For quite some time now, actor Dhanush has stopped attending shows, especially outside of south India. The reason being, he would invariably be asked to sing `Kolaveri di'. The National award winning actor was clearly not amused by how people from the north of the Vindhyas viewed his talent rather unidimensionally.
But be that as it may, 'Kolaveri di' was the first major superhit foray by a mainstream actor into playback singing. Not that actors before Dhanush haven't displayed their musical talent. Actors like Kamal Haasan and Amitabh Bachchan have done so with success but never did any song go viral in the manner that `Kolaveri di' went. Of course, the day and age and social media played a critical factor.
Now Dhanush has crossed the border into Andhra and Telangana by singing the title track for Sai Dharam Tej's `Thikka' that releases on August 13. This is the first time Dhanush is lending his voice for a Telugu actor. In fact, the movie has created a buzz about itself with another Tamil actor Simbu crooning for another song for Tej, who happens to be Chiranjeevi's nephew. Simbu, like Dhanush, too has hit songs like `Loosu Penne' and `Diamond Girl' to his credit though he got into quite a spot of legal bother with his Beep Song.
Understandably 'Thikha' producer Rohin Reddy is ecstatic at the playback singing coup. "Dhanush and I have common friends. He happened to hear the song which was recorded with a scratch voice. He liked the song so much that he offered to sing it. It definitely makes an impact on the movie given that he comes with the 'Kolaveri' reputation. Also when one actor sings for another actor, it conveys a sense of unity in the film industry,'' says Reddy.
With technology helping even untrained and not so perfect voices sound good, more and more actors are deciding to be their own playback voice.
Salman Khan, the Sultan of Bollywood, took to crooning, singing first for himself in the `Hangover' song in `Kick'. He followed it up by singing in Sooraj Pancholi starrer `Main hoon Hero tera'.
Possibly the biggest chartbuster song of an actor in recent times was that of Junior NTR singing the foot-tapping `Follow Follow me' song, composed by Devi Sri Prasad in 2016's Sankranti release `Nannaku Prematho'. He followed it with making Kannada star Puneeth Rajkumar lip sync to his voice in his 25th movie 'Chakravyuha'. This week, both songs won NTR the Mirchi Music award in the `Star as a singing sensation' category. Watch out for more of NTR in a musical avatar.
Inspired by Santhosh Narayanan's musical success with 'Kabali', Tamil star Vijay has now decided to sing a `Neruppu da' like number composed by Santhosh in his next untitled film. Telugu star Nagarjuna got behind the microphone too for 'Nirmal Convent', singing a song originally sung by AR Rahman's son Ameen. "I just got hooked on to this beautiful love song and decided this is the song I should croon in my own voice. I loved the way it shaped out,'' says Nagarjuna.
Those in the movie business say actors may soon push professional playback singers out of business, gimmicks in the music studio help sell music albums. It becomes double ka dhamaaka when an actor sings for another actor, as fans of both stars help boost the sales.
