Let actors turn into singers, says Shankar

The singer-composer is in favour of actors singing but asks not to generalise.


Ians September 24, 2012

MUMBAI: Shankar Mahadevan is all for actors’ entering the singing arena, but the singer-composer says they cannot change the music scene of the country.

Actor Priyanka Chopra recently launched her international single “In My City” and actor Ranbir Kapoor also sang a few lines in a promotional video for his film Barfi!.

But Mahadevan says media shouldn’t base assumptions on “one-off cases”. “Sometimes an actor or an actress sings a song, but you can’t generalise. This is the question of the music of the country, don’t generalise this with that,” he said upon being asked if actors turning singers would lead to less scope for professional singers.

“If they are doing this job (singing), it’s fantastic. They are the icons of the country and they should do it. But that doesn’t mean they are going to change the music scene of the country,” the 45-year-old said.

Mahadevan is set to be a judge on the upcoming season of singing reality show “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2012”. He says unlike other shows, the judges’ panel will not showcase a contestant’s financial background for television rating points.

“We don’t see anybody’s financial status in this show. Some are from well-to-do families while some are from very poor families, this is not our criteria. We only see the singing talent, and like so many reality shows portray a contestant’s poor house and all which is not even true most of the times.”

“We are only looking for a good singer, whether it’s a male singer or a female singer,” said Mahadevan.

Besides him, composer duo Sajid-Wajid and bass guitarist of the band Indian Ocean, Rahul Ram completes the judges’ panel. The show is set to go on air on Zee TV from September 29.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2012.         

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