No music to the ear, this!

Advertisement

Mona

Fresh battle lines are drawn, this time in the music industry! While Bollywood grapples with ‘nepotism’ charges, popular singer Sonu Nigam opens up another debate on music ‘mafia’ controlling creativity in the industry.

On Tuesday, Divya Kumar Khosla lashed back at the singer labelling him ‘thankless’ and accusing him of selling lies. Singers like Adnan Sami and Monali Thakur came in Nigam’s support.

Favouritism rules the industry. Ask Sukhwinder Singh and reluctantly he addresses the issue, “Nobody can stop a truly talented artiste.”

The Chaiya Chaiya singer feels there is an element of truth in Nigam’s charges, but he says, “Sonu Nigam’s half the fight is for the singers, while the other half is about a personal issue.” As for the charges about the music industry being run by mafia, he makes it point to see the competitive side of business. “The industry is controlled by producers, most of whom, except for biggies like YRF or Karan Johar, take money on interest to invest. They would want profit, so it’s not just the singers but also actors and directors who bring maximum returns, make it to their list.”

Any field is challenging, and so is the film industry. Sukhwinder says what matters is talent and one’s behaviour.

He recalls how despite being the number one playback singer, he had to go through a period of lull. “I believe in giving my best. For one compete year I was offered just three songs – Chak De India, Jai Ho and Dard-E-Disco. One fetched the Oscar and Grammy; and the other two got Filmfare awards.” Sukhwinder fails to understand the insider-outsider debate. “I came from Punjab to Mumbai. How can I be an outsider in my own country?”

Understand the industry

“Every once in a while there comes a time when there is a great empathy for artistes,” points out Dub Sharma of Gully Boy fame. “The labels are being questioned today but most artistes, who are in a hurry to be big overnight, overlook the details,” says Dub.

He says he is slowly getting the hang of the legal side of the business. “Music is an industry that works on the principle of supply and demand, but the current circumstances are unprecedented and one needs to adopt a fresh approach. In the last three months we have cried enough, courtesy corona, it’s time to help each other and come up with new strategies to meet the new challenges,” says Dub hoping social media debates will lead to constructive criticism.