Nikhil D’Souza, Indian singer-song writer and Bollywood singer has unveiled the video for his most recent song, Sitaare featuring Kalki Koechlin, a National Award-winning Bollywood actor and theatre artist acclaimed for her unconventional and experimental body of work in the Hindi film industry.

Composed by Nikhil, and with the lyrics penned by PinkyPoonawala, Sitaare was launched on 19^th September 2019, and has received an overwhelming response from listeners since then.

Sitaare which is Nikhil’s first non- film song in Hindi, composed by him and written by Pinky Poonawala. Sitaare brings together two beliefs - first, that we’re all fundamentally stardust and second, that our destinies are written in the stars. The song is an ode to the idea that it is preordained we will meet certain people in our lives - whether as lovers or friends or enemies. Some might call them soulmates.

Nikhil states, “When we were thinking about a music video, there was only one person I could think of to be in it. Kalki is an extremely versatile and effortless actor and I've known her for years, and that played a part in me being comfortable in front of camera. She put me at ease - I'm a bit awkward otherwise. This whole video and process has been a labour of love, with friends pitching in to direct and shoot it at no fee. Big love to all of them.”

Nayana BN, Director on the concept of the video said “This music video is a labour of love. Nikhil had a story to tell and we made sure he very well did. The brief was clear and we knew we had to marry the song with the mural which is also the album cover. Building up on the most strongest sense of touch, we journeyed into a love story Nikhil narrates, paralleling with Kalki painting a picture through the mural. Circumstances break their relationship and the chaos begins. The first touch to loss of touch, making of the mural to the balloon leaving the mural, them sharing space to isolating themselves - was a clear contrast consciously created to depict the graph of the ups and downs of a modern relationship.”

“In my musical career so far I’ve either sung for Bollywood films as a pure playback singer or written my own songs in English, releasing them in the U.K. through Warner Music. Sitaare is my first non-film song in Hindi, composed by me and lyrics written by Pinky Poonawala over several of our coffee infused discussions” added Nikhil.

Nikhil released two songs in 2017, Beautiful Mind and Still in Love (acoustic). Beautiful mind made the playlist on BBC radio 2 and was critically well received. Then in 2018 he released Silver and Gold and Blind both of which made the radio playlists. This was followed by fan favourite Love is a Liar, and later the Simple Kind of Love EP.

From his decidedly non-musical early career path as a geologist, Nikhil has come a long way to playing massive stages at the BBC biggest weekend festival, Live at Leeds, Great Escape, support gigs for Zac Brown, Striking Matches, Lizzie and Xavier Rudd at some of the biggest venues in the U.K. – the O2 institutes, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, as also selling out his own headlining shows at The Waiting Room and St. Pancras Old Church. To top off a good year, two of his unreleased songs - a remix of Blind by EnginEarz and The Fire written with Nitin Sawhney - were used in the trailers of the popular Netflix TV show ‘Selection Day’. The year 2019 has seen him being selected as a headlining artist for NexaMusic – a nationwide talent hunt for English indie music fronted by A.R. Rahman. Alongside this he has also been the voice behind current chartbuster Vaaste alongside DhvaniBhanushali.

No stranger to Bollywood, he has sung hits like Shaam (Aisha), Mere Bina (Crook), Harkisikonahinmilta (Boss) and O Gujariya (Queen), and the recent popular hit song Vaaste with Dhvani Bhanushali, besides many others. In his musical career, so far, Nikhil has either sung for Bollywood films as a pure playback singer or written his own songs in English, releasing them in the U.K. through Warner Music. 

Sitaare is out on:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/35v9un9C2QUR1kq1MtqGMq?si=Zrd8djCNSuO_GtPJEPv8rg

Apple Music : https://music.apple.com/in/album/sitaare/1480199853?i=1480199864

JioSaavn : https://www.saavn.com/s/song/hindi/Sitaare---Single/Sitaare/Ri8OYh5BVGY