Can act, will sing too

Actors who haven't had much success on the big screen often turn to music as a last resort, writes DigantaGuha.

What is common between Raageshwari, Anaida, Shekhar Suman, Vikas Bhalla and Sherlyn Chopra? They are all actor-turned singers who have launched albums. There is another similarity. They didn't quite succeed as actors and tried to find fame in the music world. The latest addition is Yaana who is all set to launch her album.

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Raageshwari acted in hit films like the Govinda starrer

Aankhen

and

Main Khiladi Tu Anari

opposite Saif Ali Khan. But her acting career didn't take her places. She found fame as a singer with albums like

Duniya

and

Pyar Ke Rang.

Anaida's disastrous film debut made her realize where her potential lay and she turned singer with albums like

Hotline, Fever

and

Anaida

. Few remember Vikas Bhalla, we guess. His acting career failed and his attempt to turn singer with the album

Dhuan

didn't work either.

Badshah of TV Shekhar Suman, who seems to have run his course on small screen, is now a singer with his album,

Kuch Khwaab Aise

. The latest to join the bandwagon is Sherlyn Chopra, who showed enough skin in B-grade flicks such as

Red Swastika

but didn't quite make it big. She recently launched her debut album,

Outrageous

.

Kunika Lall, Suchitra Krishnamurthy and Dalip Tahil are other actors turned singers.

Second chance

The actors, however, disagree that they took up singing as an alternative career.

Says Sherlyn Chopra, "I wanted to upgrade my brand. I am sure that my histrionic skills will one day overshadow my vocal chords." Kunika says that she always wanted to be a playback singer and never an actor.

Shekhar, in an earlier interview to HT City, said, "It wasn't a commercial decision but a personal one that propelled me to come out with an album."

Out of luck

Not everyone finds success. Shekhar's album isn't a chartbuster and

Outrageous

hasn't set the music industry on fire. Aroop Banerjee, who composed the songs sung by Sherlyn, admits that "she may not be that talented but she is very dedicated".

Kunika wants to re-launch her career as a playback singer. "There are so many ways to download songs that my albums suffered though my debut album did sell more than 35,000 copies," she says.

Singer Kailash Kher is of the view that music is not taken seriously unlike other professions. "To many it is still a secondary option. And once you achieve some kind of success, you have people who 'encourage' you to try your hand at music and the net result is there for all to see," he says.