Jonita Gandhi says industry people thought ‘firang hai toh easy hai’, recalls a composer messaged her to meet alone

Canadian singer Jonita Gandhi, best known for hits like The Breakup Song (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil) and Lagdi Hai Thaai (Simran), recently opened up about facing harassment and stereotyping after moving to India. In a candid chat with Hauterrfly, she revealed how her foreign background led some people to assume she was “easy.” (Also Read: Jonita Gandhi says playback singers don’t ‘always’ get paid in Bollywood: ‘I wish this wasn’t the case’)

Jonita Gandhi recalls being tagged ‘easy’ because she’s from abroad.

Jonita Gandhi on perception of her background

Speaking about the early days of her career in India, Jonita shared, “I think in the first couple of weeks when I came to India, I got a message. I’m not going to name the composer. I just wanted to meet for networking, and at that time, one or two of my YouTube covers had already gone viral—that’s why he knew who I was and how I looked, and so he was interested. I was chilling with my mum and he said, ‘Hey, do you wanna catch up?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m with my mum right now, tell us where to come.’ He said, ‘Oops.’ He wanted me to come alone. People thought because main bahar ki hoon (because I am and foreigner), I’m a little extra down. They thought, ‘Oh, she’s cute, she’s a foreigner. Firang hai toh easy hai (She’s a foreigner so, she’s easy).’ That used to come up a lot—but not for too long.”

Jonita recalls facing social harassment

Jonita also spoke about being harassed on social media. “Some things are kind of traumatic. On Instagram, you can check your mentions, and I’d see that I’d been added to someone’s Close Friends stories. Then I’m seeing it’s a d**k pic. It has a watermark with their thing and my photo in the background. It’s disgusting. It’s harassment. But I keep ignoring such things.”

About Jonita Gandhi

Jonita was born into a Punjabi family from Delhi, but her family emigrated to Brampton, Canada, when she was nine months old, and she was raised there. At the age of 16, Jonita applied for Canadian Idol but was rejected. Following this, she began posting YouTube covers from her bedroom, and several of her renditions of Bollywood songs—like Pani Da Rang, Tujhko Jo Paaya, Tum Hi Ho and others—quickly gained popularity.

Jonita then got the opportunity to perform alongside Sonu Nigam on tour and eventually began her playback singing career with Chennai Express. She went on to collaborate with music composers like AR Rahman, Pritam, and Vishal-Shekhar, delivering multiple chartbusters and firmly establishing herself in the Indian music industry.