Emergence of Playback Singers

The history of songs and music in Indian culture can be defined in just one word, glorious! We have already read and seen the rich traditions and the beauty of carnatic and Hindustani classical music. But if we look at popularity index then film songs rule the roost. These film songs are integral part of Indian movies. Indian movies thrive on film songs. It’s actually unimaginable to think of any movie without having dance and songs sequence in it. During the initial days the songs were sung by lead actors themselves. Playback singing was not known and technology for such was not available. But sooner than later, playback singing emerged and thus began a new era in the history of cinema and music. Both of them go hand in hand.

Amongs the initial legends, K L Sehgal can be said to be the singing and acting superstar. The previous generations used to feel nostalgic whenever they listened to the immortal song ‘Jab dil hi toot gaya toh’. This song was so deeply ingrained in the psyche of Indian public. Mr Sehgal was a great actor and also a singer of repute. He held sway with his brand of nostalgic songs. He also sang number of romantic songs but mostly he was phenomenal in tragic songs. His emergence paved new way for upcoming singers. His success and popularity among masses gave this belief that playback singing is an emerging and viable option for those who want to become singers.