MUMBAI: Singer Akriti Kakar says that when she shifted to Mumbai from Delhi, her family was her biggest support. From her father leaving his business to support her dreams to her struggles to reach music composers, her journey, she recalls, has been a long and eventful one.

Akriti has lent her voice to songs such as "Aanan faanan", "Khuda-ya khair", "Iski uski" and "Saturday Saturday" amongst others. The singer, who shifted to Mumbai in the 2000s, tells IANS: "I have been very fortunate to be at the right place, at the right time and amongst the right. When I started it was very hard because there was no social media, there was no platform to put up a video and tag music composers and hope they would notice me. I was just a girl out of school who didn't even know whether the demo I carried was good enough. I used to sit all night with my father, pick up music directories and mark all the names I wanted to call with a highlighter pen."

Recalling how her family believed in her, Akriti says that while she at times had doubt on herself, her father didn't.

"My father had given up his business entirely to support my dreams. I felt that my father knew that I had the potential to do it but what if I did't? There was so much responsibility on my head but there was also no looking back. I had to stick to why we came to Mumbai and why he shut his business to come and support me. We just hoped that all these phone calls we are making, somebody on the other side would answer and call us to the studio," says Akriti who is currently seen in music reality shows as a judge "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa" Bangla and "Indian Pro Music League".

The singer further went on to recall how her expenditure was more and her earnings were less initially. However, she didn't give up.

"It was tough but God was kind and he gave us the courage. My mother was a music teacher in Delhi and raised my sisters. At the same time sending us money. It was a tough time but I think it gave me courage to not give up," says Akriti.