Being Jonita Gandhi

For the 35-year-old performer, the stage is as demanding as the gym. She talks endurance, mental wellness and why gratitude and deadlifts both matter.

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Like many of us, singer Jonita Gandhi also has a hype song—one that gets her adrenaline pumping, ready to face the camera or her audience. It's 'Monalisa'by Lojay, which we discover during the shoot. We play the song at her request and, despite a hardcore leg day at the gym, Gandhi is all fluid femininity.

At first glance, the performer comes across as confident, outgoing and built to be in the public eye. But dig deeper and the layers start peeling away. A self-proclaimed ambivert who has learnt to accept the spotlight as part of her job—though not necessarily enjoy it—she is just another millennial trying to fight her own demons and make sense of the world around her.

“I think I was far more resilient when I first started out in the industry,” she says. “Over time, with the experiences I've had, my standards for myself have risen. I'm a lot harder on myself.”

Though born in Delhi, Gandhi emigrated to Canada with her Punjabi family when she was nine months old. Her father and brother were both into music, so a career as a singer seemed like a natural step for her. She would perform with them at community events and, at 16, even gave Canadian Idol a shot; unfortunately, she didn’t make it past the audition rounds.

Not one to give up, Gandhi started recording Hindi film song covers from her bedroom and uploading them on YouTube. As the views kept rising, in 2009, she entered—and won—a contest organised by Sonu Nigam, who was looking for singers for a Michael Jackson tribute concert. Her big break in Bollywood came with Chennai Express (2013), which starred Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, which led to her singing in films across India.