Watch NIMBU Reference Old-School Bollywood in New Video For ‘Eleventh Hour’

Growing up near Seattle in the U.S., New York City/Bengaluru-based singer-producer and visual artist Anisha Vora aka NIMBU began taking vocal lessons as a kid and soon grew passionate about music during her high-school years. “As a desi kid growing up in a predominantly white community, I was really fascinated by M.I.A. as I had never seen an artist who looked like me in the west,” says Vora. The singer also involved herself within the local music community in Seattle. She says, “Working with the iconic Seattle institution instilled in me a sense of pride in the revolutionary role Seattle artists have played throughout the decades, from Jimi Hendrix to Nirvana and Pearl Jam.”  

With a few singles already out under her pop-sounding moniker Madverb, Vora underwent a bit of self-discovery over the last year. She says, “That forced me to re-evaluate my process of making music and reflect on what I was holding back in that project.” With a notion to embrace her Indian heritage, the artist now has a new avatar called NIMBU. “[This is] my late-20th century Bollywood-inspired project that traverses a variety of genres, from neo-soul and hip-hop to disco-house.”  

The first track to come out of the NIMBU repertoire is the nu-disco, Bollywood-inspired offering called “Eleventh Hour.” Vora expressed that she suffers with attention deficit disorder and that writing the song was therapeutic. Through the track, the artist sings about her personal experience of growing up Indian in the U.S. She adds, “‘Eleventh Hour’ speaks to how I have finally come to embrace my Indian identity after wasting my adolescence trying to minimize it.” Sonically, the song includes an electronic undertone while trumpets and violins create a fusion sound with the pumpy percussion as NIMBU’s exquisite vocal delivery adds to the sublime concoction. “The track also features my layered interpolation of the 1986 Bollywood classic, ‘Zindagi Ki Yahi Reet Hai,’ reflecting in Hindi how victory only comes after defeat,” says Vora.  

NIMBU worked with Bengaluru-based filmmakers Anurag Baruah, Bhavya Pansari and Aatish Sarkar from Roznama Films on the song’s music video. The singer is seen onscreen running across Indiranagar in a bid to reach a party before midnight. She says, “We filmed a music video that brings a myriad of old-school Bollywood references to the setting of modern-day urban India. The video hopes to reclaim the narrative around showing up at the last minute and reminds viewers of the timeless proverb, ‘It’s better late than never.’” 

With more singles on the way as well as an album in the pipeline, there’s plenty more to look forward to from NIMBU. More visuals with the team at Roznama Films is also in the works. “I have been shooting some tongue-in-cheek music videos inspired by classic Bollywood films and I’m excited to share these with the world over the coming months.” 

Watch the video for “Eleventh Hour” below: