Are lip-syncing songs a thing of the past? Lalit Pandit, Kavita Krishnamurthy discuss

There was a time when ghost-voicing or lip-syncing defined every emotion in our films. If it was an emotion, there had to be  a song, so much so that when Rajesh Khanna heard that Manna Dey’s imperishable melody Zindagi kaisi hai paheli was going to be used as background song for the opening credits of Anand, he requested director Hrishikesh  Mukherjee to film the song on the superstar.

Lip-singing seems to have been completely obliterated from the grammar of Hindi cinema.

One reason for this is that the big-name actors often like to sing their own songs.

Says composer Lalit Pandit, “Actors have always been fascinated with singing and have always tried their hands at it, usually with unsuccessful results previously, except for few, who actually did sing without the vocal being tuned were, as I remember them. Amitabhji, Govinda, Aamir Khan (for the Khandala song) Sanjay Dutt forAye shivani in Khubsoorat! Amitji has sung some of the songs that he did sing very well, like Mera paas aao in Mr Natwarlal. In recent years though, since the voice is absolutely tunable, every other actor is trying her or his hand in singing and successfully. But singing is a very specialised art. There are a lot of factors and nuances involved in it and I think it should be left to the professionals who have dedicated their lives to achieve the perfection that is needed to deliver a composition.”

Lately, stars who can’t sing to save their lives have also joined the chorus.

Explains singer Kavita Krihnamurthy, “Pitch-correction technology and auto-tuning and singing short phrases and word by word makes singing easy for people who haven’t had formal training or even non-singers.”

Poet-lyricist Prasoon Joshi feels this is a passing phase, “Some of these things done in the name of music should be just called amusement not music. In my opinion it’s a transition phase there is no alternative to the great voices, great poetry and compositions, our audience knows the difference.”

Composer Shantanu Moitra agrees. “It’s an all-time low for playback singing but it’s a passing phase, directors who know how to direct songs as a narrative have become scarce, there lies the problem”

Politician-singer Babul Supriyo had foreseen this undermining of playback singing. “I had predicted it many years back with super-conviction. Shaan and other colleagues are all aware of it and ironically, compliment me today for seeing the bleak future and near-extinction of playback singing. SUR used to be ISHWAR once upon a time in Mumbai, when divinity in singing existed in the form of Kishore/Rafi/Lata/Asha and other great singers till about 2005, after which, mediocrity, aided with software like Antares & Melodyne, set in to finally destroy the indispensability of ‘Good’ singers.”

Babul recalls being ridiculed for his opinion. “In a talk show with the late Rituparno Ghosh called Ghosh & Company, I was ridiculed by him when I suggested all of this.. I had also told them that not only vocals, but animation is going to be equally big if not bigger with animated characters would be capturing market very much like films with actual actors.. The success of James Cameron’s  Avatar proved my fears correct too. People cried to animated and computer generated emotions and facial expressions. With the exception of Arijit Singh and a few others, unfortunately today, good singing is not a prerequisite to success as a singer in films.”

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