Jonita Gandhi and Anish Sood Roam Turkey in Search for Love on ‘Castles’

One of the most memorable, must-see sights of Turkey includes that of a few hundred (maybe more) hot air balloons filling the skyline. That’s the setting for producer Anish Sood’s collaboration with singer Jonita Gandhi–the well-paced, club-friendly love song “Castles.”

In a video directed by Milan-based Andrea Labate for their first collaboration together, Gandhi and Sood dress up in their finest and roam the town of Cappadocia, looking for each other. Gandhi says about the video, “I’d never been to Turkey before. We didn’t spend much time in Istanbul. We went to Cappadocia and I didn’t know that [hot air balloon rides] existed and it happened [there] every day.”

The song doesn’t stray too far from the formula of a good hit that can find its way onto playlists and dancefloors alike, a delay-laden guitar line laid over Gandhi’s sublime vocal melodies. Set up by both the artists’ respective management, Gandhi says she met Sood and heard a few of his track ideas and sessions born out of a songwriting collaboration the producer had taken on with Lesley Roy in Los Angeles. She says with a laugh that it’s a love song. “It’s about a girl who wants to run away with the guy of her dreams, somewhere far away, where they can live their own fairy tale as king and queen.”

The idea of working with Sood, of course, also came as an opportunity for Gandhi to take on non-Bollywood projects as a vocalist and return to singing in English for a change. She adds, “I’m working on my own songs and I thought this was a great gateway for me to get more into songwriting and working on my own material.” Will she perform “Castles” live with Sood? Gandhi certainly hopes so. She says, “We’ve spoken about it, but it’s about finding the opportunity. We just need to find a time when we’re both free or if I can come by to one of his shows.”

Watch the video for “Castles”