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Why are singers left out in the opening credits of our films?
In an industry that is so dependent on song- and-dance, we find out why our producers and directors choose to avoid naming our singers in the opening credits of the film. TOI speaks to people in the business:
Arbaaz Khan, director and producer
I know we used to have playback singing credits earlier. It's not a conscious thing, but we are now following a set pattern of credits. I personally feel singers should be named. If we can have lyricists, composers and choreographers named, then there's no reason why the singers should be omitted.
Anurag Basu, director
These days, the opening titles are not as long as in the earlier films, where all names featured before the movie began. These days, People have become restless. So we put the names of only the heads of important departments in the beginning. Names of many other important people like the assistant director and the character artists are also not featured in the start. Earlier, when we had singers of the stature of Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, no one could dare to put their names in the end titles. One has to earn one's place in the opening titles. Only senior singers like Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Sundhi Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal should be given front credits.
Sonu Nigam, composer and singer
No one can force the filmmakers to name singers in the opening credits. Though music is an important part of our cinema, there are instances where the singers are named in the end credits, after make-up artists, assistant directors and even spot boys. I had sung a song in 1920 — Evil Returns and when I went to see the film, I couldn't spot my name even in the end credits. Some filmmakers, like Ramesh Taurani, are very particular about naming singers in the opening credits. Once, Shankar Mahadevan was upset about not being named as a singer in the opening credits of Lakshya, if I'm not mistaken. He said that when he took it up with Excel, he was told that the names were on the CDs. So it's okay if they were not there in the beginning of the film. By that logic, even names of the producers and director's name was there on the CD. Does that mean you omit them? Since music is an important part of our films, and composers, lyricists and choreographers are named, singers should be named too.
Bhushan Kumar, producer and owner of T-series
While singers and songs are an important part of our films, it's a creative call by the director to remove the names from the opening credits, keeping in mind the length of the film. Earlier one singer sang most of the tracks in a movie. But now the singing credits have increased and the films have become shorter and need to be wrapped up in close to two hours. If the film is a trifle longer, by even barely two minutes, then the audience might find it lengthy and distracting.
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