MONICA SHARMA DOGRA
Monica Sharma Dogra is a Maryland raised musician, daughter of Kashmiri immigrants, who grew up listening to Hindu devotional songs, ghazals, and the Bollywood hits of Lata Mangeshkar. After winning a competition at the age of 16, she debuted at Carnegie Hall and then went on to graduate from NYU’s prestigious music performance program – which catapulted her to appear in the New York Theatre Circuit doing both plays and musicals. She then found herself in India, while recording a solo-project with Andre Bettes in New York City, the producer of Madonna’s Immaculate Collection. It was there she met her music partner Randolph Correia and formed the band Shaa’ir + func. (S+F for short). S+F has been named one of India’s favorite bands by VH1 and played at some of the biggest festivals in the world, such as The Big Chill (UK), MIDEM (France), Glastonbury (UK), OYA (Norway), c/o POP (Germany), Indian Music Fest (Holland). S+F has written and released four albums and critics have called them “the undergrounds most promising collaboration” and “the best thing to happen to Indian Rock music”.
As a solo artist, Monica Sharma Dogra, whom fans also know as Shaa’ir, is a spoken word performer, an active dancer, as well as an actor. Her newest projects include a lead role in Bejoy Nambiar’s critically acclaimed film, David, Sabal Singh Sheikhawat’s debut film “Fireflies, a principal role in Kiran Rao’s directorial debut, “Dhobi Ghat” alongside Aamir Khan, which received 4/5 stars by the Toronto star after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, appearing in concert with the legendary AR Rahman, singing the title track for the film “Break Ke Baad” with Vishal/Shekhar, and presenting three seasons of the Cannes nominated TV Series “The Dewarists” which aired on Star World networks in Asia.
In 2015 she judged India’s first-ever singing talent hunt show titled ‘The Stage’. Shortly after which she released her debut solo album titled ‘Spit’ that featured collaborations with artists from around the world such as Robot Koch (Germany/LA), Prash ‘Engine-Earz’ Mistry (UK), Gaurav Raina (India) to name a few.
DISCOGRAPHY
“New Day: The Love Album” – Shaa’ir + Func 2006
“Light Tribe” – Shaa’ir + Func 2008
“Mantis” – Shaa’ir + Func 2010
“Align” – Shaa’ir + Func 2014
“Spit” – Monica Dogra 2016
“See Me Now” – Monica Dogra 2018
FILM
Dhobi Ghat (2010)
David (2012)
Fireflies (2013)
Relapse (2014)
The Spectacular Jihad (2015)
Teraa Surroor (2016)
HOST
The Dewarists on Star World
Woman on Viceland
DESIGNER
Stylista
JUDGE
The Stage
BRAND ASSOCIATIONS
Audi
Oil of Olay
Bblunt
FEATURED
“Finger Puppets” -Shiva Sound System
“Mumbai Cells” – Shiva Sound System
“Time Stretch” – “Petri Dish” – Ashutosh Pathak 2010
“Wasted” – “Petri Dish” – Ashutosh Pathak 2010
“Peek-a-boo” – “Cinema” Karsh Kale 2010
“Lover” – Bandish Projekt
“Time To Restart” – Grain
COLLABORATIONS / APPEARANCES
The Grain Project
Bandish Projekt
Midival Punditz
Humble The Poet
Shri Sriram
A.R. Rahman in Concert for “Rock Star” the movie
La Pongal
Awards
Best Vocalist 2010 – Jack Daniel Rock Awards
Best Supporting Actress Nominee – Filmfare Awards 2012
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