Are Jubin Nautiyal and Sri Lanka’s Yohani Teaming Up for a New Song?

It’s coming up on a year since Sri Lankan singer-songwriter and rapper Yohani released her resplendent version of “Manike Mage Hithe,” which released with a music video in May, took over social media platforms and even got the artist her own India tour a few months later.

As it turns out, Yohani is now in Mumbai writing and working on future material with her band members. Earlier today, the artist posted a photo of her meeting with singer Jubin Nautiyal, one of the country’s leading hitmakers. “Lovely meeting and jamming with you,” Yohani said, posing with Nautiyal.

Apart from a seemingly shared affinity for adventure boots, Yohani and Nautiyal — who skyrocketed to fame after singing on “Rataan Lambiyan,” composed by Tanishk Bagchi and featuring Asees Kaur for 2021 Bollywood film Shehrshaah — are also seen jamming. While the sound is absent from the video, Nautiyal is playing guitar and singing to Yohani, who seems to be figuring out a melody as they go along.

It’s led fans and the Internet at large to speculate that there might be a mega collaboration in the works between the pair. While Yohani did immediately snap up an opportunity to be part of a Bollywood soundtrack with her version of “Shiddat” from the movie of the same name, she has expressed an interest in working in the Indian film music space. “Shiddat was a bit difficult because they told me I need to send the song in two days. I spent the entire day trying to record it. I tried it four times and then I spoke to Sonu who manages me in India. He went through each word with me. I was driving at that time. I stopped the vehicle and started writing everything down. That’s how ‘Shiddat’ happened. I know I didn’t get it entirely right. But maybe in the future I’ll be able to,” Yohani told The Indian Express.

Even as “Manike Mage Hithe” stands at 213 million views on YouTube and has racked up over 30 million streams on Spotify, Yohani has been releasing her own songs across languages and styles. These include “Rider Fighter,” “Moving On” and most recently, “You’re My Paradise,” which released in March. It arrives at a time when her home country Sri Lanka has been in economic and financial shambles, which has led to social strife as well.

Nautiyal, for his part, released his non-film song “Mast Nazron Se” and was recently part of the soundtrack for Bollywood film Attack, singing on “Ik Tu Hai,” which was composed by Shashwat Sachdev.