We’ve compiled a list of our top 8 upcoming talents in the city. It’s got everyone from a dancer, singer, poet, and fashion designer to photographer and a band!

Who are our 8 upcoming talents, you ask?

Vanishree Sahu, Singer

A 21-year-old law student who holds the utmost passion for music is a perfect description for Vanishree Sahu. She says, “Singing gives me a sense of freedom, peace & contentment that I can’t really express in words”. She can’t leave a task undone and makes sure it’s executed with perfection. Vanishree is confident and an outgoing person. She is always open to constructive criticism and has the courage to learn from her mistakes. “Music is my go-to. It brings me closer to myself. I think that’s the thing about music. It is an explosion of various expressions of humanity. Irrespective of what culture/race you belong to, it’s something that we’re all touched by. It is one of the most beautiful forms of art. Music can help you escape reality. It can calm you down to remind you of who you are”, she says.  Vanishree has recently collaborated with a group of talented girls to form Hyderabad’s first ever all-girls band! “What could be a better way to start off than this? We performed at Vapour. The experience was surreal”, she adds.

Music is something that moves her; it’s her foundation. Apart from singing, she loves to dance and can’t hold back when there’s a good beat! About her future, Vanishree says, “There’s no better feeling than being able to do what you love the most. I wish to become a successful playback singer in the industry. I want to able to perform and collaborate with wonderful artists across the country.”

Instagram: singwithvani

Nadia Khatoon, Makeup Artist

Nadia Khatoon enjoys every bit of being an MUA. She loves it even more, when she hears the overwhelmingly positive feedback from her brides! Her brides trust her with the “littlest things”. This makes her feel empowered and motivated to do her best!

“When I was 4, I would steal my mom’s makeup and do it on myself! So this is definitely something that I’ve enjoyed since the very beginning. In high school, I always experimented with different looks on my sisters. But honestly, I never thought of it as a profession. But here I am today, enjoying every bit of this!”, she says.

Nadia’s love for makeup is known but it’s a little-known fact that she’s also a great baker. She loves to bake everything from pies to cakes!

When asked about her future plans, Nadia says, “I want to represent Hyderabad internationally as a MUA. I’ve always been in love with the Hyderabadi culture and I want the world to know how beautiful it is.”

Instagram: bridesbynadia

Niraval band

Niraval is one of the first regional (Tamil-Telugu) bands in the city of Hyderabad. It is a unique concept which promotes regional music and new sound in the city. Niraval started off as an open mic band in late 2015, playing at The Moonshine Project’s concept, Varnam. Varnam is a platform where regional and folk music is given a stage, for people go back to their roots and cherish music in their native tongue. Niraval is now a full-fledged band making contemporary Tamil-Telugu melodies covering artists like Ilayaraja, AR Rahman, Keeravani etc. The band features Krishnan Ganesan (Vocals and Keys), Sweekar Agasthi (Vocals), Sagar Ramchandruni (Bass) and Vaishak Menon (Drums) with Falak Chhaya (famous artist) joining on flute and guitars for a few gigs. Niraval has had some crazy opportunities since inception by opening for some great artists, legends like Guitar Prasanna, Catharsis, etc. They now have 5 gigs a week and upgrading their songs every week. Krishnan says, “Music has been my passion since childhood. I have been associated with it in some form or the other for a very long time. Started off with Sai bhajans and Nakara sankeerthanas and later grew up listening to legends like Ilayaraja and Rahman. I have always wanted to sing songs that we grew up listening to, on a bigger stage in a live environment. This gives people some nostalgic moments and also revives the lost sound in our regions. Niraval is a unique concept, now a dream come true for me and the other band members and we enjoy the fact the people have started appreciating this concept in the city”.

This highly talented group has plenty of hobbies and passions. Krishnan is a Principal Engineer in a hedge fund technology company. He also plays several sports and is an aspiring racquet sports champion. He is also an animal lover! Sweekar enjoys singing, programming, playing the guitar and writing lyrics and Sagar, who is a guitar teacher by profession, is an animal lover too! Vaishak absolutely loves cooking and playing basketball, and is also very fond of animals.

They plan to perform their regional music all over the country. “We want to write our own original songs in Tamil – Telugu and release an independent album. We want to make this concept popular across the country. All cities should start playing their own regional music. That’s our vision and we are working towards it”, they said.

Instagram: niravaltheband

Facebook: NiravalTheBand

Nikita Kedia, Fashion Designer and Founder of Label- Ni:Sh

Nikita Kedia has always been very strong-minded and opinionated about fashion. “What I want to wear, what looks best on others, and just about fashion in general. It did not take me very long to figure out what I wanted to do. I have always been very passionate about fashion and after a series of life events I figured out this is exactly what I was meant to do, what my life experience is meant to be… fashion! I am a designer. I’m an artist, meant to help bring beauty into the world through fashion”, she says.

Her Label Ni:Sh is a perfect amalgamation of comfort, elegance and femininity. The brand intends to embody modern sophistication and Indian spirit. “It is not just a brand; I intend to give an experience that offers something for each taste, and garments that speak about your style for you”, she adds.

She has a continuous range of fresh and idealistic garments with a story behind each piece. Each garment is crafted by skill full labour and a lot of love.

She’s an avid traveller and says that travelling not only inspires her but reflects in her work too. She loves carrying out Indian traditional motifs and design in ways that even urban fashionistas can treasure them.

In the future, she plans to open doors to fashion lovers who love indulging in and experimenting with their style and plans to launch her store soon. “I want people to treasure their clothing. Not buy it just because it’s trendy and throw it away. When I design my clothes, they’re made with love. It’s important to me that people recognize the value of a piece of clothing. Things always come back in style. It’s better to spend money and have something for a long time than just indulge in fast fashion for throwaway prices”, she says.

Instagram: nishbynikita

Apoorva Jupudi, Dancer

Apoorva Jupudi, a fun-loving and hardworking post graduate in Applied Psychology, is a passionate, self-taught dancer. She is creative, confident and  has always valued her academics and passion equally. She says, “I am very curious to learn which led to me learning the basics of various dance forms.” She is trained in contemporary, ballet, freestyle, hip-hop, Bollywood, dancehall, Bharatnatyam and Kathak.

After performing at college for a number of events, she has recently performed along with Melvin Louis, with his Youtube Fanfest crew at the Hyderabad Youtube Fanfest 2018.

Apoorva says,“Honesty, integrity, and commitment have been the guiding principles in my life. My mother is my biggest strength. She is my inspiration and my supporter. She has always pushed me to be better.”

Apart from dancing, she enjoys doodling, writing poems and playing sports like table tennis and badminton.

She plans to work as a counsellor and a dance therapist. “I’ll be spreading the love I have for dance. I can see myself working towards having a healthy lifestyle, physically and mentally and a life filled with happiness, love and hope”, she adds.

Instagram: apoorva1212

Shreyak Singh, Photographer

Shreyak Singh dropped out of engineering in his 2nd year to pursue photography and has never looked back.  “Back in 2012, I was juggling between different hobbies like playing the guitar and my passion for computers. It was my passion for computers that made me choose computer science engineering. Meanwhile, on the journey to become an Engineer, I came across many artists and that’s how I slowly started falling in love with Photography”, he says.

After exploring different styles of Photography, he came across Fashion Photography. He has recently gotten into Editorials. He has also been featured in many of the International Magazines/Blogs. The one thing Shreyak loves apart from photography is food and is a hardcore believer of the motto – “Don’t eat to live, Live to eat.” Regarding his future, Shreyak says, “I have no plans for now but I am a very spontaneous person and thus most of the things in my life happen that way, for example, Photography. I would most likely continue with Photography till it interests me. I haven’t travelled a lot and that’s something I would love to do more of in the future.”

Instagram: shreyaksingh

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