Kanika Kapoor, 33, has been through a lot in life. While the song Baby Doll changed her life forever, she opens up to Bombay Times about her best and worst times with exhusband Raj Chandok, her most supportive father and why she can never forgive Dr Zeus for what he has done to her. Excerpts:

Tell us about your background?
I am a Khatri, who was born and brought up in Lucknow. We were pretty well off and had a big traditional joint business family. I fell in love with my Punjabi ex-husband Raj Chandok, who was my London cousin's best friend. I met Raj at my cousin's wedding at Khajuraho. I got married to Raj and moved to London when I was only 18. I was a normal papad achaar housewife, had three kids and was happy playing a mother to them, till we separated about five years ago and finally divorced three years back. Raj and his family are a family of doctors. They own a chain of nursing homes and have a property company past 35 years and are very wealthy. I travelled the world and saw a good life with him. But I decided to move on, as he was with someone else. Now we have come to terms with our divorce and are back to being friends. He is the father of my children and is now supportive of everything I do.

How did Baby Doll happen?
I grew up learning classical music right from the age of six. At 11, I was singing pure classical on the All India Radio. At 12, I started doing shows with Anup Jalota, who is like a second father to me as he is my father's childhood friend from Lucknow. At 17, I came to Mumbai to launch myself as an artiste and cut an album with Lalit Sen. I have done my Masters in music, so I can read, write and teach Indian classical music. I had converted my garage in Lucknow into a studio, where I would sing and record. I had no plans to get married, but I fell in love with Raj. My mother was really happy as he was both, educated and rich, and she was only too thrilled that I would not get into Bollywood. So, I turned into a proud housewife, but still loved singing. On my tenth wedding anniversary, I asked him for a present. We were sort of going through this turmoil in our relationship, as he was cheating on me. I was very upset, he said sorry and admitted to it being a mistake. We decided to renew our vows. I told him, 'I don't want any diamonds or any other present. I just want to record my own album.' That had been a dream for me. He agreed. We looked for a producer and found Dr Zeus (real name Baljit Singh Padam from Birmingham). He said he would charge us 5,000 pounds per song and would make me an album of eight songs. He is basically someone who is an arranger, who only knows how to put a beat. Raj paid him the money and I started going to his studio once a week in Birmingham to record. One year passed and he could not make a new song for me. A year later, I was really depressed and started going through a bad period. Raj's girlfriend, who was also married and a Pakistani, came in front of me and said, 'Stop your husband if you can.' I even spoke to her husband, but he didn't believe me. Raj and I would fight all the time and for 2-3 months, I did not go to the studio. Eventually, a friend of mine introduced me to a song, Jugni, originally sung by Arif Lohar of Pakistan, and I got Dr Zeus to remix the song against my vocals. We made a cheap green video with me, Dr Zeus and some dancers against my ex-husband's Ferrari in flat 10 hours and put it up as a free download. This was January 2012. The video became a big hit and got three millions hits. By July, Raj and I had separated and in October, I won the best British Asian award. I have known Manmeet (who is like my rakhi brother) from Meet Brothers from when I was a child in Lucknow, as he was with my older brother in Scindia boarding school. We have jammed together as kids. Early 2013, I got a call from him saying that Ekta Kapoor had heard my voice in Jugni and liked it and I had been called for a trial for Baby Doll. I was going through a dark, dirty, awful divorce at that time and was completely down and felt suicidal. Not only had I been rejected as a girl by my husband, after the success of Jugni, the world started spreading shitty rumours about me, of how I had left my husband and was allegedly dating a dirty uncle that was completely false. That really put me down even more. People in my social circle stopped talking to me and I was discarded as a person from society. But I learnt a lot at that time and today, I am a totally different person.

How have you and your life changed now?
From a simple middle class girl in Lucknow, I became a part of London's high society, where all I did was bitch over Nobu lunches and lived at the plush apartment in Central London at Mayfair. Marriage exposed me to a fancy life of another level and that kind of took over me. I was materialistic, egoistic, vain and was full of myself, to the extent of being borderline arrogant. The money, the kids, the lifestyle all made me stay with my husband for a long time, till it became too much to go through personally. I am actually a normal simple-hearted small town girl, who has been exposed to a lot and has been through a lot very early in life. I am extremely hard-working and extremely passionate. I now live with my three kids (one son who is 11, and two daughters who are 10 and 7 years old) at a small apartment in Knightsbridge. My mother has moved to London and the both of us look after my kids. my kids.

Who was your emotional anchor?
I have a spiritual guru in London past six years, who I would go to every week and cry in front of and all he ever said to me even in my worst was, 'It's all okay. It's not a big deal. You still have so much.' Also, my parents and brother really supported me. My mother is today my best friend. My father is my backbone. Seeing me have a nervous breakdown, he suffered a severe heart attack and almost died. But I remember once when I was 26 and depressed as hell, I asked him what can I do now. After my third baby, I was more than chubby with curly hair, was wearing a pink Chanel jacket suit with big diamonds in my ears and he said to me, 'Kanika, you have become a Punjabi aunty at 26. Why don't you get up and do something that you love? Maybe that will bring you happiness.' Today, I am not into Chanel bags, but I am happy. My kids today are so proud of me. They are innocent, but mature, good children. And we are friends and we are growing up together.

How did you feel winning the Filmfare award for best singer?
Winning a Filmfare was very prestigious and it changed my world. All the Punjabi aunties back in London, who probably called me a call girl, now meet me, take photos with me and post them on their Facebook accounts saying, 'We are very proud of you Kanika Kapoor.' And you know, I feel really sad. I sometimes cry because I know that I am alone. I had been used to a very fancy life, but from living in Central London it suddenly became from hero to zero. And honestly, I started working to support myself. From travelling in a Ferrari, I have no car right now. My last car given to me by me ex-husband was a Range Rover, that too got stolen in the week of Baby Doll. I could not come for the launch of Baby Doll music to India as I was in hospital. I was very ill and had to undergo surgery. I literally touched the lowest in my life. And post the release of the song, within a month, my life just changed. Since then, I must be working 14 hours a day along with trying to being a mother. I have forgotten about what the world thinks and what people have to say about me. Today, I just focus on my work. I know that it is now or never. I started working to just secure myself financially. I didn't want to be someone's mistress. I didn't want to constantly go and ask my parents and brother for money to buy an expensive bag. I could never have imagined that from being a Punjabi aunty with three children, I could have ever become a pop star. And on top, I had that terrible reputation and that too for not having done anything wrong, except suffering from middle class morality as they say. And I didn't have a boyfriend. I have not had a man since I left my ex-husband. I'd love to have a man and proudly show him off. I deserve a man who will be nice to me, and look after me and respect me. I couldn't believe when I sang Baby Doll and it became a hit. I feel that the song was made to change my life. I knew no one in Mumbai, had no PR, but I felt like there was someone looking after me. I don't know how things are happening to me. But I do know that I am a sincere and hardworking person.

Talk about your relationship with Dr Zeus today?
Meet Brothers sent Baby Doll to 3-4 arrangers for a beat idea as they do for every song. They did not finally choose the beat Dr Zeus sent. For Dr Zeus to say that I am the producer of the song is bullshit. What made me more angry was that he had taken 40,000 pounds from me and wasted my time. At least when I was married, I had the money, but he knew about my downfall and knew that this album could have got me work. But even then, he wasted my time and did not make any songs for me. He fooled me and then he turned around to me and said that his manager Vivek Nair had taken all that money and left. So, he was sorry and that he couldn't make the album. I thought he is wrong. He had taken white money from me. Then without my permission, he took my voice, put my name on iTunes and sold my song Jugni without my consent and made money on it. He is a complete cheat in your face. He thought this girl is so weak anyways what will she do to me. So I have nothing to do with him now. He had cheated me at my lowest and I know that God will punish him someday.

Tell us about Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan from the film Roy.
We are overwhelmed. Kanika Kapoor sang Baby Doll from Ragini MMS 2 for us. She's like our younger sister and has been through a lot in life. Although it marked her debut in Bollywood, we'd been friends with her much longer. Her voice was apt for Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan and we work well together, so she was the obvious choice to sing the song. Lyricist Kumaar is our other longtime lucky collaborator. He did a good job of making a Punjabi party song that is also being played at weddings. Just like Sunny Leone became synonymous after appearing in the video for Baby Doll, Jacqueline Fernandez is getting a new image after she was seen in a refreshing new light in Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan so we're hoping it does for Jacky what Baby Doll did for Sunny. The video has also been shot like a Hollywood musical. Jacky is daydreaming as the song begins and then she joins the dancers for a jig on the street. We make an appearance later on. We have even introduced a bit of trap music in the intro. The rapping portions sung by us are signature Meet Bros Anjjan - light-hearted and merging seamlessly with the rest of the song.

How did Beparwah happen?
The makers had initially planned to make Baby a songless thriller but then producer Bhushan Kumar called us in because he wanted a song that reflects the theme of the film. He has a great ear for music and knows exactly what will click with the audience. We came up with Beparwah as an ode to the attitude of the film's characters. It is quite a departure from the happy-go-lucky numbers we usually compose, although we'd like to believe every song we come up with is different. We gave the song an operatic feel. Newcomer Apeksha Dandekar has sung the song like a diva. She is one singer to watch out for, after Kanika. Her voice has the right amount of sensuality to represent Esha Gupta who has upgraded the song with her appearance in the video. Lyricist Manoj Muntashir managed to convey the various on-goings in our country that the attitude of the film and, like the makers of the film have stated, history is made by those who give a damn.

What have you guys been up to in the past year?
We started off composing jingles at an FM radio station. We have dabbled in everything from singing, rapping, performing live to composing songs in a variety of genres. Over the past year since Baby Doll, we've come out with Hangover (Kick), Pink Lips (Hate Story 2) and Party Toh Banti Hai (Bhootnath Returns).

What was it like working with Salman Khan?
We'd like to think we showed fans a new side of Salman when he sang Hangover from Kick for us. He is so hardworking that he recorded the song three times. It's always great to work with Salman. We'd love to compose for him again in the future.We also enjoyed working with vocalist Mohit Chauhan and Punjabi actress Khusboo Grewal recently.

You have an MBA Swag version on every soundtrack?
Tell us more about it. MBA Swag stands for the Meet Bros Anjjan version of a song we've composed. It is our own unique take on a track. While the main track is composed according to the brief of the makers, this version lets us play with different styles, infuse electronic beats, add some rapping, change the feel and also make it a dance number that people will enjoy. We try to do all this while retaining the melody and words of the original.

What's next?
We've been busier - and happier - than ever this year. In 2015, we plan to release 40 new film compositions, most of them in the first half of the year. Up next are songs from Mastizaade and Ek Paheli Leela. Our non-film album will be out in August. Right now, we are focussing on live shows. We enjoy performing in front of the audience. It gives us immediate feedback. We prefer composing singles rather than the entire original soundtrack of a film since we can focus on our own music and shows. Singles allow us to add our touch to an album.

The Baby Doll song from Ragini MMS 2 made Kanika Kapoor one of the hottest Bollywood singers of 2014. Even as she goes on to win several accolades for this catchy ditty; another international singer Dr Zeus has accused the music composers Meet Brothers of plagiarism. Kanika speaks on behalf of the composers

DR ZEUS' QUOTES ON SUZI MANN'S SHOW
“To be honest, it's quite a sad story on my side. To be honest with you, it was called 'Barbie Doll' originally, but had to be changed due to copyright reasons at the last minute. I was asked to do the Baby Doll song. I recorded all the vocals in my studio with Kanika, I produced that whole song.Then Meet Brothers turned around to me and said, 'We're the producers of this song'. I said, 'What have you done?' So they said to me, 'We made the composition.'“ Dr Zeus went on to explain to Suzi Mann, “It's a law in India that if you're a composer, you're credited as the producer. But to be honest, it's these kinds of things that are frustrating under the Indian law. They don't make sense to me under English law of music.“

As for Lovely, Dr Zeus went on to ask Suzi if there is anything on that track that sounds like a Vishal Shekhar composition.“Vishal-Shekhar co-wrote a little bit of the verse on Lovely, but that's it. I explained the Baby Doll situation to Shah Rukh Khan and he promised me that I would get credited and he would shoot a remix video with me. It still hasn't happened, but to be fair, he's a very busy man and I understand that. And to be honest, I can't complain. When they launched the track Lovely, Shah Rukh called me and Kanika on stage. I still got appreciated despite what has happened to me in this whole Baby Doll and Lovely scenario. Hopefully, I'm making an impact in Bollywood, touch wood. I have loads of tracks that are just me and I have some big backers out there.“

KANIKA'S QUOTES LATER ON THE SUZI MANN SHOW
“I actually don't know what you're talking about. No, I don't think so, that's not the right thing to say. The track was written, composed and produced right in front of me in the Meet Brothers studio in Mumbai. It was written by Kumar and it was done in front of me. If they took some help on music production from Zeus, then that's between the two of them. It was certainly not produced by Zeus. You cannot credit somebody for the wrong thing. It was composed - the song, the melody, the lyrics, everything in front of me. The credit firstly goes to Kumaar who wrote the song.What made the song was the lyrics. We do respect Dr Zeus.“

Last week, a video, shot by a bunch of Balochi (people from Balochistan, a province in Pakistan) musicians was the talk of the social media. Reason: Their song sounded exactly like the Sunny Leone chartbuster from Ragini MMS 2, Baby Doll.


The video was uploaded on November 23 and the Twitterati was quick to pass judgement against the Meet Brothers, the composers of Baby Doll, quickly deeming them 'plagiarists'.

When Mirror spoke to Manmeet, he sounded bewildered: “It's the Balochi version of Baby Doll, so what?“ When probed on his 'inspiration' he retorted  “I was the one who shared the Balochi song on my Facebook profile when it first cropped up. It was a moment of pride for us as this was proof that our music was crossing boundaries. Like several international versions of our songs, this one too is a cover version by this particular troupe which routinely does such things.“

He pointed out that copyright rules are pretty simple.“If their song was an original there would have been some evidence of its digital existence prior to Baby Doll's release. You think we will go all the way to Balochistan to do a song for Ragini MMS 2!“ he argued heatedly.

The singer and composer added that they had recorded Baby Doll last March when Ekta Kapoor had called asking for for a peppy number for Sunny Leone. “It's sad that instead of celebrating the fact that are music is transcending all barriers, we are being called cheat. Have our people lost complete faith in our own musical talent?“ he lamented.

Shah Rukh Khan and Ekta Kapoor may not be the best of friends but now they have a Baby Doll in common. Kanika Kapoor, who sang the Ragini MMS 2 chartbuster, has been roped in to lend her voice for SRK’s Happy New Year. The film opens with this song, to be shot in a dingy bar and introduces the film’s leading lady, Deepika Padukone. Revealed a source from the film’s production, “Both SRK and Farah were impressed with the way Baby Doll escalated the fortunes of Ekta’s horrex. However, instead of the Meet Brothers, Kanika will be collaborating with Dr. Zeus this time.” Like with Sunny Leone in the Ragini sequel, Deepika who plays a bar dancer in Happy New Year, is the focal point of the song. SRK also intends to shoot a remix version with Kanika, like he did in Lungi Dance with Honey Singh in Chennai Express. When contacted, Kanika confirmed the story saying, “I can assure you that this song will be a bigger hit than Baby Doll. It’s something that has never been attempted before. People are bored with the same type of songs, they are looking for a change and this will be it!” The film which also features, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani and Vivaan Shah is set for a Diwali release.