Kumar Sanu says actors now decide who will sing songs: ‘Should get rid of this kind of interference’

Kumar Sanu has said that the singers that we have in the Hindi film industry are all very capable, but there is a lack of “great heroes”. He added that now actors interfere in the art of playback singing, and also get to decide who will do playback singing for them. (Also read: Kumar Sanu says interference from actors ‘is a big problem’)

Kumar Sanu ruled the Bollywood music scene in the 80s and 90s. He made his comeback with Ayushmann Khurrana-Bhumi Pednekar’s Dum Laga Ke Haisha in 2015.

Asked if he would like to fix anything in the functioning of the industry, Kumar Sanu told ETimes that there is a lack of good composition, lyrics and “great heroes” that need to be fixed. He also said that the singers are all very capable, but their potential is not being exploited fully. “Our generation was lucky that we had all of the above. If our music directors today focussed less on turning towards the West and focussed more on our Indian music culture, we’d be able to better ourselves. The power should rest with the experts and not otherwise. Today, even actors are deciding which singer would do playback for them and we should get rid of this kind of interference.”

He also told the daily, “Today, music has become secondary, while it used to be a priority at some point. There’s so much overconfidence in contemporary filmmaking that at times they don’t even consider keeping good music. That’s a major reason why our industry is suffering.”

Having made his debut in 1984 as Sanu Bhattacharya, Kumar Sanu later changed his name upon suggestions from music composer duo Kalyanji Anandji. He sang for the Bangladeshi film Teen Kanya in 1986 and made his Bollywood debut in 1988 with Hero Hiralal. He soon became one of the most sought-after singers in Bollywood. He holds several hit music albums to his credit, including the ones for popular films such as Aashiqui, Saajan, Deewana, Baazigar, and 1942: A Love Story.

Kumar Sanu is said to have sung nearly 21 thousand songs in various languages, including Hindi, Assamese, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Nepali, Manipuri, Malayalam, Tamil, Punjabi, Telugu, English, Odia, and his mother tongue Bengali, among many others.