her distinctly husky voice was the force behind mar jawan fashion shubhaarambh kai po che tooh goriterepyaar mein apart from crooning hits like aas pass khuda anjaanaanjaani rasiya kurbaan and criminal with akon in raone ahmedabadbornshrutipathak also dabbles in songwriting she wrote the lyrics for her songs paayaliya in anuragkashyapsdev d and mar jawan the classically trained singer is now straddling the worlds of bollywood playback and a jazzstyle ghazal band with equal panache her band guzzler with shrutipathak plays a blend of ghazals and contemporary music its the kind of music nonghazal listeners would enjoy without blinking an eye says shruti the lyrical content of ghazals has always inspired me our group plays classic and original ghazals live with jazz folk and soft rock sounds while her playback career continues shruti always wanted to do something interesting in the ghazal genre so i formed this band last year she says theyve been touring all over the country and are set to perform in mumbai at a ghazal festival tonight the gulzar fan tries to give each ghazal a distinct touch guzzler is my homage to him says the artiste who has performed alongside mehdi hassan and jagjit singh the classicallytrained singer took up playback singing when she moved to mumbai in 2008 i didnt know anyone in bollywood then by the grace of god i got a chance to work with composer duo salimsulaiman on mar jawan they believed i had the right voice to convey the emotions of the characters in the song the song opened the floodgates for me since then ive been lucky to have worked with amazing artists and composers like pritam vishalshekhar and himesh reshammiya i couldnt have asked for a better life says shruti she is currently working on a string of original nonbollywood songs