New Delhi: The young Sydney based Bollywood fan was hopping mad. “Hey, I love Bollywood movies and rock with my favourite stars, but some things suck. As if dancing for their supper anytime, anywhere for megabucks was not gross enough, now these guys are leaping into croon mode with their god awful voices. What the hell is going on, man? Will someone please tell them to concentrate on their acting skills and leave singing to the playback specialists? Agreed, kick-ass technology can even make mules sound like musical masters, but for Christ sake, gimme a break.”
The 18 year old kid had just seen and heard Farhan, Hrithik and Abhay in ZNMD (Senorita) and… lost it. He was also real pissed off when he heard that there’s more to come.
Actually it was Big B who started it all, way back in the eighties with ‘Mere angnay mein’ in ‘Lawaaris’. Thereafter, ‘Rang barse’ and ‘Neela asman’ (Silsila), ‘Mere paas aao’ (Mr Natwarlal), ‘Main yahan tu wahan’ (Baghbaan) are only some of the numbers the big man lent his rich voice to. Other superstars who followed suit included SRK with ‘Apun bola’ (Josh), Aamir Khan with ‘Khandala’ (Ghulam), Salman Khan with ‘Chaandi ki daal par’ (Hello Brother), Sanjay Dutt with ‘Ay Shivani’ and ‘I love you bol dal’ (Khubsurat and Haseena Man Jayegi), Vinay Pathak with ‘10 Rahi’ (Bheja Fry 2), Abhishek Bachchan with ‘Right here, right now’ (Bluffmaster) and ‘Thayn Thayn’ (Dum Maro Dum), and of course not forgetting Amitabh Bachchan not only singing the title song in ‘Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap’ but also voicing the sounds of 12 musical instruments.
What’s going on? Now word is out that Rajnikanth too will sing in ‘Kochadaiyaan’. ‘Diversification’ programme of actors determined to fly beyond their core competence area? What’s the big idea and what do they hope to achieve? Are they not diluting their basic talent and agenda by straying into unfamiliar territory, without knowledge or training?
Spectators are amused at these anxious queries and invite us to chill and go with the flow. Movies, they remind us is primarily about fun and entertainment and echo the words of the great Hollywood director Billy Wilder, “If you are looking for art, go buy a Picasso. If you are looking for a good time, step in.”
Stars singing are fun, so what’s the big deal? Music director Shankar Mahadevan (who was said to have persuaded Hrithik, Farhan and Abhay to warble in ZNMD) is first off the block and insists that he did so because their voices offered the jaded movie-goer fun, a refreshing change and a definite sense of credibility relating to the scene, character and situation. These are close buddies out for masti, so going natural spices up the scene, big time.”
While Farhan was cool (he had sung in ‘Rock On’ and loves music), Hrithik was hesitant after his disastrous effort in his dad’s dud ‘Kites’ and Abhay was plain terrified. However, he was told to ‘just do it’ your way and ‘we will tweak it’ and in the end, it wasn’t all that bad at all, hai na?
Why this sudden craze to get stars to sing? Or is it yet another promotional gimmick in a competitive environment? Mahadevan replies in a flash, “Sure, a sales gimmick… and what’s wrong? Today, all new products need a buzz, edge and something novel, fresh and unique to break the clutter. What better than getting popular and loved stars to climb out of their comfort zones and adventure into a new experience? It is fertile ground for readymade curiosity, excitement and buzz… must haves in today’s crowded, parity-filled movie scene.”
Music director Vishal Dadlani agrees and adds his bid. “It’s also about lending a realistic touch in a movie environment, often determined to embrace larger doses of realism.”
So, does the move sound the death knell for Shann, Shreya, Sonu, Sunidhi and gang? Not really, say critics, although the new age stars do believe that their effort ‘is about adding value to the song, character and scene in terms of authenticating the overall impact something that professional singers can never hope to do.’
On close inspection, this explanation is not totally baseless as ‘Rock On’ and ‘ZNMD’ illustrates, but bombs bad with Hrithik in ‘Kites’, SRK in ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ and Neil Nitin Mukesh in ‘Jail’. However, in all truth, none of these guys ever pretended to be a KL Saigal or Kishor Kumar and considered this voice picnic as part of their job.
Interestingly, this aspect seldom happens with the heroines and no real effort seems to be initiated towards reviving the era of the singing heroines like Nur Jahan and Suraya. Way back when southern siren Sridevi ruled, she was made to belt out ‘Chandni, o meri Chandni’ in the 1989 Yash Chopra hit of the same name.
Earlier in 1983, ravishing Rekha attempted to go on a similar route, persuaded by R.D, with ‘Kal toh Sunday ki chulti hai’ in the film ‘Agar Tum Na Hote’. In 2004, Kareena Kapoor went full-on experimental, climbing on to Govind Nihalini bandwagon in ‘Dev’ and attempting to cutely croon ‘Jab Nahi Aye’.
Madhuri and Priyanka reportedly were also invited to go the singing route, but they politely declined. Explains a close Bollywood tracker, “It’s funny, but despite all the recent hullaballoo about the return of woman-centric movies and heroines re-entering centrestage, how many heroines have been invited, coaxed or persuaded to sing? None. Why? Sexist as it may sound, the bitter truth is that despite a ‘Dirty Picture’ or ‘Kahaani’ making waves, can Vidya hope to match the fire power of a single Khan in popular imagination? Hence cute indulgences like singing and similar frills are okay for them for the excitement factor and even if it backfires, no big deal because their basic dazzling and seductive star-value is firm and strong.”
Maybe, but a little more presence of heroine item singers would be more than welcome, right? How about starting out with the delectable, cutie-pie Katrina Kaif crooning something in her sweet, heavily accented phirang hindi ? Let’s go, Chikni Chameli.
Comments
0 comment