Photography Kirti Narain
Lothika Jha’s voice is so majestic, it spans across and through cinematic landscapes. Lothika would be recognised for her voice, if not for her soft face with almond eyes and experimental hair. Her songs like Gehraaiyan and Doobey became chartbusters in Bollywood, leading to a swift rise in her career with record numbers of plays on music platforms. Life truly changed for the better. ‘After Gehraiyaan, I was asked to be part of a few more Bollywood projects, including Neeyat and Kho Gaye Hum Kahan. I got to perform for some of the biggest stages in India in the last couple of years and had the honour of meeting top executives, music professionals, directors and artists in the industry. It suddenly became crazy and life changed a lot.’
Lothika is a powerhouse both on and off stage. ‘I’m just a more magnified version of myself but I’m the same person.’ Her high energy is unmissable when she performs, and she loves goofing around, often breaking into dance at any chance she gets. Lothika brings an added layer of theatricality and performance, creating a cohesive experience for her listeners and audience.
She began singing at nine, but her musical journey remained lowkey for a long time. She didn’t receive professional training, mainly because her academic pursuits took precedence during that period. ‘I wasn’t in any bands, but in my early teens, I started hanging out with all the musical folk in Ahmedabad. A bunch of my friends would gather in the storage areas of music shops and jam it out to post-rock and punk rock. My voice and music have evolved because I was always exposed to and interested in all schools of music.’ The theatrics in her performances stem from her love for hip-hop dance, which helped her understand the nuances and power of riffs and runs. Her other quirks include a professional degree in filmmaking and her stint with photography, film and acting before she made her way to music. She also reads a paragraph from a book before she gets on stage called The Comfort Book, and ‘it usually hits the spot just right’.
‘The post-rock fan in me helped me whenever I wanted to venture into darker-sounding music and express other sets of feelings. Hindustani has always been a favourite and while I am still making very humble attempts at bettering myself vocally, all of these spaces have informed my style of music deeply. And my advantage is that I truly am inspired and informed by all the genres. Some may say that it lacks direction or a focused sound but I am excited to see and explore how all these flavours evolve into one solid sound eventually.’
Lothika is preparing to release a series of independent singles that she has been working on for the past couple of years, excited to share them with the world and has collaborated with some of her closest friends and other creative forces in the industry. ‘I draw inspiration from cinematic ballads, R&B and electronica and one can certainly expect to see those influences in my work. I am still in the nascent stages of my exploration of my sound and so the starting point is truly just taking stories and experiences from my own life and hopefully making a track that can translate that.’
Coming from an extremely musical family where both sides loved all schools of music, be it Hindustani classical, Kishore Kumar’s hits or Rock&Roll, it’s not hard to believe when she tells you that music is her ‘one true love’. 'I had a diverse exposure to music. No Sunday was the same at home. One weekend we would have Def Leppard, Dire Straits, The Beatles blasting off on our ancient sound system, the next weekend it would be Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle, RD Burman Sahab. One could never tell.’
Her grandmother was a violinist and a classical singer, while her father had his own Rock&Roll band during his college days. Her mother was an ace jive dancer, so it feels like her romance with music truly began from the womb itself. ‘Music has been my solace and companion since I was a child. Growing up as a single and fairly socially distant child, I often found music to be my closest most loyal friend and confidante. Music makes me feel like I belong to something bigger than myself, and it makes me feel the purest joy, the deepest sorrow, the most striking anger. Music evokes a sense of wholeness in me that I don’t think anything else does.'
This article is a part of our Bookazine that came out in November, 2024. To read mroe such piece, get your hands on our long-format print issue. You can buy the issue here.
Words Hansika Lohani
Date 7.05.2025