Mollywood sings out loud

If Mohanlal, Prithviraj, Fahadh Faasil and Dulquer Salmaan can do it, so can Jayaram and Murali Gopy. The actors are all set to sing a song in their upcoming films, Salaam Kashmir and Arun Kumar Aravind’s next project, respectively. Jayaram will be singing a duet composed by M Jayachandran along with Swetha Mohan, while Murali will be rendering the title song in Arun’s film.
The music directors of the films say that while making an actor sing is meant to attract attention, the actors are no less talented.“The title song in my film is a revolutionary song, which required a powerful voice. We knew Murali was a good singer but when the song finally came out, it was much better than any of us imagined,” says Arun Kumar Aravind, the director of the film.
Arun admits that there is undoubtedly an element of marketing strategy behind it, and the makers want the song to have something unusual and unique about it. “When an actor sings a song, he will be able to bring forth the emotion in it much better than a playback singer,” says Gopi Sunder, the music director of Arun’s film. “Murali has not just acted in the film, he has also scripted it. And his involvement is reflected in the song; he has done it with amazing energy,” he adds.
Gopi Sundar adds that they tap actors’ talents during such experiments. “For the film ABCD, I had initially wanted Mohanlal’s son Pranav and Mammootty’s son Dulquer to sing. That didn’t work out but Dulquer sang the song finally. It is only after he recorded the song that Dulquer himself realised that he is a singer!” he says.
The directors are unanimous in their opinion that it is the age of choices now. “While playback singing was the bastion of a handful of people earlier, now we have a profusion of talent,” says Gopi Sunder and further adds that technology has also played a major role here. “We use the immense possibilities of technology to make the rendering better; anyone can be a singer now!”
However, he is quick to point out that he won’t tweak a song or make it simpler for the sake of a singer. “At least, I have never done it. It is mostly a spur of the moment decision to try out an actor’s voice for a particular song,” he says.
Actor turned singers Mohanlal: Most famous for Attumanal Payayil in Run Babby Run Prithviraj: Most famous for Kaane Kaane in Puthiya Mugham Suresh Gopi: Music albums Fahadh Faasil: Pablo Neruda’s Death in Olipporu (upcoming) Dulquer Salmaan: A funky fusion song in ABCD (upcoming)