19th September 2003

Singing scenario - then and now
There was a time when just one singer ruled the roost for many years at a stretch singing for all the heroes or heroines in almost all the movies. Ghantasala, SPB each had their own golden era where playback singing for heroes was synonymous with their names. Jikki, P Susheela, S Janaki and Chitra again had their own time frames capturing the hearts of music lovers solely with their syrupy voices. This trend continued till mid-nineties when music industry suddenly saw a gamut of new singers arriving and conquering the field that had never seen such an array of new talent before.

With the arrival of AR Rahman, music industry underwent a sudden yet drastic transition not only in terms of sound and orchestration but also in bringing many talented and new singers into the industry. Where almost each music album, until Roja, Premikudu had only one major male playback singer [SPB] and one major female playback singer [Chitra], albums that came after the super success of Rahman, saw as many as three to four singers on an average. Music directors slowly started to realize the need and necessity of introducing new voices. If you look at the music albums today, you rarely come across an album where all the songs are sung by just one singer [male and female]. Of course there are exceptions to this, at least with respect to female playback singers.

Playback singers
Usha, Kousalya, Sunitha, Sujatha, Sumangali, Shreya Ghoshal are the highly demanded female playback singers today apart from Chitra. There are also other singers like Ganga, Kalpana, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Malavika (of Gangotri) and Nithya Santoshini. When it comes to male playback singers, the major players these days, apart from SPB and Mano, are Rajesh, SP Charan, Mallikharjun, Tippu, Karthik, and KK. Added to this list are also the names of RP Patnaik, Chakri and MM Keeravani, who being the music directors, sometimes don't hesitate to take a major share of singing songs in their albums. Apart from the above people, there are other talented but less heard singers like Sandeep (Na Gundelo [Nuvvu Nenu], Naalo Nenu [Avunu Valliddaru Istapaddaru]), Partha Sarathi (Bangaram Techhi [Chiranjeevi's Iddaru Mitrulu], Allo Neredukalla Daana [Seenu]) and Ranjith (Adugadugu [Bobby], O o Sodara [Thottigang]). Giving stiff competition to the above male singers are Udit Narayan, Hariharan and Shankar Mahadevan, who are quite popular for their Hindi songs as well.

Paadamani nannadagavalena …
The competition in playback singing these days is enormous compared to the bygone eras where there weren't many singers available and even if they were available, music directors did not wish to experiment so much like today. While getting a chance to sing these days is easier than before, withstanding the competition and staying in the field not only demand talent but also luck and the ability to play your cards properly.

And why not? Lets take the case of male playback singers. A movie album these days comprises of six songs. Each album typically has a hero solo/introduction song which is sung by Shankar Mahadevan and/or Tippu depending on whether the hero is a top hero or a relatively new hero. Usually, one song is sung by a Bollywood singer. One song generally goes for the music director. So we are left with three songs. SPB and Mano are sometimes used for one song. Now, that brings the count to just two. (Or sometimes just greater than two). With just two songs at their disposal, what is the probability of a singer getting to sing at least one, if not more than one, song in an album?

Life for the female playback singers is not as complex as their male counterparts. Thankfully there aren't many female music directors in the industry and hence these ladies don't have to worry about competition for singing, from that quarter, unlike the male playback singers. With Chitra singing not more than one or two songs in the recent albums and with one song reserved for heroes, on an average, female singers get to sing about three to four songs in an album. Going by the trend these days, they usually they get a single card or sometimes they get to sing just one or two songs.

Is this asking for too much?
It's usually the music directors' decision (sometimes probably influenced by directors and producers) to choose particular singers for their songs. Of course they have the liberty to have their songs sung by any singer they like. But just like the way they make sure the singer is singing the song in a manner the music director wants to, it's the music director's sole responsibility to also make sure that singer is uttering the words, written with great care by the lyricists, properly.

What started off initially as an experiment to use a non-Telugu singer (mainly from Hindi) to sing Telugu songs has today become a 'variety inducing' element for many music directors who have used that practice to exasperating effect. It goes without saying that most of these singers are extremely talented and quite popular. But going by the way they sing Telugu songs, it looks like they cannot devote enough time to actually learn the correct pronunciations of the words and sing them with proper intonation.

What was once a popular technique, to rope in all these popular singers to sing songs in one album for cashing the fancy of music lovers, is no longer necessary to make people grab the music albums with great enthusiasm. With the growing popularity of private albums and with the advent of many music channels, people are not hesitating to listen to the albums of new singers. As long as the singer's voice is soothing and offers something new, people have no qualms in encouraging him/her.

So, music directors might as well encourage local talent or better yet, singers who can sing songs, with not just pleasant renditions but also proper pronunciations. Not that we have a dearth of talent here that music directors need to invite people, with all expenses paid stays and high remunerations, for singing songs in languages alien to them. Instead why don't they use singers available readily who come without any strings attached? Is this asking for too much? Haunting tune, beautiful words, pleasant rendition might make a song popular. But when coupled with proper pronunciation the same song becomes perennial.

Well...
Gone are those days where singers could dream of singing all the songs in an album. Gone are the days where people look back and talk about the present day singers with the same awe as they do about Ghantasala, SPB, Susheela, Janaki, Chitra. Of course, present day singers don't enjoy the same privileges and gargantuan opportunities that the yesteryear's singers cherished. But today music directors are experimenting and using a lot of new voices. In this field of singing, every voice, reaching out to an avid listener and touching his/her heart, is a winner. And these winners should take pride in their achievements, lifting cups of quality rather than quantity.

-Sreya Sunil

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