'There's A Kind Of Beauty In India'

'In India no matter your lifestyle, you will end up doing the same things as everybody else.'

From Chicago to Mumbai, it's been a journey full of 'adventures' for Lisa Mishra.

She started out as a singer in Bollywood, seven years ago.

She found fame for the reprised version of Tareefan from Veere Di Wedding, which led to her singing more Hindi songs.

Lisa then branched out into acting, which she says was "always on the cards" given her background in musical theatre.

After Call Me Bae and now, The Royals, she is making her presence felt in the Indian streaming space.

"I know a billion other people who work just as hard or harder than me and deserve to be in this place. But I had a little more luck," Lisa confesses to Mayur Sanap/Rediff.

What's your fondest memory from the sets of The Royals?

Just to be able to work with a cast of that calibre, which I think a few people can claim.

To be on set with Ishaan Khatter, Bhumi Pednekar, Zeenat Aman, Sakshi Tanwar, people that are so, so respected in their craft.

Your character Nikki felt like she could be very good friends with Harleen from Call Me Bae. How do you compare these two characters?

You're right! I find that similarity as well.

Harleen is very similar to Sofia (Bhumi Pednekar's character) and it makes sense that you would feel they could be friends in an alternate universe.

The friendship between Harleen and Nikki would be just like Sophia and Nikki.

At the trailer launch of The Royals, you spoke fondly of Bhumi Pednekar. What makes her so special to you?

We are super close on and off screen.

We became incredibly close when we were shooting the series.

We were on set in Jaipur for 35 days and we had about 15 days in Bombay. So, spending that much time together non-stop really brings you close.

Neither of us left the set at any point. We were there for all days.

The hours were long, and the heat was intense as we were shooting in peak Rajasthan heat. You need somebody you can count on in scenarios like that.

Plus, the stress of work.

We really showed up for each other as friends and that was effortlessly portrayed on screen as well.

Bhumi is senior to you in this industry. Did she give you any advice?

Bhumi's most enduring advice to me was to have confidence in myself. She constantly reminded me I'm there because I deserve to be there. She always told me that I need to be more sure of myself. I'm doing a great job and I should keep going.

She would help me prep my lines.

We would prep our scenes together. She didn't want me to feel junior at any point.

She's so giving when it comes to co-actors. She really, really, helps people feel confident about themselves and their ability.

Very few people have not only the patience but also the grace to share their knowledge and their space like that.

You are juggling between acting and singing careers.

I'm an actor, I'm a musician, I have a podcast about food.

I've always been into a lot of different things.

But everything I do, I put a lot of work and effort to be excellent in. I don't want to take it for granted that I get to be in sets like this and in spaces like this. I owe it to my audience and to the people who are producing these spaces.

It's their money at stake. It's their trust in me.

I owe it to them to be responsible about how I give that energy back.

You grew up in Chicago and are a self-taught singer. How did you develop interest for Indian pop music?

That's the kind of music I grew up listing to.

It was a lot of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, A R Rahman, early Vishal-Shekhar, early Salim-Sulaiman, Shreya Ghoshal.

I come from that generation of pop music.

I would just mimic what I was listening to because I didn't speak Hindi at the time. I learned Hindi after I moved to India seven years ago.

It was just exciting for me to be from a country that made such fun, incredible, layered, complicated music.

That's why I just had a love for it since I was very, very young.

How often did you visit India before?

Very little.

I think in the span of those 18-20 years, I visited only four times.

What are your earliest memories of Bollywood films and music?

My earliest memories are singing songs from Ghulam andHum Dil De Chuke Sanam. I was three or four years old at the time.

How did your singing journey begin?

I started singing at four.

When I was seven or eight, my teachers at school recognised that I have a talent for this. They kept making me sing on stage.

By the time I was 13, I started my YouTube channel and I was posting videos of myself singing and playing guitar.

From 13 to 24 -- for 11 years -- nobody was watching those videos.

But then I got discovered and was brought to India to make music.

WATCH: Lisa Sings Aa Mil

Video Courtesy: Lisa Mishra

Was acting always the next plan?

It was always on the cards.

I've been an entertainer since I was a kid. I grew up doing musical theatre.

So when I moved here, I immediately started with auditions.

I really love entertaining, being on the stage, being on screen.

And since the age of 13, posting all these videos online, I'm very used to people watching me.

How did people around you react when you told them you want to move to India?

I think my parents were confused. They were like, we moved away, why are you moving back?

My extended family lives in India. My parents moved 25 years ago because my dad was an employee at State Bank and he got transferred there.

When I came back here seven years ago, it felt strange to integrate back into the country I'm originally from.

I felt like a foreigner.

How did you navigate the cultural shock in India?

It was a huge cultural shock for me, definitely.

There are fewer people in America. There's a more space there.

There's a kind of beauty in India where it feels like a communal atmosphere.

Everybody's together.

Everybody's sitting in the same traffic.

They're standing in the same lines at Elco (a shopping arcade in Bandra, northwest Mumbai) for paani puri (Laughs).

Life is equal here in a lot of ways.

In India no matter your lifestyle, you will end up doing the same things as everybody else.

You have an American accent. Is that a problem during your auditions?

Not any more.

I think after what I did on Bae, people have seen I can pull off the Indian accent in English because no one dubbed for me.

I'm able to do the Indian accent, this (American) accent and the British accent.

I've grown up being really excited about voice acting so this comes very naturally to me.

What's next on your wish list?

If I have any shot in hell, I would love to be in a feature film since I've done two series now.

I think it will be a great adventure for me.