Singer-songwriter Monica Dogra, who appeared in the video of her own song "Secret sauce" along with Prateik Babbar, says that he is one of her favourite persons to collaborate with.

"I have endless love for Prateik Babbar. He was my first co-star, and I can truthfully say we grew up in some ways together! ‘Dhobi Ghat' took us a few years from start to finish. He is such a stunning man! He is kind and soulful, and he has retained much of that individuality that made him really stand out in the first place," Monica told IANS.

"Working with him on the 'Secret sauce' video made sense. I needed someone who I could feel natural chemistry with. We had time constraints around shooting the video with my tour schedule and the release schedule. He was an obvious choice. Everything flowed so naturally between us. There was a positive vibe on the set, one that was so sweet and honey loved-up!" she gushed.

The song is written and performed by Monica. She collaborated with the international beatmaker and soca music producer Keshav Chandradath Singh to create the number.

Monica has also appeared in films like "Rock On!!", "David", "The Spectacular Jihad Of Taz Rahim", and has hosted a music show titled "The Dewarists".

Asked about if the independent music scenario has improved or is it still dominated by the Bollywood music, Monica said: "I think that there is so much more independent music than there ever was before. The next step, though, is for us to feel the infrastructure in media and marketing of our music. So, that our reach extends as far as it can. Sterling Reserve Music Project is a massive step in that direction."

"Secret sauce" has garnered over five million views online. "I've never experienced such positive response to anything I've ever done! I am truly and deeply grateful. As far as expecting this response, one knows from experience to stay humble, but I knew I was in a solid place with this song when random people would hear me play the demo and take out their Shazam, or ask me which tune this was, because they wanted to add it to their streaming apps!" said Monica, about the response her new song is seeing.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)