Old Bridge woman to record songs for movie in Mumbai

Dressed in a gold and dark green sari, Vasantha Shashi sang a classic Hindi song accompanied by a recorded flute, tabla and sitar in her Old Bridge basement-turned-studio. She'll do the same thing in December -- but in Mumbai, India.

She's going there to realize her Bollywood dream -- and will record songs for an upcoming film.

The 47-year-old mother and engineer was one of two winners chosen out of more than 300 contestants in a nationwide online competition sponsored by State Farm and hosted by Saavn, a marketer and distributor of Bollywood entertainment.

The songs, which will be recorded by the end of the year, will be heard in an upcoming film under the direction of Pritam Chakraborty, the music director behind sound tracks of some of Bollywood's biggest blockbusters.

"I have always wanted to sing in Bollywood films since I was a child," said Shashi, who began performing when she was 3 years old.

Shashi moved to the U.S. from a small town near Mysore in southern India in 1989 and earned degrees in computer science and business administration. Now she works in Middletown, and lives with her son, who is in 10th grade, and her husband, Raj, who found out about the competition while browsing the internet.

Live auditions were held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Long Island, New York City and Edison, which all have large South Asian populations, said John DeMarchi, executive vice president of sponsorships and distribution for Saavn.

Contestants, including Shashi, could also upload their videos online. Over the course of eight weeks, starting in June, videos were viewed more than 400,000 times, with Shashi garnering the most votes -- approximately 6,000, said DeMarchi. The top 20 videos were determined by online votes, and then Chakraborty picked the two winners.

DeMarchi said the majority of contestants were South Asian because those who auditioned had to pick one of 30 songs that were in Hindi, which made the contest more challenging.

Vivek Agrawal of San Francisco, who works for a tech startup company, was the other winner.

Bollywood, the highest-grossing foreign film sector in the U.S., has been making large inroads, especially this year with hit movies such as "Slumdog Millionaire" and popular television shows such as "So You Think You Can Dance," which recently hosted a Bollywood-themed episode.

"2009 was a phenomenal crossroad for Bollywood," said DeMarchi. "Bollywood has appeal for those who are 8 to 80 years old. It's something the family can share together. Hollywood is edgy, rough and coarse. Bollywood entertainment cuts through and offers an alternative."

While Shashi has never recorded a song for Bollywood, she has sung professionally and has performed on radio stations in India and the U.S. She also has produced several CDs.

"This really is a dream come true," she said.

Aliyah Shahid is a reporter for the New Jersey Local News Service. She may be reached at ashahid@njlns.com or (908) 243-6233.