Actor, singer or both? Bollywood stars strike a chord with the music industry

The trend of actors turning into singers is catching up. The latest to join the chorus is John Abraham in his upcoming film Welcome Back.

With the help of auto-tune and voice modulation technology, the music directors are able to fine tune the actors' voice based on an aspirational sample.While a few may consider this a step down for Music, others view it as a progressive move.

Auto Tune is a technology used across the globe but things are not as rosy as they sound.

The actors don't have it all that easy. They still need to spend considerable time learning and rehearsing the song, so that they're as close to the desired version as possible. But face value counts for something. Look at the hype and reach the song Main Hu Hero from the film Hero got, simply because it was sung by Salman Khan.

With actors taking up singing seriously, we wonder if there would be a day when they would all just sing their own parts.

Here are a few actors who have already taken up the mike:

Salman Khan:

He started off as a playback singer in 1999 with the song Chandi Ki Daal Par from Hello Brother. This was followed by the 2014 song Hangover, from the film Kick , which was initially sung by Sonu Nigam.

Composed by Meet Bros Anjjan, Salman Khan admitted to the media that the song underwent a lot of auto tuning before it was audibly pleasing. Post Hangover, Salman Khan also recorded the 'Hero Title Track' for Hero, which is topping most of the music charts right now. Salman once again openly said that a lot of post-production work went in to meet the song requirements.

Akshay Kumar:

The actor debuted as a singer with the song Mujh Mein Tu from the critically acclaimed film of 2013, Special 26.

When he launched the song, Akshay confessed that he had no plans to sing anymore. This one was a tribute to his wife Twinkle Khanna. Akshay Kumar's version of the song was used only as a promotional track. The original song sung by Keerthi Sagathia made it to the final cut.

Shraddha Kapoor:

Shraddha Kapoor is a perfect example of an all-rounder. The actress has had the passion to sing and dance since her childhood. She finally has the chance to sing with Ek Villain, while she danced her heart out in Any Body Can Dance 2.

Shraddha is currently undergoing voice training as she intends to cover her own songs in Rock On 2.

Alia Bhatt:

Another actress belonging to the new era of Bollywood, who is keen to belt out a tune.

Being roped in as a singer to collaborate with A R Rahman is no small feat. Alia Bhatt sang one of Rahman's songs in her own film Highway. After that she boldly sang the unplugged version of Samjhavan from Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania.