The great thing about art (no matter what the world tries to say) is that art is accessible and safe for everyone. Art comes from within. It’s embedded within the code that makes all humans, truly human. You can embrace art to escape, express, emote and exist. It’s the perfect outlet. And the best part is that you get to define what it means to you. To you, art can mean anything. You can study it in school, write a dissertation on it or just lazily doodle something and be equally cherish-worthy. (even stick figures can do wonders)

As they say, it’s the feeling which matters. Our artist for today will not only make the colours pop but also your eyes.

Meet Vrushali

Vrushali was born in Dhule, Maharashtra and raised in Pune by a family of teachers. Her mother used to conduct tuition classes when she was about 2-3 years old. To keep the young Vrushali occupied her mother would draw some figures and ask her to fill them in with colours while she would teach. So from such an early age, Vrushali’s interest in art had blossomed.

When Vrushali reached primary school, she painted in competitions and won a lot of prizes. In fact, she even scored a perfect grade A in the Maharashtra State Board Art Examinations. (talk about an impressive feat!). Eventually, as she progressed in school (both academically and artistically) she picked up other crafts like quilling, Henna design, Rangoli making, singing and sculpting.

All of this while maintaining a pristine academic record is no mean feat. As high school approached, she began to lose touch with her creative side once career decisions and future prospects came into view.  She has a Bachelor’s in Engineering in Electronics and Telecommunication and is now working as (wait for it…)

A software developer in R&D!

Style and Inspiration

Vrushali cites renaissance man Leonardo Da Vinci and post-impressionist Vincent Van Gogh as her biggest inspirations. Which is obvious to see, after all, greatness does beget greatness!  But personally, she calls herself a realist artist. One quick glance at her portfolio will make it quick for you to know that she loves nature. In her extremely exhausting and demanding job as a software developer, nature brings her peace of mind. Be it landscapes, florals, moonscapes and everything in between

When asked whether she, like many artists, has any hidden messages in her art she said-

“ “I want to spread positivity and peace through my artworks. I get many comments on my post and messages like “This made my day ”, “Looking at your paintings make me feel happy”, “A great way to start a productive day”. This is my biggest achievement, I think. It feels amazing when someone gets inspired and happy through your arts and creativity.”

Truly, her art is nothing short of joyful.

Challenges and Message

The daily 9-5 takes a heavy toll on the best of us. Vrushali’s job is hectic. So after 5 non-stop days of high performance and deadlines, creating art feels like therapy to her. Before the pandemic, it was hard to fit in a painting session in the week, but call it a silver lining & she picked up the skill again and started posting on Instagram. Her audience gradually felt strongly in love with her works. Now she even pursues high-end collaborations with some of the world’s topmost brands. Following her mother’s advice and belief in her abilities she now believes that one life is too short for all the heart wants to do!

Her message to all creative souls is this:

“as my story tells you can be in one career and still continue your arts. It just takes confidence and dedication. You must be passionate about what you always wanted to do in your life. Set up a goal and try to achieve it. I want to tell beginners to continue their work no matter what the outcome is, one day you will succeed. Don’t give up and keep going on. Learn from YouTube and skillshare platforms and develop your skills. Don’t focus on numbers (followers on different social media like Instagram, Yt), Focus on your own skills. Try to create art for your own and don’t let social media affect your health. Quality really matters over quantity.”

If you want to read another great artist‘s story here’s one

The play of cover versions with the originality of tracks is a risky business. To be able to render a song balancing the perfection of the original and the experimentation of the cover cannot be easy. We bring to you some emerging singers who attempt and excel at this, delivering popular songs with a refreshing touch. So, sit back, grab your headphones and enjoy!   

Abhinav Thakur

The popular song from 2017, ‘Mann Bharrya’ by B Praak has been doing rounds again after making part of the score of the movie Shershaah. Naturally, the song has had many singers trying to render it to perfection, among all of which Abhinav Thakur stands out for delivering the difficult song effortlessly in his beautiful voice. Thakur’s acoustic version carries through the song in a powerful yet emotive mellowness that hits all the right spots. 

Samarth Swarup

Samarth Swarup’s cover of Tanishk Bagchi’s ‘Raataan Lambiyan’ from Shershaah is so nicely rendered that it wouldn’t be too off the mark to call it as good as the original. His vocals imitate the notes and tones of the original in totality, and yet add a pleasant touch of newness to it. A job well done, Swarup does the original justice in all measures. 

Debolinaa Nandy

Debolinaa Nandy performs Armaan Malik’s ‘Bol Do Na Zara’ from the 2016 film, Azhar. Debolinaa’s sweet vocals compliment the song with quite some perfection. The instrumental of the piano accompanies her singing in excellent modulation, making the whole arrangement of the song flow smoothly into a lovely composition. 

Chiara & Darren

An acoustic cover of the 2012 popular Falak Shabir song is hard to go wrong. Chiara’s rendition of ‘Mera Mann Kehne Laga’ on the ukulele is a case in point. Beautifully sung, her soft vocals have imbibed the rhythm and tones of the romantic original and given it a charming touch.

Piano covers have a unique appeal to some. Indeed, it is quite interesting to see the manner in which a piano rendition can transform a track or a piece of music into something else entirely. Take one of the most iconic and popular piano covers of all time, for example. I am talking, of course, about the piano cover of ‘Still Dre’. The piano cover for ‘Still Dre’, whether it be on an intermediate or at an advanced level, breathes new life into the original track. Thus, it should come as no surprise, then, that the following piano covers by these five wonderful artists do the same.

Hasit Nanda

Hasit Nanda has a volume of piano covers hidden away on his YouTube channel. His rendition of Akhil and Dhvani Bhanushali’s ‘Duniya’, from 2019’s ‘Luka Chuppi’, however, stands out amongst the rest. That’s not to say that the rest of Nanda’s work is any less incredible. It’s just that, with his cover of ‘Duniya’, Nanda manages to build an ever rising crescendo that slowly tempers itself out. Of course, some of that credit goes to the original track itself. However, it is Hasit Nanda’s signature ability to build on compositions that makes this cover of ‘Duniya’ truly worthy of your time.

Shubhashree S.

Raj Khosla’s 1964 romantic thriller, ‘Woh Kaun Thi’, has some intense plot twists. One of the shining gems that came from that classic is Lata Mangeshkar’s ‘Lag Ja Gale’. Shubhashree, then, takes that classic and spins a wonderful new twist to the timeless piece. Shubhashree’s rendition of ‘Lag Ja Gale’ isn’t as much a direct cover of the track as it is a homage to it. Experimenting with new notes and effortlessly incorporating them into the original track, Shubhashree’s piano cover of ‘Lag Ja Gale’ is as much her own now as it was Mangeshkar’s back then.

Chetan Godeshwar

2018’s Andhadhun was a breath of fresh air in terms of the tone and the narrative that it adopted. Amit Trivedi’s ‘Naina Da Kya Kasoor’, from the movie, was an instant hit at the time of release. Chetan Godeshwar’s piano cover of the track, then, is beautiful, of course. However, credit must also be given to Godeshwar’s choice of music. Godeshwar’s piano rendition of ‘Naina Da Kya Kasoor’ comes off as a building block for the original track to sit on. That is indeed curious, considering that it is, after all, an instrumental cover. It is very rare that a cover evolves in a manner that Godeshwar’s rendition of ‘Naina Da Kya Kasoor’ did.

Akash Gandhi

Atif Aslam’s ‘Dil Diyan Gallan’ was, perhaps, a little too melodic for 2017’s ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’. Akash Gandhi’s piano cover of the track, however, is perfectly placed. The original track, by Aslam, was, in a manner of speaking, gentle. Gandhi, then, wonderfully captures that same modesty and serenity of the original track with his instrumental cover. Each note from Gandhi is a little muted, almost subdue, as if to convey to his audience the idea that the original track meant to.

Tajmeel Sherif

This year’s Independence Day has already passed us by. That, however, doesn’t mean that we can’t appreciate some of the music that is tied to India’s history as a nation. Tajmeel Sherif performs a beautifully blended fusion of some of the most iconic pieces in India’s history. From Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s ‘Vande Mataram’ to Tagore’s ‘Jana Gana Mana’, Sherif flows seamlessly from one piece to another. To be frank, the manner in which he transitions from one tune to the other is so marvelously blended that you would be hard pressed to find a pause or a break in the melodic composition. Tajmeel Sherif, by all means, has managed to create one track on which the entirety of India’s history sits.

A freelance illustrator, Saara’s desk is always set to make the cutest, most adorable art and illustrations. With all her digital portraits smiling, emitting a colourful warmth, and her comics full of positive affirmations, Saara’s work has a very wholesome quotient driving it. With immense love for her art and what she does, Saara has always found her illustrations to be an expression of herself. And all her attempts at them being so honest and sweet says a lot about the artist herself, who is working hard and loving every part of the journey that comes her way. 

Based out of Tamil Nadu, Saara’s beginning to portraits happened with drawing sketches of her friends to gift them and make their special days a little more special. After the end of her college, the start of new life came with a number of failures and stress for her. However, amidst all this, art remained her sole rescue. Doodling and journaling to find a sense of calm, Saara ended up taking art more seriously, becoming more inclined towards getting better at it.  

And so it was only in 2019 that the self-taught artist created her Instagram page to practice, display and perfect her work. With not a lot of resources available to her at the start, it was Youtube and Instagram plus her consistent practicing that taught her a lot. Saara admits, however, especially as she navigates the medium of digital art, that she still has plenty left to learn. Slowly, as her presence built up in the freelance space, she got her first client. Ever since then, Saara has been proud of how she’s had the chance to learn art, earn by it and also invest that into learning new and better skills, through different courses and classes. 

One striking thing about her approach is this clarity with which Saara has assessed the field of art, as a hobby and a vocation. While she understands her love for art is enough to create for herself, when it comes to pursuing it as a career she needs an expansive skillset. And that is what she is determined to work for and learn– making an art-school out of her previous works, and lessons out of her mistakes.

Very astutely pointing out the dodgy advice of ‘never giving up’, Saara corrects it and reminds it’s more about ‘not giving up easily’. The only thing that should remain the same throughout all your experiences should be your choice to put in your hundred percent effort in all of them. That’s one outlook Saara held on to throughout all her successes and failures alike. And the latter always ended up giving room to move on to something else. Had Saara not faced her share of failures, she wouldn’t have found the chance to do illustrations. It does require a little patience, but you do eventually find out what’s best for you. Like Saara believes she has for herself!

Some time ago, I went through her EP, ‘Mood’, and came to the realization that this was somebody that had very specific and focused ideas to explore in her tracks. Sanjana Devarajan, in our conversation, explains that the specificity in exploring an idea still exists. Now, additionally, it is also tempered with her own sense of personal growth and, dare I say it, mood. Bad pun, I know. However, if you take the time to listen to her latest track, ‘Leher’, you would see the difference from her previous style. ‘Leher’ is a beautifully ambient track that focuses on being lyrical and is unlike anything that Sanjana has done before. What’s more is the fact that, deep down, ‘Leher’ is all about Sanjana’s own journey of growing into the artist that she is today.

Before we dive in a little more into ‘Leher’, I wanted to talk about Sanjana’s journey up until now. This is critical because, as we talked, I understood that ‘Leher’ is sort of a culmination of everything that Sanjana has experienced so far. Born in Coimbatore but raised in Mumbai, Sanjana was always inclined towards art. From dance to painting, she kind of did it all. Up until the age of twelve, she was, in her own words, obsessed with Bollywood music. Not much later, when she discovered the world of Pop music, Sanjana was absolutely hooked. This was a completely new world to her and nothing would stop her from soaking in as much as she could from it. In point of fact, she actually began writing her own music at the age of thirteen.

When she decided to finally pursue music professionally, Sanjana saw that music was something she needed to pursue parallel to something else. Add to that the fact that there is no structured guide into establishing one’s self in the music industry and you kind of understand the scope of challenges that she had to face.

With ‘Leher’, now, Sanjana builds up to this wonderful high where she flows from one thought to the next, with it all coalescing into how transient things really are. I cannot stress this enough when I say ‘Leher’ is wildly different from her previous tracks. And that, by no means, is me dismissing Sanjana’s previous work. No. It is, in fact, me celebrating her growth from one part of her life to another. ‘Mood’ was Sanjana gloriously twirling into the sea and ‘Leher’ is her gracefully floating amongst the falling tide.

As if to prove all that I have said, she talks about growing into the artist that she wants to be. And, like the rise and fall of the sea, she may falter at it at times. However, as Sanjana Devarajan puts it aptly in ‘Leher’,  the not-so-pleasant things will eventually just wash away, leaving nothing but happy memories amongst the sand.