The Kiss of Kismet
VOGUE India|November 2022
Singer-songwriters Asha Puthli and Raveena Aurora talk through their musical journeys, inspirations, challenges, spirit worlds, Punjabi sci-fi princesses, resistance and racism—all while discussing the latter’s newest album.
ISHA SINGH SAWHNEY
The Kiss of Kismet

Legendary jazz singer Asha Puthli has captured the world’s imagination for decades. Her soft, lilting vocals have topped charts and been sampled across disco, hip-hop and house; her outré fashion statements embraced pillowcases and Bill Gibb dresses were coveted and imitated by the iconic Donna Summers. Seated opposite Puthli in her Palm Beach pad in Florida is Raveena Aurora, the record-breaking musician who became the first woman of Indian origin to take the stage at Coachella earlier this year, with her performance of Dum Maaro Dum alongside her wink-wink tweet on the origins of the song satirising the Westernisation of Eastern spirituality.

On the 29-year-old’s sophomore album Ashas Awakening, Asha’s Kiss’ is an ethereal, soft offering at the temple of East-meets-West sounds that the R&B star has come to symbolise. The New York-born artiste’s track is a panegyric to Puthli’s legacy: a meeting of two generations, past and present.

Below are snippets from a tender conversation between the two collaborating artistes that elides the years between them.

Esta historia es de la edición November 2022 de VOGUE India.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición November 2022 de VOGUE India.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE VOGUE INDIAVer todo
Breathe In, Breathe Out
VOGUE India

Breathe In, Breathe Out

A powerful tool to help you master your nervous system or another biohacking buzzword? SIMONE DHONDY explores the inhalations and exhalations of breathwork

time-read
4 minutos  |
November - December 2024
Red Pill, Blue Pill
VOGUE India

Red Pill, Blue Pill

India's nutraceutical industry is booming thanks to advanced technology, distrust of the medical system and rising vanity. With multivitamins becoming purer and more effective, NIDHI GUPTA finds out if supplements have become the new serum

time-read
4 minutos  |
November - December 2024
Sign of the times
VOGUE India

Sign of the times

No longer do you need to have an answer to, \"What is the significance of this?\" when people point to your new tattoo. ARMAN KHAN discovers that everything is on the table when you get inked temporarily

time-read
3 minutos  |
November - December 2024
Return to form
VOGUE India

Return to form

Watching the world's most elite athletes deliver the best performances of their careers rekindled SONAKSHI SHARMA's own love for sports

time-read
3 minutos  |
November - December 2024
Dimple, All Day
VOGUE India

Dimple, All Day

YOU MAY HAVE WATCHED HER ON THE BIG SCREEN FOR OVER FIVE DECADES, BUT DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ASSUMING THAT YOU KNOW DIMPLE KAPADIA.

time-read
9 minutos  |
November - December 2024
MUSIC, TAKE CONTROL
VOGUE India

MUSIC, TAKE CONTROL

As someone who had always sought safety in numbers, ALIZA FATMA often wondered what her own company would feel like. The answer arrived unexpectedly when she attended her first-ever music festival, one of the largest in the world, all alone

time-read
3 minutos  |
November - December 2024
Let it grow
VOGUE India

Let it grow

When we think of hardworking farmers toiling in India's scorching heat, we often think of men, the sweat on their brow, the sinews in their arms. JYOTI KUMARI speaks to four women who are championing the invisible female labour that keeps these fields running

time-read
5 minutos  |
November - December 2024
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
VOGUE India

YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE

When armless archer Sheetal Devi set her sights on the Paralympic Games this year, she knew she had a tough journey ahead of her. Luckily, her mother was with her every step of the way.

time-read
5 minutos  |
November - December 2024
Beauty and the feast
VOGUE India

Beauty and the feast

The appeal of Indian weddings has always been in a sprawling spread. For additional bragging rights, Aditi Dugar recommends going beyond designer tablecloths and monogrammed napkins.

time-read
1 min  |
November - December 2024
Sweet serendipity
VOGUE India

Sweet serendipity

From a scavenger hunt-inspired proposal to a Moroccan-themed baraat, Malvika Raj and Armaan Rai's love story prioritised playfulness throughout their blended celebrations.

time-read
4 minutos  |
November - December 2024