A Playback Voice?

What does this mean when judges comment on contestants and tell them they have a playback voice?

Many times we've heard sreeram get compliments on how he has a playback voice and just recently in one of the promos of the upcoming gala, we heard suleiman telling rakesh he has playback quality as well.

Does it refer to them being able represent actors well in filmi songs or is it something else?

I think they are referring to a kind of voice which will suit all type of heroes in the movies,

what Zoobi told abt playback voice is totally correct..... actually someone may sing very good but that voice dont suit when they are recording for a movie.... that means all singers cant become play back singers..and my playback singer is Sriram..and he already proved it(as we know he had sung in some telugu movies)

Originally posted by: ZoobiDoobi

I think they are referring to a kind of voice which will suit all type of heroes in the movies,

Take Udit ji - his voice did wonders to all Khans, Kapoors and every new actor.

Sreeram and Rakesh both have a very sweet romantic singer type of voice, which will be ideal for romantic heroes like our very own SRK.

Lekin hamara (Bahaar and mine) Shivam is one in a million, unique. 😛 Yeah for sure he can sing for Farhan Akhtar than 😃

Originally posted by: ZoobiDoobi

I think they are referring to a kind of voice which will suit all type of heroes in the movies,

Take Udit ji - his voice did wonders to all Khans, Kapoors and every new actor.

Sreeram and Rakesh both have a very sweet romantic singer type of voice, which will be ideal for romantic heroes like our very own SRK.

Lekin hamara (Bahaar and mine) Shivam is one in a million, unique. 😛

@Bold Oyyyeee!! Mera bhi!

I totally agree with you Zubi didi!

A 'playback' voice is considered a clean, sweet voice which sounds nice on the mic and fits many actors without the audience noticing a considerable dissonance between the actor and the singing voice. Classic 'playback voices' are Lataji, Rafisaab, Uditji, Sonu, Shaan, KK, Sunidhi, Shreya...

But in the current musical scene, especially in Bollywood, there has been a growing interest in non-typical voices. Take for example Sukhwinder Singh, Mohit Chauhan, Atif Aslam, Rekha Bhardwaj, Kavita Seth, MIka Singh, Salim Merchant, Vishal Dadlani and others with non-'playback' voices who are ruling the charts and giving Hindi music an edge.

This has got to do with a change in the genre of filmi music. MDs draw upon a wider range of musical styles, such as soft rock or sufi (the most popular alternative styles these days) - both of which require 'non playback' voices. Also, there is a decline in lip-synced songs and an increase in background songs - which means that singers' voices need not fit the actors. Take for example 'Tumse Hi' from Jab We Met, 'Masakalli' from Delh-6, or 'Iktara' from Wake Up Sid - these chartbusters were all background songs which weren't lip-synced by actors. And they're not by 'playback' voices.

How do music directors determine which voice suits which song..whether its a playback song or a 'background' song?

Originally posted by: Dabulls23

Sreeram can sing for rest of the actors 👏⭐️

Originally posted by: ZoobiDoobi

Farhan doesn't need a playback sing by the way 😉

Well being said an Ideal Playback singer's voice, we also need different voices in bollywood. We can't just rely on Typical sweet voice. 😛

I suppose they need a voice that is strong enough to hold on its own - without any airs & graces of a pretty / handsome face or active stage performance. Plus it must emote well to suit to respective actor - sometimes you can see more emotion in the singers eyes etc but that wouldn't work for playback - the emotion must be in the voice. Also to sound good in a movie soundtrack (in an audio CD in the car, in the theaters) it must be a strong voice.