August column: Music in Bollywood
The Bollywood music industry comprises original soundtrack albums that feature plot-specific songs composed especially for a film. Among the most unusual features of this industry are playback singers that record the songs before filming and actors that lip-sync to these songs on screen to make it appear as if the characters themselves are singing. I would like to elaborate on the origin and purpose of music in Hindi cinema and the unique role that playback singers perform in this art form.