and it turned out
that it was not good enough so after the
shoot I had to change the song and make
it Hindi I mean it was a terrible thing
to do but I couldn’t I mean what would I
do
so I turned it into Hindi both men are
lucky and it came out finally on TV
ok now you know what my competition was
you cannot imagine who I was competing
with once my promo came on TV eshwar I
do much la ok I mean my song would come
and after that would be crazy quiere ash
Ferrara I said you know what just commit
suicide right now because that is your
competition once you’re out there as an
actor or a singer then it’s not like but
matinee actress super method show – I
assume nobody cares you have to be that
big otherwise no one cares
so each time as whether I would come and
my sister would almost have a heart
attack and she’d be like oh god oh god I
hope that crazy Chiara doesn’t come but
the promo segment was such that it would
be my promo and then there would be two
promos of Aishwarya Rai so okay so I
don’t know exactly what a nervous
breakdown is but after my video release
I was just sitting at home and crying
and crying and crying and because I
thought that’s it I’m not getting
playback and my music video has flopped
terribly and yeah I should just just go
home I had a I have a very supportive
husband who said don’t worry we’ll put
more money we’ll do this just just hang
in there and you know your first music
video your first release people say that
it’s like your first child it’s not a
first child it’s your first love if any
of you have been in love and had a
breakup
oh god you think that you just gonna die
and that’s where I thought that okay
it’s over my life is over my music
videos plot no one cares but you learn
to love again and you learn to live so I
started working again and I said because
I left my job by the way because I
thought I’m gonna be a big movie star
big singing star
so I said get back to work get busy and
keep doing stuff so I continued to make
my own music videos but now I knew that
I’m not gonna be this big star not just
yet but keep trying keep trying I
started doing publicity for movie stars
which gave me access to the people in
the industry because hey I still want to
be a famous singer and even if five
people know me here today hopefully
everyone will know me later
so I still wanted to be in the movies
somehow and what happened was that my
song started my friends in the industry
started playing my songs on there you
know like call a tune and stuff
so a couple of people got in touch with
me and I started to get a little bit of
work so I did this big TV series called
MTV Rush then I did this big movie which
went to cons it was on a rocket ship
movie called monsoon shootout monsoon
shootout got lots and lots of accolades
all over the world did not release in
India so my big fat playback is still
not released MTV Rush shot me
and then edited my song out so the big
song that I have sung in Mt you – did
not get seen by anyone
one more thing happened before that I
was singing in something in blue frog
and there was this event manager there
who said I asked him what do I sing and
she said are you wearing the langa or
now so I said yeah but what do I sing so
city using whatever you want – okay then
when we were putting the phone down she
says you’re wearing your leg or not so I
said yes and I understood that what I
was singing was not as important water
as what I was wearing so now do you see
why I am dressed like this and not in
jeans so this is a little lesson I
learned but still not fully anyway
coming back to selfies so I said okay I
hate selfies because I look fat and
selfies I look bad whatever but I had a
concert where I was wearing letting out
now and I thought let me just take a
selfie video and see what happens to it
so I took a selfie video versus just
just singing okay nothing else and I put
it out on Facebook and it got 40,000
views and I was like woah 40,000 is I
mean for one Gareeb singer 40,000 views
is very big right so I said not bad
there is something happening here for me
now but then oh that selfie video by the
way
got me badly not give the linear the
song okay because a couple of music
directors and lyricist there’s a little
spoiled why you who’s done that song but
no theorist ragga if he ever knows the
song guess that see that song
everyone knows the song right so value
was the writer of that song and he was
on my facebook and he saw it and he
immediately called me and said come we
want you to sing a song for us and
that’s how bad the rina zelenaya
happened I have four lines and Badri not
Catalonia but that’s like alia bhatt
singing to my lines and that i thought
that was gonna be my big break because
it’s my big fat bollywood movie for god
sake I sang six lines in it okay and I
thought wow a big fat debut has happened
and this happened like in January so I
was like oh I’m gonna become a big star
couch in you are be that star any money
so I thought cello things are progress
saying but let’s just do everyone been
telling me take Duke hours one fine day
I was seeing cheap thrills quietness ahh
recovers and a third there’s no
Rajasthani cheap thrills let’s just try
that so I did with Rajasthani cheap
thrills and I said I don’t have budgets
for it my garbage should come with you
so I wore exactly this and I sank cheap
thrills with Goomer : yo ok now that’s
both of these songs are very popular
cheap thrills is very popular around the
world and Goomer : chose a very big song
in Rajasthan all of them I did it and
then I thought let me just scrap the
video let’s just not put it out because
I think that people don’t laugh at me
but we such a low ligado they put it out
and I thought Chinese is our views Mel
jangle oh it started to increase and
it’s sitting on 1.5 million views for
the first time in my life I didn’t have
to talk to a journalist I just had news
being written about me I started going
out and getting people started taking
selfies with me so I couldn’t go out
without makeup any longer and I I just
go in chuckles and for our genes as
everybody else and I was like oh my god
now I have to dress properly
so this Rajasthani cheap throws happened
for me and I’m gonna end this session by
just saying a few things now Rajasthani
cheap throws is like any other cheap
thrills right there is a Carnatic
version there is a this version there’s
a Punjabi version wise Rajasthani cheap
feels so big there’s something that
happens in Rajasthan we don’t speak our
language we have some kind of an
inferiority complex of speaking
Rajasthani in front of other people
parents don’t teach rather sunny to
their kids on the cool people speak
Hindi if there are just honey speaking
and the really cool people speak only
English we do not speak Rajasthani
that’s how it is in every household okay
the grandparents speak Rajasthani but
the grandchildren will speak only
English and once the song started
getting viral I was like what is the big
deal it’s just another cheap thrill song
and then I got the feedback from people
and you know what the feedback was they
said apne Rajasthan eco English skill
level Cocker dia and in my head I had
never thought Rajasthani was less than
anything in the world
because it’s my language and I think in
English and I English English Rajasthani
I think in three languages I had never
in my life thought that Rajasthani was a
smaller language but clearly one and a
half million people in Rajasthani
Rajasthan thing that Rajasthani is
somewhere lower and that somehow I
instead pride in them when I sang cheap
thrills wearing this in maha wailing in
Jaipur and this is what so many people
told me after a Rajasthani cough whoo
perky level Bacardi and I was like
rajasthan iike become ninety Rajasthani
was never less than English but this is
what happened to me so of all the things
that I tried for 10 to 15 years that I
was struggling to be a singer what
actually worked for me was this the
cheap dress Rajasthani which apparently
made a social impact so all I’m gonna
say to you is that you have to find
something that only you can do right now
apparently no one else can sing English
and Rajasthani which I’m very happy
about but now that I’ve given the secret
out and the second thing is that what
you wear your presentation makes all the
difference I could have come today in
jeans I could have come in a dress but I
have come dressed exactly the way that
you will notice me so when you go out in
the world try and see that you are
noticed your presentation matters and
find something to do that nobody else
can do okay I did not know that
Rajasthani English mashup was a thing
till the 1st of April and now it’s the
only thing and I am I’m making a lot of
money singing so so that’s my story and
I hope that I inspire a couple of you
thank you
[Applause]
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