[100 Emerging Women Leaders] Meet Rianjali, who braved vocal cord polyps to work with musical maestro AR Rahman

For Rianjali, music has been a part of her daily life. A daughter of a psychologist and a renowned singer in Bangladesh, Rianjali’s father was well recognised by Bengali communities in New York City. She also performed for many years at various venues in Bangladesh.

“I grew up listening to Indian classical music, and it was something that I always wanted to do — something in singing,” says Rianjali. 

While her father was a musician, he was reluctant to allow Rianjali to pursue signing. 

“He was worried that I should not go through what he went through, like not getting paid enough, not being accepted, the industry being too harsh, etc. So, he never wanted me to pursue music full-time. But I would continue performing. I continued doing that for a while, but reality hit me when I was in college. Music has been a constant thing in my life, but I got a job with my degree in psychology,” Rianjali shares with HerStory. 

She says she got the best of both worlds. Seeing her mother’s work in psychology, Rianjali decided to pursue the subject. In fact, she also worked as a former domestic violence caseworker. 

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From a caseworker to working with AR Rahman 

“I saw women of different walks of life brave different challenges. I didn’t realise how important singing and music was for me. However, during college, I discovered that I got polyps on my vocal cords. Once I graduated, I barely had a voice. So I stopped singing for a while. I decided to pursue working as a case manager for a domestic violence nonprofit organisation. I lived with my parents, I was burning out at work, and to top it off, I wasn’t singing. It took a huge toll on me mentally and physically,” says Rianjali. 

Taking a step back, Rianjali decided to start working on her singing and songwriting. Around the same time, an acquaintance forwarded her music to AR Rahman, who, in turn, liked her work and invited her to India to work with him. 

“That was probably one of the most life-changing moments that I had because even while I was working as a case manager by the day, I was yearning for a creative pursuit. So I decided to take that leap of faith,” she says. 

Two days after she got this news, unfortunately, her father got into a huge accident and was initially paralysed. 

Months later, after his treatments went well, Rianjali told her father that she would still want to pursue the opportunity to meet AR Rahman. 

“This time, my father reacted to it differently. He had just gone through a major accident and was worried I might be taking a considerable risk. So he did not support my decision. Nevertheless, I still left. When I got to India and met A.R.R and his team of uber-talented producers and artists, my dream came true,” says Rianjali.

After AR Rahman, there was no looking back. Rianjali also got the opportunity to work with U2, Bishop Briggs, and Shawn Mendes, among others. 

Dealing with biases 

Being American born, many people would ask her “Do you sing in Hindi?” “Do you sing playback?” “If you’re not a playback singer, how did you end up coming here to sing for A.R.R,” etc. 

“I was overwhelmed because I was learning many new things. I was also in a lot of doubt, wondering “why am I here?” or if I was worthy of the opportunity,” she says. 

Rianjali adds that she was lucky enough to be surrounded by an incredible team that AR Rahman had handpicked himself. Despite that, she had to struggle with many male producers and companies run by males who either immediately undermined her or tried not to pay her. 

“I would not name any of them particularly, but there was a struggle manoeuvring my way through space, especially when it was new to me,” she says. 

Today, Rianjali is an independent artist, songwriter-singer, and even helps young singers. 

“If you push yourself and believe in what you do, everything will follow. Just take the first step,” Rianjali signs off.