Goonja sa hai koi iktaara iktaara. This score from Karan Johar’s latest offering Wake Up Sid is fast climbing the charts, thrusting singer Kavita Seth, a sufi ghazal singer , into instant limelight.“I want to revel in the glory,” says Seth, 38, who began her career with radio two decades ago in Bareilly. Director Satish Kaushik spotted her four years ago at a concert in Delhi and offered her a Sufi track called Maula in his film Vaada. This was followed by Mujhe mat roko in Gangster and a few sufi ghazal albums. Among those who heard her ghazal album was Amit Trivedi, music composer of Iktaara. “Singers and their albums have a smaller shelf life, so we need something that can remain with the audience for long. I needed something like Iktaara to get noticed properly,” says Seth. Her powerful voice and unique style come from listening to local performers at the dargahs of Bareilly. “My father used to take me to the mazaars, where the songs in the praise of Bulleshah and Waarisshah wrapped me in their mysticism. I started singing like the dargah singers, in a loud and open voice, lost to the world,” says Seth who later moved to Delhi to study music.Seth has also composed and sung three songs for N Chandra’s latest venture Yeh Mera India. “I haven’t heard any of these being played on TV or radio. Iktaara is being promoted well,” she says.

Things are looking up but Seth says she is far from smug. “There is a long way to go and I have to work even harder,” she says. With Iktaara, she’s just raised the bar for herself.