After a year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is still struggling with the virus and lockdown in several countries. But amid the gloom, there’s vibrancy as Holi approaches. Holi is the time to bring in positivity into our lives. It’s time to rejoice and express happiness and love. Holi is a time to reach out with the colours of joy and passion.

Bollywood’s popular playback singer Aditi Paul couldn’t have thought of a better day to launch her new indie song, Rang, than Holi — the festival of colour. Rang is a song about offering oneself to get inundated in the passion of love forgetting one’s own self.

Infused with the elements of jazz, Rang depicts that being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage. Infusing different facets of love – trust, playfulness, and above all the euphoria, Rang enraptures the soul with the passionate voice of Aditi rendering the essence of the tenderness so feelingly penned by Pinky Poonawala. Adding flare to the song is the flamboyant beatboxing by Ashay Sharma, thus capturing the throbbing of the heart that one feels when passionately in love.

Equally scintillating is the accompaniment on guitars lead by the versatile Mayukh Sarkar and bass played by R Jayant.

“Rang symbolises the colours of love and hence depicts the colours of life. The song talks about immersing oneself in the passion of love and realise the true meaning of life. The different facets of love are intertwined exquisitely with the melody of the song,” said Aditi, the voice behind Ang Laga De from Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh-starrer Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela.

In fact, the Kolkata-born singer had a special reason to release the song during Holi. “Holi is a celebration of colours, which my song, Rang, is all about, and it’s a pan-Indian celebration. So, hopefully, it will touch the right chord,” said Aditi.

Meanwhile, the recording of Rang was done by students of TAFA Institute, a result of a vision of two national award-winning record engineers and sound designers — Bishwadeep Dipak Chatterjee and Nihar Ranjan Samal.

Aditi loves the colours of Holi but has a slight preference for red. “It is the hallmark of passion and love. It is the colour of blood, which triggers all emotions in us. Also red is the colour of invigoration and determination, which defines womanhood,” said Aditi, who crooned the soulful Veeron Ke Veer Aa from Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.

Aditi, who has sung in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films, wanted to enter the indie music space for a long time. “After Ang Laga De, while working with A R Rahman sir, I was intrigued and inspired by the whole process of song making. I had released one of my compositions and dedicated it to Sir (read AR Rahman). Since it was not planned properly, I couldn’t carry on. I was also caught up with other projects. I planned to start a year ago but unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic struck. But it turned into a blessing in disguise as it gave me ample time to plan, collaborate and hone it myself,” she said.

Aditi believes there is a resurgence in Indian indie music now based on the shift towards an open acceptance from the audience. “The social media has provided a vast platform with ample sources of information and research available and the freedom to experiment and explore new avenues,” said the singer, who lent her voice for Rajinikanth starrer multilingual film Lingaa under the music direction of AR Rahman.

Presently, Aditi is finalising a set of indie releases, which are all her compositions. She is also collaborating with other independent artists and a few of her Bollywood projects will soon release.