When Melina Rai and Sanjeev Baraili revealed their engagement on the social media, they were well prepared for the response they would get on the inter-caste relationship. They had waited for about two years after the engagement to announcement their marriage.

They kept the love affair secret until the 2079 New Year. That was after 5 years of their love affair and 2 years after engagement

The inter-caste relationship between Melina Rai and Sanjeev Baraili has met with some harsh online response.
video report:

Love Story of Melina Rai and Sanjeev Baraili

Melina says that it is a “beautiful love story”. At first Melina met Sanjeev Baraili 12 years ago in Rock House Cafe in Ratopul. At that time Melina was doing her plus 2. She was a struggling singer at that time. Melina had a musical program at the cafe in which she was singing a duet song with popular singer Jagadish Samal. Sanjeev Rasaili was the guitarist in the program. Meilna remembers, “We just saw each other at that program. It was an attraction at the first sight.”

Melina liked Sanjeev’s eyes at that time. As she was little at that time, she wasn’t sure if it was a love or something else. After that they started talking to each other. As Sanjeev was 4 years older than Melina, he used to call her Nanu and Melina called him Dai. Both of them were struggling artists at that time. At that time, in around 2010, Melina didn’t have a mobile phone. Her aunt used to carry a Nokia phone. She used to call Sanjeev from her Aunt’s phone. Once Sanjeev called her to one of his shows. She liked his show and later Melina became popular and she was busy in her career. Sanjeev and Melina stopped seeing each other for a long time.

After not seeing each other for about six years, when they both were successful in their respective careers, Melina was surprised when she met Sanjeev again in a recording studio. Both Sanjeev and Melina were surprised to meet each other in 2017. Whenever they met after that, they only had formal talk. Both were busy in their own field. One day, when Melina heard a nice song of a movie and asked who did the arrangement of the song, she was surprised by the answer. It was Sanjeev Baraili. After that, she asked for Baraili’s number and called him. That was how they reconnected. Melina wanted Sanjeev to do arrangement for her song too.

Melina says that she was attracted to the humbleness and down to the earth behavior of Sanjeev Baraili. Melina says, “Once in an interview I had told that I will either marry a player of a guitarist, now it has become true.”

Sanjeev and Melina had been in relationship for the last five years. He calls her GV, a short form of Golden Voice. Later he started calling her Babu.

Melina used to tell everything about her relationship to her younger sister. The sister in-turn would convey the relationship to their parents. Melina’s family was fully supportive. In Sanjeev’s side, they were very welcoming to a Rai girl. In fact, Sanjeev’s parents had an inter-caste marriage. His mother is a Gurung.

Malina and Sajeev got engaged two years ago and waited for the right moment to release the engagement photos. Malina says that they are going to get married soon. The exact date is yet to be finalized.

Who is Melina Rai ?

Melina Rai’s family is originally from Khotang. But Melina was born and raised in Darjeeling, India. Melina is the elder daughter among the two daughters of a well known musician, Jibesh Rai. Her father used to teach his daughter singing since their early age. He was a very strict father in terms of singing and music. The little girls had to wake up at 4 AM and start practicing singing. Now both Melina Rai and Junu Rai are well know singers.

The first recorded song of Melina Rai was recorded when she was 11 years old. The song titled “Himalko kaakh” was recorded and released in 2060 BS.

Five years after that, in 2065, Melina Rai took part in the National Modern Song competition organized by Radio Nepal. Melina won the nation-wide competition. That was a greatest milestone in her music career. Later in 2014, the Melina’s first solo album was “Bahar’ was released. Before that, she was already popular among Nepali listeners

Before that, she had done a playback singing for movie ‘November Rain’. The song titled, ‘Palbharmai Khusi’ was liked by the listeners and it was a hit song of that time.

The success of a “2 Rupaya” film song, ‘Kutu Ma Kutu’ has cemented her presence in the Nepali music industry. The song featuring the music arrangement of Sanjeev Baraili has been the most popular Nepali song in YouTube.

Who is Sanjeev Baraili?

A musician from Jhapa, Birtamod Sanjeev Baraili, got the taste of music when he was just 10 years old. That was the time when his elder brother started learning guitar. At that time, they didn’t even have a guitar at home but, that didn’t stop his brother to explain what a guitar is and how it produces music.

The elder would tell everything about guitar to his little brother. The 10-years-old Sanjeev would listen to his brother using the receiver of the landline phone as a mock guitar and produce fake guitar-music by his mouth. That tune was so interesting to Sanjeev that he later joined guitar lesson himself. That was the beginning of an extraordinary guitar musician of Nepal.

After Sanjeev completed his SLC (10th grade) examination, he moved to Kathmandu for further studies. He still didn’t have a guitar, when he saw a vacancy for a guitar player in a hotel. He did apply but, he was invited for an audition, he didn’t have a guitar to show his talent.

While looking for a guitar, he found a street singer with a guitar. He approached the singer and told about his problem. The musician agreed to sell his guitar to Sanjeev. He bought a guitar with weird stickers and black tapes all over it for Rs. 700. Although that was not a nice looking guitar, he used it for his job audition. That was how the musical journey of Sanjeev started. He later was successful in being featured at the iconic venue in the UK, the Royal Albert Hall.

For those who might be unsure, the musical magic of “Kutu ma Kutu” is one of the finest examples of the what Sanjeev Baraili can do to music industry.

Today, Baraili is considered one of the most prolific guitarists in the Nepali music scene. He is behind the catchy music behind the hits such as Kutu ma Kutu, a new version of Phul Butte Sari, Gojima Daam Chhaina, and many others songs. He had also performed in various stage shows in Nepal and abroad. One of the most notable performance was that at the Royal Albert Hall, an iconic venue in the UK.

He is also featured in Kripa Unplugged, a musical TV series, as a guitarist and the music coordinator.

While he was living in Jhapa he used to play rock based songs in his band Peace. Then he moved to Kathmandu and started playing guitar in Kathmandu hotel. He wasn’t even prepared to play for Indian songs and modern Nepali songs. All he knew was to play one Kishor Kumar song. But, helearnt fast and was loved by the performers of the hotel. The time he spent playing guitar in a hotel – eight years, was actually the training ground for him. The hotel band used to play ghazals of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Ghulam Ali and Manna Dey. Those melodious ghazals helped him to explore the melody and music. In addition to music, he has also started singing on his own composition. He also learned guitar with Gopal Rasaili, a well known guitar player.

Now, as he is marrying one of the top singers of our time, Melina Rai, a seasoned musician and a talented singer would make a great combination for Nepali music. Let’s hope more of Kutu Ma Kutu types of songs in future.
All the best to Melina and Sanjeev for their married life.