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Page 8, Barrhaven Independent, Friday, May 29, 2009
COMMUNITY
From Barrhaven to Bollywood, watch out for Shweta
BY DOSI COTRONEO
Beauty, brains, and a talent for belting out tunes,
Indo-Canadian singing sensation Shweta Subramanian
has just completed recording tracks for three upcoming movies – It’s a
Mismatch, Red Light
Bhangra, and “I Do, Do I”.
It’s a Mismatch is directed by Ajmal Azheer Ahmad
and stars Anupam Kher,
Boman Irani, and Nandana
Sen, with Shweta providing
the playback voice for
Nandana Sen in the song
Pehchaan Lijiye.
Three weeks ago, the
Barrhaven singer took to the
stage at the National Arts
Centre alongside Tarun
Nayar, of Delhi2Bublin
fame and composer of the
Canadian
documentary
film, Red Light Bhangra.
The film focuses on the
rehabilitation of human trafficking victims. Shweta cowrote and sang on a track
that focuses on the joys of
freedom. The final project,
“I Do, Do I” is an upcoming
slapstick comedy featuring
Shweta’s voice in the title
track produced by Vikas
Kohli, out of Toronto.
Born and raised in Dubai,
Shweta’s parents’ focus on
her education prompted
them to relocate to Canada
when Shweta was 17 years
old. She graduated from
Merivale High School and
spent four years at Carleton
University earning an hon-
ours in Marketing with a
minor in Psychology.
As important as education
was to her family, Shweta’s
passion for singing and performing shone through from
a young age.
“I entered a United Arab
Emirates singing competition when I was 14 years
old. As soon as I won, I
decided that I would make
singing a career rather than
just a hobby. My passion for
music took over and I had to
break it to my parents that I
wanted to pursue a career as
a singer,” said Shweta.
The girl who began
singing at the age of five
went on to win the coveted
title of Best Singer in North
America by the Sangam
Kala Group, an organization
with roots in India.
“My first proud moment
was when I won this award
and when I was honoured as
one of the Top 3 Potential
Singers in North America
by music director Shravan
Tahtod and producer Harry
Baweja. After winning the
title, they flew me to Delhi
and gave me an opportunity
to interact and perform with
industry icons Sunidhi
Chauhan, Ismail Darbar and
other renowned artists. In
my heart, I knew I wanted
to be a singer and winning
the title just boosted my
confidence to a new level.”
Shweta was selected by
Sunsilk Hair Products to
create Sunsilk Gang of
Girls, an all-girl band featured on India’s Zoom TV
for 13 weeks. Shweta went
on to live in India for two
years, where she performed
across the country with the
all-girl band, and appeared
in many Indian television
programs.
“We were five girls living
together in a bungalow. It
was a reality-television
show and we were India’s
version of the Spice Girls.
The show was created by
our sponsors, Sunsilk, and it
was a great experience. The
best part of it was working
wth dance guru Sandip
Soparkar, fitness guru
Mickey Mehta and music
mentors Baba Sehgal and
Manis Scott.” Shweta said.
Shweta also performed on
the immensely popular,
Voice of India, India’s version of American Idol.
Since returning to Canada
in April 2008, Shweta’s
schedule has been non-stop.
“I’ve received so much
support from the IndoCanadian community here,
in Montreal and in
Toronto,” said Shweta.
Available to perform at
corporate events, Shweta
can be contacted via email
at [email protected], or
visit her website at
www.shweta.ca.
Shweta is looking forward to her upcoming performance at the Telus
Mosaic
South
Asian
Heritage
Festival
in
Mississauga on June 20 at
7:00 p.m.
What’s up next on the
agenda for Shweta? She’s
looking forward to launching her own album and
doing playback singing.
Dosi Cotroneo photo
The multi-Oscar winning film, “Slum Dog Millionaire” has made Bollywood a house-hold
name across the globe. Barrhaven’s own Shweta Subramanian is an Indo-Canadian singing
sensation who has just recently completed recording tracks for three upcoming films, including the Canadian documentary, Red Light Bhangra. Check out Shweta on her website at
www.shewta.ca.