Let actors turn singers, says Shankar Mahadevan

Shankar Mahadevan is all for actors entering the singing arena, but the singer-composer says they cannot change the music scene of the country.

Actress Priyanka Chopra recently launched her international single "In My City" and actor Ranbir Kapoor also sang a few lines in a promotional video for his film "Barfi!".

But Mahadevan says media shouldn't base assumptions on "one-off cases".

"Sometimes an actor or an actress sings a song, but you can't generalise it. This is the question of the music of the country, don't generalise that with that," he said upon being asked if actors turning singers would lead to less scope for professional singers.

"If they are doing this job (singing), it's fantastic. They are the icons of the country and they should do it. But that doesn't mean they are going to change the music scene of the country," the 45-year-old said here.

Mahadevan is set to be a judge on the upcoming season of singing reality show "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2012".

He says unlike other shows, the judges panel will not showcase a contestant's financial background for TRPs (television rating points).

"We don't see anybody's financial status in this show. Some are from well-to-do families while some are from very poor families, this is not our criteria. We are only seeing the singing talent and like so many reality shows portray a contestant's poor house and all, all that is not even true most of the times.

"We are only looking for a good singer, whether it's a male singer or a female singer," said Mahadevan.

Besides him, composer duo Sajid-Wajid and bass guitarist of the band Indian Ocean, Rahul Ram complete the judges panel. The shows starts on Zee TV Sep 29.