Lisa Mishra
Lisa Mishra

The happenstance girl

In a few months, Lisa Mishra has released her first music album and made her debut as an actor, but has set herself higher targets
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Lisa Mishra is a child of serendipity. Till 2018, the data analyst who lived in Chicago, and could string a word or two in Hindi without missing a syllable, who dabbled in music on the side, had no idea of the surprise life was going to ambush her with: become a succesful singer-songwriter and actor. After she uploaded a mashup of Tareefan from Veere Di Wedding on her Instagram page, she caught actor Sonam Kapoor’s attention.

She was invited to fly down to India and record the reprise version of the song. As the cliché goes, she hasn’t looked back since. The past few months have been feeling surreal, she admits; her debut album Sorry I’m Late, followed by her acting debut in the web series Call Me Bae, both of which released earlier this year.

Her musical repertoire now includes a number of Hindi songs, including Chandigarh Mein from Good Newwz and Nain Taa Heere from Jugjugg Jeeyo. She has also delved into non-Hindi film music with singles and collaborations with artistes such as Badshah and Prateek Kuhad

“I started auditioning in 2018, soon after I moved to India, but I needed time to become fluent in Hindi. I composed and released my first album only this year because I wanted to be confident enough about my work before putting it out there.

I think I’m an expert at being patient at this point. It is also a good reminder that everything happens when it’s supposed to,” the singer says, recalling how she would often joke with her team that she has been swimming for a long time, but hasn’t had the chance to float. “I finally feel that is happening.”

She will next be seen in the Netflix romcom series The Royals, also starring Zeenat Aman, Bhumi Pednekar, Ishaan Khatter and Sakshi Tanwar. Mishra is excited about sharing screen space with such “heavy-hitters”. “There’s a lot of Indian royalty, beauty and grandeur in the series, and such talented actors.

I don’t know how I am here, but I am glad someone thought casting me was a good idea,” she laughs. The second season of Call Me Bae has also received the go-ahead from Amazon Prime Video, and Mishra hopes that her character, Harleen, continues to evolve and grow her sense of self-worth, and along the way if she finds a romantic interest who is easy on the eyes, even better so. In March next year, Lisa is slated to perform at the eclectic musical mega event Lollapalooza India 2025 to be held in Mumbai next March.

Does she prefer acting over singing? “I’m going to do it all!” Her benchmark of achievement is Diljit Dosanjh. “He’s a mega star in music and one of the most sought-after actors at the same time. I want to challenge myself to get to that position. It took him many years to get his breakthrough moment. I’m also going to be patient, keep my head to the ground, work hard and hope it lands,” she says.

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The New Indian Express
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