Dot in Bollywood: Meet Aditi Saigal, who plays Ethel Muggs in The Archies

(April 12, 2024) Aditi Saigal’s voice still carries the innocence and charm of youth, which might be what drew director Zoya Akhtar to her music in the first place. Although the director had reached to Aditi about her music, the young singer-songwriter, who goes by the name ‘Dot’, was offered the role of Ethel Muggs in Akhtar’s musical, The Archies. With her unique voice, as well as her musical style steeped in jazz, which is reminiscent of Lana Del Ray, KT Tunstall and her biggest inspiration, Peggy Lee, Saigal had already begun to make a name in indie music circles by the time, and Akhtar had been following her music for a long time by the time she approached her.

Being cast in a film with Bollywood’s biggest star kids, catapulted Saigal into the limelight, and she is still learning how to deal with fame. However, it did open up a new, unplanned avenue – acting, for the young woman who had always thought her life lay fully in music and songwriting. In December 2023, she released her album, Practice Rooms, comprising some of the songs that had caught Akhtar’s attention. Interestingly, she released them raw, without having them re-recorded or re-mastered in a professional studio. Recorded at the practice rooms in the University of Bangor, Wales, where Saigal was studying music, the songs retain their rawness and the imperfections which, Saigal believes, make them so special in the first place.

A childhood filled with music

Saigal’s stage name, Dot, has its origins in her childhood. “My mum and I used to do these colouring books when I was young. I am a perfectionist and everything has to be in line and the colours had to be just right. My mum on the other hand would do dots around the page, or add little designs. When I would complain that she was ruining the picture, she would say, ‘a little Dot doesn’t hurt anyone and it adds so much to the picture’,” Saigal told NDTV.

The Saigal household was also filled with music, and both her parents are artists. Aditi’s father, Amit Saigal, earned the moniker ‘Papa Rock’ by the Indian rock community and was an Indian rock musician and a promoter of the genre too. He was also the founder of India’s first rock magazine, the Rock Street Journal. Her mother, Shena Gamat, is also an actress who appeared as Chanda Narang, a wedding planner, in the 2010 film, Band Baajaa Baaraat. Aditi’s own journey with music began small, when students were asked to sing bhajans in school, she laughs. “It always starts like that! And I also used to sing Hannah Montana and Demi Lovato. At home, we had a lot of jazz greats, like Ella and Peggy (Lee) and Louis Armstrong.”

Jazz, and university life

That funnelled her into piano classes when she was young, “the typical tuition classes,” as she puts it. She also learned Hindustani classical, after her grandmother, and dabbled in the bansuri. Her greatest love, however, was jazz. She went on to study it at the University of Bangor in North Wales. “That was where I started to write music in earnest,” she said. “My family is pretty much all artists and they also wanted me to pursue what I wanted – which makes me very lucky, I’m aware of that.”

The move was a big deal. Saigal was finally living the independent life she had dreamed of, and, in the interest of a brand new start, began introducing herself as ‘Dot’. She would also head to the practice rooms to practice and record the songs she had written on her Motorola. “I didn’t put them up on Spotify and Apple or whatever also because they are old songs and as an artist you want to move forward.” However, the songs have finally made it to an album, Practice Rooms, which can be streamed on platforms like Spotify. “I didn’t want to edit or re-record because when you go to a studio the song loses its honesty and charm. And that’s what people connect with,” Saigal says, even if it is “scary to put those imperfections out there.” But then, she also doesn’t see herself as a musician in the technical sense. “I’m a writer,” she says instead. Now, with a backlog of some 150 songs, Saigal is working with musicians and producers and trying to think about how to push them.

She was still writing songs in college when she was discovered by Zoya Akhtar. During a Zoom call with Akhtar, where they were doing minor edits to her song, Assymetrical, for the film, Akhtar said, “Hey, do you act?” Saigal, who had no acting experience apart from the occasional school play decided to give it a go. “I called my mom and since she is in theatre, she gave me advice on how to read the script, timing and to go in well-rehearsed.” Around three rounds of audtions followed, all on Zoom, as Saigal was in the UK. “I had a toilet roll and I was using it as hair and a comb because that was the scene I had to audition for.”

The Archies

Saigal bagged the role and a place in the all-star ensemble cast, and found herself in a new world. She might have had a “tendency to seek the spotlight” (Interview by Verve magazine), but even so, this kind of attention took some getting used to. In fact, it threw her back in 2017 too, when at the age of 19, she uploaded Everybody Dances to Techno on social media, which went viral very quickly. And as always, fame brought new and added pressures – to put out new music, to find a style, to perform. The process was overwhelming, and Saigal retreated from her Instagram and her YouTube channel for a couple of years.

In 2021, Saigal returned with her EP, ‘Khamotion’, which features in The Archies. When the cast was finalised, including Dot as Ethel Muggs, the work began. This included year-long acting and singing workshops, which Saigal describes as an “intense boot camp.” She, Khushi and Agastya (Nanda) learned dancing on the job, while Suhana Khan (Betty) and Yuvraj Menda (Dilton Doiley) took to it naturally. “We were together the whole time, as a group,” she said.

“I had to learn on the job and it was really trying,” Saigal admits. “You know Suhana is the actual dancer. She is very good and Yuvraj is great.” Some of the cast members also had singing lessons, which Saigal didn’t need. The cast bonded well, playing music together on set because there were instruments around all the time. “We share a very close bond,” she says. “There is a certain intimacy you feel with your co-actors because we spent so much time together in close quarters and we were working towards something together, even when we all had different personalities.”  The intensive training sessions, she feels, only brought them closer together.

Photo: Dot / Instagram

Then came the promotions, which Saigal found she enjoyed. “I honestly thought I wouldn’t enjoy it but I did up doing so. When you’re filming, you’re wearing the character’s clothes. But promotions are a different thing because I get to be Dot.” Although she admits she doesn’t know too much about fashion, she enjoys it. “When they put new clothes on you that you wouldn’t have chosen for yourself, I felt like I was slipping into a new character every time. You have to embody the skin of what you’re wearing.”

The aftermath of fame

This kind of fame also comes with challenges and most artists find themselves at a crossroads between the popularity of the crowds and what they truly love. Can a middle ground be achieved? Saigal fits firmly into a little niche, with her jazzy sound and her slightly vintage preferences. And, as she now hopes to act more, can she bridge this gap? Is it a gap she even wants to bridge? “If you’re doing work to please someone you have already missed a step,” she said. “If you’re doing good work you will connect with someone. You don’t really need to connect with everyone.”

Follow Dot on YouTube.