The soprano-ish voice behind Coke’s ‘bus’ TVC tells Malay Desai why there would always be listeners for edgy music, which is good news for her band Sridhar/Thayil

By Malay Desai (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 21, 2010)

‘I want to be a mean and lean blow-up doll to grace us and stay for an unfashionably long time… so say all you want ‘coz baby it’s showbiz!’

… sang a voice at Blue Frog last night, leaving the club’s audience amused with the theatrics of the spoken word. The voice has also created a buzz on primetime TV across the nation, in a cola commercial featuring actors Imran Khan and Kalki Koechlin.

The TVC has become a talking point, thanks to singer Suman Sridhar rendering Mohammad Rafi’s Tum jo mil gaye ho. It’s also a debut endorsement for the 27-year-old, who has created a popular niche in the indie music industry through her band Sridhar/Thayil. The ad is just an offshoot of her works, which include much more, she tells us over lunch at a Bandra café.

The female half of Sridhar/Thayil looks like a shy monk who’s just given into funky indulgences. Now sporting super-short hair (after carrying off a tonsured look for long) and wearing punk accessories, Sridhar is often eccentric, much like her music. “The TVC happened purely by chance. Mikey (Mike McCleary, composer, best known for his works with Lucky Ali) called me one evening to his Bandra pad; we Youtube-d the old version (featuring Navin Nishchol) and I recorded a scratch,” she More >