Lessons in courting success

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Monica Dogra is a familiar face in the live music scene in Mumbai. Known for playing the female lead in Kiran Rao’s Dhobi Ghat, hosting the award-winning show The Dewarists and being one half of Mumbai’s electro rock duo Sha’air + Func, this Indian-American with Bohemian tresses, is the outsider who made the city her own. But at every step of the way, she’s had to prove herself and her conviction in her talent.
“My father thought I was studying a completely different course. In reality, I was getting a degree in music at the NYU. I grew up in a household that played a lot of music but it wasn’t considered a serious profession. And after my parents separated, it was just the two of us. I went through a terribly awkward and angst-ridden adolescence with my father for company, so I know what it means to feel like you’re at the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.
Monica, who spoke at a seminar last month on careers in music, feels that being in the industry today is far more financially viable than when she started out. “The fact that my father didn’t support my career choice egged me on to prove myself. It made me deal with my own failure and convert it into a lesson in courting success. Today there is money in the industry and families are more supportive. But the best thing a parent can do for an aspiring musician is to help them deal with failure and have fun with it. Because, frankly my dear, there’ll be a lot of that coming your way,” she added.