During the lockdown last year, singer-composer Kavita Seth released Rangi Saari, a contemporary rendition of a popular thumri, in collaboration with her son, Kanishk Seth. While it took time to pick pace, it became a raging sensation on social media this year with actors, influencers, and social media users joining the bandwagon, as they made videos and reels with the 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 dein. It saw wider popularity during Diwali, 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 (2020) 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 listening to good music in its truest essence.”