Neha Bhasin on Viva: They are my sisters

New Delhi, Jan 31  Singer Neha Bhasin says she and her former bandmates — Pratichee Mohapatra, Mahua Kamat and Anushka Manchanda, might have issues on and off, but she considers them as her sisters.

The four singers and Seema Ramchandani were chosen as the winners of the show “Coke [V] Popstars” in 2002. Following their victory, they became a part of an all girls band Viva. Though Seema soon left the band, the other four stuck together for a while and gave hits like “Hum naye geet sunaye”, “Chori chori” and “Yeh pyar nai to kya”.

During lockdown, Neha, Pratichee, Mahua and Anushka came together for the 2020 version of their hit song “Jaago zara”.

“Someone did a fun take on ‘Jaago zara’, then we started talking about it. Anushka suggested that ‘Jaago zara’ was a song that was ahead of its time. It was written by Javed sahab (Javed Akhtar), and composed by Salim-Sulaiman. She (Anushka) was like ‘It seems like need of the hour. How about we just get together and do a home version and put it out there to put a smile on people’s faces?’ Though many people tried to get us together in the past, we somehow never agreed to it collectively,” Neha told IANS.

“I guess the lockdown was like a reminder of where we were as humans at that point and our love for each other will never end, we may have issues on and off but I think they are my sisters whom I started my career with. I share history with them,” she added about her former band members.

Asked if they will have a reunion anytime soon, the “Kuchh khaas” singer said: “Well, it took us almost 15 years to get together, and 10 years to start talking again. I wonder if there ever will be a reunion. It will be nice at some point to maybe just do a song for fun for the sake of fans from our era.”

“It’s good to see an older band, we are from 2002 that’s when we were launched, to get together. But I am not sure if it will ever be anything commercial. If at all we get together, it will be for the love of it and love for our fans,” added Neha, who is currently tied up with the show “Indian Pro Music League”.