Grammy-nominated artist Sanjeeta Bhattacharya has embarked on an intimate 10-city tour, Dear Diary, and her stopover was in Calcutta on August 28 at Skinny Mo’s Jazz Club. Known for blending personal storytelling with her signature multilingual artistry, Sanjeeta has carved a unique space at the crossroads of music and acting. A 2023 Grammy nominee with the Berklee Indian Ensemble and an alumna of Berklee College of Music, she made her Bollywood debut as Helena in Shah Rukh Khan’s blockbuster Jawan, where her original track, Mis Chicas, was also featured on the soundtrack. t2 had a tete-a-tete with the singer-actor who has starred in Netflix’s Feels Like Ishq, Zee5’s The Broken News (Seasons 1 & 2), Adbhut (opposite Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and more. Excerpts.

You performed in Calcutta as part of your multi-city tour. What does the city mean to you personally and how does it feel to bring your music here?

Calcutta is my father’s home town and I’ve spent many summers in the city at my grandparents’ place. I also visit my cousins often and recently shot a film there with Saurav Das and Chiranjeet Chakraborty, which is yet to be released. I’ve grown to love it as my own. The friends, the food, and memories made this leg of the tour extra special. I haven’t played my music here since 2019. So, I hope to meet new audiences and old ones.

Could you give us a glimpse of your playlist? Does it lean more toward your originals, or are there some surprises for the audience?

My playlist always includes my originals but I also have some surprises planned, like unreleased originals that I’ve not played live before, and some fun renditions of Bengali folk songs, especially for Calcutta. The set has music in five languages, including English, Hindi, Bengali, Spanish and Portuguese.


Your songs often blend diverse influences — from jazz to indie-pop to folk. How do you curate a live set that brings all those sounds together seamlessly?

I have grown up listening to a plethora of genres of music and these influences have woven into the music that I write. I have never liked boxing myself into one sound. I like to have fun with styles and languages, so it’s only natural that my live set will be just as eclectic.

Do you approach your performance differently in a city like Calcutta that has a rich cultural and musical legacy?

Being a Bengali myself and coming from a family of artists, I have grown up drenched in Bengali culture and arts. Being a probashi, however, I’m always humbled to perform my own music. So much love was shown towards me from the community after the release of Jawan. I’m looking forward to meeting this host of new folks who discovered me because of it.

Beyond music, you’ve also been carving out a space as an actor. How do you balance these two creative worlds, and do they ever influence each other?

I grew up learning Hindustani classical music from Sunanda Sharma and Kathak from Pandit Birju Maharaj ji. Though acting was never on my radar, I believe that once it came into my life, I was equipped because of my years of training in these two art forms and it helped me perform as an actor. Being comfortable in front of a camera, being able to empathise and step into the shoes of a character, emoting without inhibitions… I feel music and dance helped me ease into these skills that are essential to being an actor. Balancing the two creative worlds is not the easiest thing however. You always have this fear of missing out on one or the other while doing projects. For me, since I enjoy both equally, I try to prioritise projects according to how exciting it is, manage my time accordingly and take ample breaks in between to unwind.

Are there any upcoming collaborations or projects that you’re especially excited about and can share with us?

I just released a song called Could’ve been, a song about unrequited love. Next month I’m releasing two Hindi songs called Daira and Saza under Tiger Baby Records. I recently shot a film starring Konkona Sen Sharma and Pratibha Ranta, and I am currently on a 10-city tour of the country for my music. I’m so excited to travel and play!