Darshana Menon was never an impassionate teenager. She too aspired to become successful, but as she puts it, like any other girl she was a bit confused and lazy. However, her mom was confident about her child as she had noticed baby Darshana sing in a gibberish tune when she was only eight months old. She, therefore, admitted her to vocal classes at the age of three. Not that Darshana did not like to sing, but she never had that patience or interest to learn it. All that pestering from mom couldn’t help and Darshana completely quit music once she shifted to the US. But for her mother’s sake, she would take part in competitions, until Sa Re Ga Ma Pa happened in 2008 when she realised that she could still do what she loved even in a different place.
“Winning Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa USA 2008 was instrumental in me taking an active interest in singing again. The journey itself was one of the toughest for me emotionally, because I was completely unprepared-musically, and more so mentally. I do believe we all have our own path though, and mine took a little longer, but it will be a lot more stable as it is now,” she recalls. She says that her mother nagging her to audition for the reality show has changed her life for good. Though Darshana’s approach towards music changed, she was not ready to roll with the ball. It took her some more time to realise that she can make a career in music and thus a dual major in Accounting and IT, and a job as an IT Auditor did not matter.
“To be completely honest, I always knew somewhere deep within me-that I’d be a singer. But it was so uncertain that I was too scared to believe in it,” she adds. Though a half-Malayali and half-Telugu and living in the US since 2002, Darshana proudly says that she has grown up listening to Malayalam songs. Despite dealing with a vast catalogue of songs, Malayalam songs have a special place in her heart. This could be the reason why Darshana immediately flew down to Thrissur when she was approached by music director Sunny Viswanath to sing for an upcoming Malayalam movie.
Sharing her happiness and experience on working in the Malayalam film industry, she says, “I just finished recording a beautiful lullaby. This is just the beginning and I foresee a lot of Malayalam projects happening in the near future. Mollywood music has evolved over the years, but has retained its musical and lyrical quality. So, I’m looking forward to meeting and working with more talented music directors like Sunnyettan.” Darshana’s musical accomplishments are varied. She has also formed a band named Raagatonic in New Jersey with a group of friends. The band creates a different sound with rock and jazz influences that has set them apart from the typical Desi bands in the US and therefore has managed to carve a niche and following of their own. The band consists of drummer Dennis William, lead guitarist Sudeip Ghosh who roped in keyboardist Sandipan De, bass guitarist Pankaj Kanth and lead guitarist Akhilesh Saxena.
According to Darshana, none of her band members are full-time musicians and are busy with high stressful jobs and families. But, it is the passion for music that everybody gives Raagatonic though they don’t perform together as often as they should. Over the years, Darshana has become one of the most sought-after singers at concerts and musical shows in and around the US. Asked about the taste of songs of people in the US, she says that the country adopts each and every style and there are people who admire any kind of music, be it Bollywood, classical, fusion and many more. She adds that there are even audience for songs in languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali and Kannada, provided they entertain them. She has also associated with percussionist extraordinaire Jomy George for various shows. Other than the shows and concerts, Darshana’s fans also love listening to her through her YouTube channel, which will undergo a major revamp soon.
Shuttling between India and NYC, Darshana is super excited to become a part of Malayalam film industry and is all set to come back to Kerala in May when she has a couple of more recordings scheduled. She will also be singing at a charity concert for St.James Hospital, Chalakudy, in order to bring in awareness on free dialysis at the hospital. Darshana is pretty much clear about her aims and has no inhibitions sharing them. “Bollywood is absolutely in the works! My true desire is to be an independent artist, but with the way the Desi music scene is, I have to make a name for myself through popular channels before anybody listens to me. The plan for now is to spend more time in India, work on perfecting my art, focus on meeting more music-related people and doing more projects here,” she says.
