Preeti-Pinky “Singing sister duo dance to navratri’s tune!”

This Gujarati sister duo Preeti- Pinky had started singing at a very small age . They have sung for many Bollywood films. Besides Hindi they have sung songs in English, Malayalam, Gujarati, Sindhi, Marathi and Bhojpuri. In addition to their popularity in India, they are also very well known in United States, Canada and England. Recently, they decided to go bald to support cancer awareness and change the way beauty is perceived in the society. They’ve let go of their tresses or their new single, Hungama Kyu Na Kare, which aims to propel female cancer patients to fight against the ailment. Sandeep Hattangadi quizzed them about their journey as a sister duo.

Recently the garba has been asked to lower the volume a little bit.
Yes. The response still has been phenomenal and the crowds are swelling every-day and we are happy that we still are seeing massive crowds’ in-spite of the heavy ticket prices. From 2015 onwards, we two have begun releasing singles, with the latest one titled ‘Sawariya’. The track, which was released under the label of Times Music, was composed by Ravi and was penned by Rajiv and Mona. We thought Navratri was the best time to release the track because our song has garba beats. We even performed the song during our live performance during Navratri, and it received a great response from the people. The intention was to make people dance and they did.

Both of you released your first single ‘Maula Maula’ in January 2015 performed on all nine days of the festival of Navratri in Mumbai. The move, albeit new to many current singers, has been a long time tradition for Dandiya Queen Falguni Pathak.
Falguni Pathak has more experience in this because she has been doing this longer than us. Even her singing style is very different as she includes a lot of Bollywood songs in her performances, while we have a lot of folk songs in ours. The band starts rehearsals a month earlier, and are constantly selecting songs for our live performances. No one can say what will work and what will not, so the simple way is to follow your heart and select songs accordingly. We belong to Ahmedabad which is known for its dandiya.

How did your journey as singing performers begin?
Our first ever stage performance, when I was only seven and Pinky five-year-old, was during dandiya. I remember how we had gone to a dandiya event that was organized by our dad’s friend. And due to some reason, the singers of the show could not turn up while the musicians were all there. To save the event from being a flop, our dad’s friend who knew we both were interested in singing, requested us to do the needful. And that performance brought us so much appreciation that it set the pace of our career.

What kind of music do you belt out during the Garba festival?
This year we performed at Kutchi Ground in Borivali in Mumbai. Kora Kendra Ground has always been one of the hotspots for the dandiya and garba lovers alike. Mumbai is a very different than any other city. Here you always see a cultural mix at the festival. Everyone comes to play Garba. Keeping in mind, their choices, we perform on different language songs like Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi etc, which keeps people entertained. We have been performing in Mumbai for more than 17 years. So, we have been through the changes that this event has taken over the years. The Dandiya events in modern times have become more organized as compared to the older times. There is limited time to perform, which was not the case in past. Navratri became a part of our life in early childhood and it’s not just about the celebration, but also devotion to them. We fast for all nine days of the season, a ritual that most Durga devotees follow during Navratri. Now we have performed all kinds of music, be it filmi, English western and even disco and fast paced songs.

How is your co-ordination like?
Our team has been the same for the last several years and we share a complete understanding of who wants what and we as sisters have grown up together and share the workload in tandem and everything goes off smoothly.

You have also sung for films.
We have lent our voices to some superhit movies like Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega, Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, Chalte Chalte, ‘Aamdani Athaani Kharcha Rupaiyya’ etc, and also sung for many famous shows of Indian television which include Balaji Telefilms’s Koi Apna Sa, Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, Ghar Ki Lakshmi Betiyaan and of course Anu Malik and Himesh Reshammiya are like our Godfathers.

Who have been your favorite singers over the years?
Reshmaji from Pakistan has been our all-time favorite and we love the texture of her voice. Also Lataji who is Goddess Saraswati incarnate and Ashaji is our inspiration.

Who are your favorite composers?
Vishal- Shekhar and Amit Trivedi have been on our wish list for a long time.

What’s next on the anvil?
We have Vashu Bhagnani’s next, a reality comedy where we have sung for Sonakshi Sinha in a film starring her and Diljeet Dusanjh. Wizcraft is producing the film too.

Which leading ladies would you like your songs to be picturized on?
Vidya Balan and Aishwarya Rai.