Film music hardly producing big singing stars today: Shaan
Mumbai: The Indian music scene is undergoing a change and an artiste today doesn’t have to depend on films to become popular, said singer Shaan. The vocalist, who broke onto the indie pop scene in the late 1990s with albums ‘Love-ology’ and ‘Tanha Dil’, said that it seems to be the age of rappers or musicians like Guru Randhawa, Neha Kakkar and Badshah.
Arjit Singh is the ‘last big exponent’ to come from films, he said.
“All the big names today in music are either rappers or they have their own brand of music styles. Arijit Singh was probably the last big exponent who came in from film music. But a lot of them first got popular doing their own non-film music, like Guru Randhawa, Honey Singh, Badshah and King. But today, film music is hardly giving you the big singing star,” Shaan told the top news agency.
The 51-year-old playback singer, known for film songs ‘Musu Musu Haasi Deu’, ‘Woh Ladki Hai Kahan’, ‘Chand Sifarish’ and ‘Jab Se Tere Naina’, said that it’s difficult to make fans listen to his non-film music.
“The only thing is that for a singer like me, whose branding has become that of a Bollywood singer, it’s very difficult to get out of that and for people to start listening to my non-film songs. But for others like Neha Kakkar, who came in from social media and then started getting their film songs... Today, the music scene is changing, as a singer doesn’t have to really rely on film music to become popular,” he added.
Shaan also said that he feels ‘underutilised’ in Bollywood.
“Sadly, in the last 10 to 15 years, I’ve been much underutilised and not been a part of those big Bollywood songs, like I used to be. But at the same time, this could be of help. When you are constantly on a roll, there’s no time to introspect and work on your skills. You tend to keep going with the flow. At some point, you realise you’re becoming mechanical and redundant. So, I take this break, this little getaway, as a good thing that I get to work on my skill sets.”
