Singer Anusha Mani shot to fame with the song Dhokha (Johnny Gaddaar; 2007). She followed it up with chartbusters like Lehrein (Aisha; 2010) and Gulaabo (Shaandaar; 2016). But she hasn’t been singing Hindi film songs of late. “It’s not like I’m actively choosing to not work, but the songs coming my way aren’t exciting enough. The quality of music has suffered quite a bit,” says the singer, who has been busy releasing indie music, including singles Saiyan More and Hua Mera.

Mani adds that she isn’t interested in recording dance numbers either, as they objectify women: “I think my voice doesn’t sound the best for ‘item songs’. That’s a good thing. Thankfully, I haven’t been approached for them, else it would have been awkward for me to turn them down.”

Not the one to associate with socially regressive songs, the singer cut down her decade-long collaboration with a fairness cream brand she used to sing jingles for a couple of years ago: “I decided to take a stand and not be a part of it, because I didn’t resonate with racism and colourism [it stood for]. I knew I wasn’t directly impacting people as they wouldn’t know who is singing the jingle, but my conscience dictated this decision.”

Stressing on the need for greater awareness today, Mani adds, “The word ‘gori’ is used so loosely as a reference to beauty. Back in the day, we didn’t have a context to a lot of things, but we need to be conscious today.”