Ankit Tiwari: I nearly went into depression during lockdown

MUMBAI: Singer-composer Ankit Tiwari admits he almost went into depression amid the lockdown, which began in March due to Covid-19. He is now looking forward to fill in more positivity in his life.

When lockdown began, and everything came to a standstill, he thought he would get some time to rest.

"But no one knew that it would get stretched for so long and so many people would lose their lives. There are certain people about whom we all know... you know the celebrities and then there are others whom only we knew on a personal level. I lost some people close to me," Ankit told IANS.

"Depression ke aas paas tha mai (I nearly went into depression) during lockdown. But somehow I came out of it. My wife's dad's death recently happened. We were really disturbed by it. Later, my wife and I sat down and discussed that all of us will go away one day, so why not leave behind the good things," he added.

Lockdown also affected his creative process.

"As a creative person, to do anything I need to get inspired. With so much negativity around, it was difficult to get inspired and I was hardly able to work on music. It's not like I won't be able to compose songs ever. That was a different phase. This happened in between the lockdown. I don't want to talk about it. I didn't like it. I want to focus on the new Ankit, positive things, my music and my studio," said the artiste, known for songs such as "Sunn raha hai", "Galliyan", "Tu hai ki nahi" and "Mat ja re".

Now, he is looking forward to welcoming 2021 with open arms.

"I wish December passes by soon and I don't get to hear any bad news. I hope things improve. I hope we all start working like we used to (before the pandemic)," said Ankit.

Workwise, he has a lot of things in store.

"I worked on songs of 'Ek Villain 2' and some singles too. I am also focussing on my YouTube channel and 'Indian Pro Music League', which will be my first reality TV show," he shared.

Further talking about the upcoming show, he said: "I will be a captain of one of the teams. The format is quite different. There will be teams battling it out in a league format," said the singer, whose new romantic single "Taarifein" just released.

He also wants to dedicate more time to his personal life and hobbies.

"I haven't travelled much. Even if I have, it's for work or for performance. I haven't explored things. So once the situation becomes better, I want to travel and roam around because I don't know if I'll be alive tomorrow or not. God knows what will happen. So there are certain things that I want to complete," said Ankit.

As far as hobbies go, he shared: "There are two things that I really like to do. One is I like to watch horror films a lot. The other hobby is photography. I am also looking for a nice camera, so I want to travel and capture moments on my camera."