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Bollywood’s music directors are not content just being behind the scenes- not any more. Not only are they expressing themselves through their music, they are singing to their own tunes! Here are some of our music directors who have recently showcased to us their singing talent- or sometimes…the sheer lack of it!

(Note This list does not include Shankar Mahadevan, since he was already a singer before he turned composer, too- along with Ehsaan and Loy- forming the musical trio now better known as Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy or simply, SEL.)

Himesh Reshammiya
Ahem, ahem. The list starts of course, with the most er, prolific and infamous of them all- the raucous Reshammiya. It was in 2005’s Aashiq Banaya Apne that Himesh first picked up the microphone to sing. People were pretty impressed, and he hasn’t put the mike down since- what’s more- he’s even set to star in his debut acting vehicle. He continues to be loved and loathed in equal measure- even as his tunes and tone get more and more irritatingly tiresome by the day. But be warned this nose overdose, as I call it, isn’t stopping anytime soon. The masses still can’t seem to get enough of his voice, and honestly, nor can he.

AR Rahman
Whether it is singing or composing, the ‘Mozart of Madras’ continues to be a class apart. From Dil Se to Vande Mataram to his latest hit English single Pray for Me Brother, the maestro keeps getting better and is going from strength to strength. Other memorable numbers from him include Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera from Swades, Tere Bina from Guru and Luka Chhuppi from Rang De Basanti. He has begun to sing more frequently than before, when he restricted himself mostly to anthemic or theme songs, but hell, are we complaining

Bappi Lahiri
Bappida may not be composing much these days- he last did the (surprisingly restrained) background score for Jahnu Barua’s Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara, but he sure has been stretching his vocal cords every now and then. The jewellery laden icon has recently sung at the Channel V concert- being a major crowd puller, besides singing songs for AR Rahman (Ek Lo Ek Muft- Guru) and Vishal Shekhar (Mumbai Nagariya- Taxi No.9211).

Vishal-Shekhar
The wacky, versatile musical duo is also quite multitalented – often singing their own songs and even writing lyrics for them. While Shekhar has sung very few songs, Vishal Dadlani has, of course been the more prolific singer of the two. Songs sung by him include Sholon Si (Shabd) and Saiyaan Ve (Ta Ra Rum Pum. In fact, he has recently even sung for other music directors- for Pritam Chakravarthy in Dhoom Again (Dhoom-2) and for Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy in Kiss of Love from their brand new soundtrack for Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.

Vishal Bhardwaj
Bhardwaj’s musical genius is one that has sadly been grossly overlooked and underutilized by our film industry. The man behind Maachis never got plum projects to showcase his undoubtedly immense composing acumen and later shifted gears to film direction with great success. Though ironically, it is now that the offers are pouring in, he prefers to compose for his own films, barring an occasional Rozaana for Nishabd. Besides writing, directing and composing for Omkara, this time Vishal took himself a step further- enthralling us with his mellow, earthy voice in O Saathi Re, the dewy love ballad sung with Shreya Ghoshal.

Anu Malik
As a composer, Anu Malik has always had a mixed, erratic record- occasionally giving us soulful, melodious and fresh music like in Asoka and Refugee, sometimes plagiarizing and sometimes subjecting us to unforgivable torture like Zindaggi Rocks. However, as a singer, the guy’s always been uniformly awful. He started with the now-forgotten It’s Raining, and then sometimes accompanied other singers like in Gori Gori from Main Hoon Naa. Then came the real disaster, when he chose to exercise his vocal cords to the fullest in Deewane Huye Paagal, where his grating, annoying voice, combined with badly lifted tunes made one’s toe’s curl. Thankfully, we haven’t heard much of him since.

Mithoon
The latest composer to jump on to the singing bandwagon is prodigious newcomer Mithoon- who has already proved himself with chartbusting hits like Tere Bin (Bas Ek Pal) and Maula Mere (Anwar). A composer with a distinctive style, Mithoon replaced Reshammiya to compose songs for The Train, and it seems the Himesh bug rubbed onto him- he has sung two songs for the film. Though the soundtrack is not outstanding, with its now trademark high notes and Sufi-rock tinge- Mithoon comes across as a pretty good singer- his voice somewhat reminiscent of Atif Aslam- in Woh Ajnabee and Zindagi Mein.

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