For years now, actresses and actors walk away with all the credit for hit songs. As actors, they tend to forget that they have not in fact, sang the song and thus many songs become a Kareena, Katrina or Kajol hit. The singer behind the song is simply forgotten. Ace singer Alisha Chinai has realized this and has now decided she has had enough; no more playback singing for her. She has explained her choice clearly. “Aishwarya and Katrina are beautiful women. But sorry, I didn’t enjoy watching them pretending to sing my songs Kajraa Re and Tera Hone Laga Hoon. It’s so ridiculous! Would you ever see Julia Roberts singing in Madonna’s voice? This practice of ghost voices just spooks me out. I can’t do it anymore. Sorry,” she said to a leading daily.
She went on to give more examples. “Who knows it is sung by Mamta Sharma? Everyone sees it as Malaika’s song,” she vented. And while she has no concrete solution for the problem, she feels that she cannot entertain the playback situation in India anymore. “Today things have come to such a pathetic and sorry state that no one knows the singers’ identity any more.Who knows I sang ‘Tera Hone Laga’ for Katrina and ‘It’s Rocking” and ‘Bebo Main Bebo’ for Kareena? In fact, many people think they sang these numbers,” a clearly livid Alisha said.
In the meantime, she intends on kick starting her non-film album career again hoping it will take off. And her message to music directors? “I won’t be exploited in this way. Pay me and give me my due credit. Or I am out of here.”
