She first came on the reality show Indian Idol as a 16-year-old contestant with dreams in her eyes. She didn’t win, but what could be a bigger achievement than returning to that stage as a judge! We are talking about singer Neha Kakkar, who has been a judge on Indian Idol for the past three seasons and is gearing up for the next.

In an exclusive chat, talking about her journey from being a contestant to becoming a judge on the show, Neha says, “I still feel that I am living in a dream world when I think about it. Even today, when I see a contestant on our show, I see myself in them.”

While Neha is known to be sweet to the contestants, she also tends to get teary-eyed on the show, for which she has even been trolled and called fake. Ask her about this, and she says, “I can’t blame them, there are many people who are not emotional at all! For people who are not emotional, I would seem fake. But people who are sensitive, like me, will understand and relate to me. Today, we don’t see too many people who can feel others’ pain and who want to help them. I have that quality in me and I have no regrets about it.”

Reality shows in recent years have been criticised for showing a lot of drama by focussing on the contestants’ personal lives and struggles. But Neha feels it is an integral part of a show. She says, “I wouldn’t call it drama. There are elements included in a show to make it interesting. Showing just singing and dancing might get boring, so we also focus on the lives of the contestants and their families. Viewers also relate to them. When we show how a contestant has come a long way by sacrificing things, people connect with it because everyone has someone of their own who has been through struggle and achieved things. We are just showing on the show what happens in our homes.”

On the personal front, Neha married Rohanpreet Singh in October 2020 and life has changed since then. She shares. “My life has completely changed after marriage in a good way. Earlier I would be too lost because I was so busy with work all the time. Sometimes I would feel that there was just work and nothing else. But now, my partner makes me laugh, gives me emotional support and when I come back from work, I have something to look forward to. I am really thankful to God for sending him into my life.”

It helps to have a partner from the same field, she says. “He is also a singer and understands my work and I understand his. Things become easy for us. The kind of songs I am doing these days, all the variations that I have added to them, I have learnt from him. He is a much better singer than I am and one day people will know that. I have become a better singer now because of him,” adds Neha.

A while ago, there were rumours about Neha being pregnant, is there any truth to them? “It’s been over a year that there have been rumours! For a song promotion, I had posted a picture and people misunderstood. They assumed I was expecting. No, I am not pregnant and we have no plans to have a baby as of now,” she says.