Sometime back, we had asked playback singers whether they felt insecure with more and more Bollywood actors taking to singing, and most were okay with that fact. They considered this new development to be a part of the Bollywood business that keeps changing with the times.
But this particular incident is definitely going to make them feel a bit demotivated.
The popular Hangover song from Salman Khan’s movie ‘Kick’ was originally sung by Sonu Nigam; the song was recorded almost a year back. But just before the movie was released, the song was re-recorded by Salman Khan and was used as part of the promotional strategy for the release of the movie.
The move worked well, even Salman’s singing abilities were appreciated, but the sad part is that sonu Nigam was not only kept in the dark about the development, he was not even paid for the song that he had recorded.
A source close to the production revealed, “Sajid Nadiadwala had approached Sonu to sing the number. They didn’t even discuss the remunerations as Sonu has sung several times in the past for Salman Khan’s films. After the recording, Sajid messaged him saying that the track has turned out well and that he couldn’t get the song out of his head. But, then, he was dropped and replaced by Salman.” Ouch, that must have hurt Sonu!
Sonu himself came to know about the development from the newspapers. “Yes, I had recorded this song last year. I wasn’t told that it has been dropped. I read it in the papers that Salman had sung it. I wasn’t even paid for it” the Kal Ho Na Ho singer said.
Well, with production costs going high, producers want to make sure they’re able to recover their investments, and are ready to try out various strategies. There’s no doubt that ‘Salman singing the Hangover song’ did help Kick, but it was definitely unprofessional to replace Sonu Nigam without informing him, and worse still, not pay him for his version of the song.
But the more important question is “Are the days of the Masters over in Bollywood?”. In the new scheme of things, is it better to be a ‘Jack of all Trades?’ Let us know your thoughts.
