Exclusive! Golmaal fame Anushka Manchanda aka Kiss Nuka quits Bollywood: Quite far from it

Anushka Manchanda rechristened herself as Kiss Nuka, a ‘raw’ avatar that the singer donned to focus on songs that align with her. “I decided to give myself a different name because I felt that there was a big difference in the music that I had been doing under my name (Anushka) which is primarily composed by other people while I came to perform, as opposed to the music, art and visuals that I wanted to make myself. I wanted to create that separation,” Kiss Nuka shares.

So does that mean Manchanda has quit Bollywood? “Yes,” pat comes the reply. The singer known for some hit songs like Golmaal, Dum Maaro Dum, did her last playback job in 2017 with Aate Jaate Hanste Gaate (Golmaal Again) before disappearing slyly.

“I don’t know if I can go back to doing what I was doing (earlier). A lot of time when you are required to come and sing you don’t really have a say in the lyrical content of the track, in the story or how it is going to be projected. I stand for a lot of things. So, it’s difficult to go back in (that) space and give that control. But also never say never. What if there’s a project where everything is aligned, and they feel exactly the way I do. They are as invested in it as I am. Maybe, then I’ll be open to it. (For now) I’m quite far from it (Bollywood),” she elaborates.

So does Kiss Nuka have anything to learn from Manchanda’s mistakes in Bollywood? The singer says while she doesn’t feel she made any mistake she surely “could have handled” her “finances better”. “I feel it’s very important for the artists (to understand) when you are creatively involved a lot of times you are not good with numbers. You don’t know how to save, invest money or how to build it. Especially considering as an artist the job you have is very uncertain. I have to say that the way I used to make money, I don’t make that money anymore. When I was working in Bollywood and doing playback, I just had to show up and the kind of money I was making, compared to what I do today is different,” she explains.