Playbacks leave no impact now, says Shaan

Bollywood playback singer Shaan says movie songs used to serve as an escape from reality for people but they have now lost that charm and in the process also their recall value. The voice behind countless hits such as ‘Tanha Dil’, ‘Musu Musu Hasi’, ‘Jab Se Tere Naina’ and ‘Chand Sifarish’, the singer believes the admiration for film songs is shrinking due to the realistic cinema that has emerged in recent years, according to a report of Indian Express.

“When I was doing movie songs, they had a longer life and there was likeability for those songs. Whenever there was a pure romantic situation in the movie, the hero was lip-syncing. Whether it was realistic or not was another thing. But ever since the songs are becoming more realistic, it is difficult for filmmakers to accept the Shah Rukh (Khan)-kind of songs, which were about spreading arms and singing anywhere. Luckily, I was the one of the last who enjoyed that phase where songs used to be picturized in a big lush way,” Shaan told PTI in an interview.

The 49-year-old musician said ’90s songs still enjoy a great recall value and it is because they were not peppered with realism.

“Films then had nothing to do with being realistic. There were action films and had a hero, heroine, who would sing songs (in between), and again there was action. There were typical lyrics, romantic songs and those kinds of songs are not being made now. Today, in big films, the songs mostly play in the background. They are not making that impact. Besides, there are quirky songs being made today which have weird words and voices. Even though you listen to these songs from big hit films, you still don’t remember. Film songs are killing themselves because of that,” he said.

Today, film songs are getting fewer views than non-film songs, Shaan believes giving the example of B Praak’s track ‘Filhaal’. The song, which featured Akshay Kumar, has over 1 billion views on YouTube.

In terms of film songs, the singer said the only track that received a lot of love from music aficionados in recent times was ‘Tu Kethe Chaliye’ from Sidharth Malhotra-led ‘Shershaah’.