Mumbai, March 13 – Acclaimed composer Salim Merchant spoke about the celebrated singer and composer Arijit Singh announcing his retirement from playback singing.
During an exclusive conversation with IANS, Salim revealed that he was not surprised by Arijit's decision, as many composers, singers, and other members of the music industry have been shifting their focus away from film music.
He revealed that he himself has not composed for a movie in the last 6 years, ever since he realized during the COVID period that film music was not bringing him happiness.
When asked to react to Arijit's announcement of not taking any more work as a playback singer, Salim told IANS, "I am not surprised at all. This was bound to happen, and it will happen to everyone. I have also stopped making film music almost 6 years ago. If you ask me about my last movie, I would say it was "102 Not Out", which starred Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan. It was the last film I did music for."
He added that despite being more focused on independent music, none of the composers and singers have made a public statement like Arijit that they will not be doing film music.
However, Salim expressed his confidence that Arijit will continue to create amazing tunes in the future.
"Music is a very big field, and playback singing is just a small part of it, so I don't think there is anything wrong with this. Arijit, I am sure, will still make a lot of music, maybe not for a movie, but he will surely do independent music," he added.
The composer further pointed out that although film music is great, a lot of music-based movies are not being made at the moment.