Actors singing occasionally is fine: Shankar Mahadevan
Singer-music composer Shankar Mahadevan, who has been a part of the Hindi film industry for almost three decades now, isn’t dismissive about actors trying their hand at playback singing.
He had made actors Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol sing Senorita in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), and is all for it, except one thing. “I’m not against one-offs (actors occasionally singing for their films), like the one time Hrithik and all came for one song in ZNMD. They are not singers, but they are just featuring in one song. That’s okay unless actors take themselves seriously and start singing in every film!” laughs Shankar. In today’s world, it has become absolutely necessary to market your product well and making stars sing a song is seen as a promotional strategy. Marketing, therefore, decides in what way the film will reach out to the public.
Shankar says that the music of the film, too, is affected by this. He says, “Only one or two songs are marketed aggressively, so other songs, though good, don’t stand a chance. For example, if I have six shirts with me, for you, and I show you only one, how will you know how good the others are? Therefore, you should know that even though other songs in a film album might be equally good, they don’t reach out to people.”
He adds, “This is also why other genres keep struggling because they don’t get funding or marketing. Good artists want to do Bollywood stuff, but motivation is not there.”
They [actors] aren’t singers, but they are just featuring in one song. That’s okay unless they take themselves seriously and start singing in every film! SHANKAR MAHADEVAN MUSICIAN