She has crooned chartbusters such as Sajna Aa Bhi Jaa (Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II, 2003) and Zinda Hoon Main (Zinda, 2006), so it comes as a surprise that singer Shibani Kashyap consciously did not devote much of her time on playback singing. Rather, she has focused on singles and in the past one year, done around 60 online concerts to raise funds for people in need during the Coronavirus crisis.

She reasons, “The highest point for me was the beginning of my Bollywood career. Apart from Sajna and Zinda, I also worked on a Rohit Shetty film, Sunday (2008). I’ve done good, but less work. I’ve been selective, but honestly, work has not come my way also. If I call popular music directors or so-called producers, they don’t even take my calls, and I don’t know why. Some do, some don’t.”

Kashyap, 41, rues the existence of the ‘camp system’ in Bollywood. “I stay away, creating my own music, doing shows in India and abroad. I also collaborated with French singer Bryce during the lockdown. We did our own version of Heal The World by Michael Jackson. That was a time people needed to hear this music,” she says.

She’s been in the music industry for two decades, and has seen a lot change, from a time when cassettes were the rage to today when number of views dictate everything. But Kashyap has a different outlook. “I feel many artistes and songs which we’ve never heard, are projected as so many millions. If content is good, even if it has a thousand views, it’ll start catching on organically, and slowly become popular. It takes time for things to grow, and not suddenly, say two million views. Who has watched those? Who are those millions of people? If it has become this, why is a majority not even aware of those particular songs?” says the singer, who created her own studio in her home in the Coronavirus lockdown.