Bollywood is a big money-spinner, not Hollywood: Mouhini

PANAJI: Her popular number 'Senorita' from the film 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' in 2011 had the country swaying. The Latina had arrived in Bollywood. Carlyta Maria Mouhini says her career in Bollywood was never planned.
"I've never planned anything. I believe that it was meant to be. I never politicised my career. Since I'm a Brazilian, Portuguese is my mother tongue.Getting into Bollywood was like a kind of sudden break and never planned," she said speaking to ToI on Tuesday after her musical performance at the Campal ground.
Elaborating, she said "After watching my performance, Bollywood director N Chandra called me and I landed up with my first song, 'Excuse Me Kya Rey' for the film 'Style' in 2004.
"Then came the song 'Delhi ki Sardi,' the first item song as item songs started happening 6-7 years back," noted Mouhini.
"I then left and went back to Brazil where I studied mass communication. I came back in 2009 and found that the music scene had changed. There was more rock, western, beautiful fusion music with Indian melody intact," she said.
"My first song was 'Le Le Maza Le', from the movie 'Wanted' for which I won the IIFA award and the NBC best international singer award," she said adding "it was the first time in the industry that there was a Spanish song in a Bollywood film," disclosed Mouhini.
"Then came the song Senorita (where again I wrote the lyrics and sang the song) in the film 'Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara,' which became the biggest hit in 2011. So together with Sheila and Munni there was now Senorita," she said.
"The journey in Bollywood has been good... the Indian music scene has opened up. Bollywood is a big money spinner. The money is here not in Hollywood," she said.
She feels you need talent and USP together with complete faith in your work to make it big. "There is no shortcut to success. You need patience, tolerance and delectable tenacity and never ending hard work," she says.
Singing my debut hit song Senorita live in Goa was meant to be, says Mouhini.
She plans to continue with Bollywood for two more years, and then start releasing singles complete with Latin folk and fusion. Music has got no boundary.
Mouhini admires Julio Iglesias, Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan, Shakira and Juan. "I'm a Latina inspired by Indian spiritual music," she says.
Her next song will be for Dabaang 2 and will feature a song similar to Munni with a Spanish feel to it, she reveals.
On her life's ambition, she says she wants to take Latin indie folk fusion to the Grammys. "It is something which has not been done and nobody can do it... It will be different. It will have Indian, Konkani and Bengali Bhiu elements."
Talking about Goa, she feels the state is rapidly degrading and urges the people "to preserve Goan heritage."
"The last 3 years I am only seeing cement, high rise buildings. Where is the red soil? Where is the fresh air. This is not Goa. Sunburn is not Goa. Goa is music, carnival, sanaa, sorpotel," she concludes.