Aastha Gill: No one's dependent on film songs anymore

Singer Aastha Gill has come a long way in a short time, since the days she was largely recognised as the promising female voice in Badshah hits such as "Dhup chik", "Abhi toh party shuru hui hai" or "DJ wale babu". Lately, whether she has sung with Badshah ("Pani paani") or Akasa ("Naagin"), she has owned the song as much as the other singer.

Aastha, who started out with Bollywood hits in films as "Fugly" (singing "Dhup chik") and "Khoobsurat" ("Abhi toh party"), would attribute her rise to the advent of non-film indie music because, as she points out, no one in the music industry depends on a playback career anymore. For Aastha, the rise of independent music has come as a relief to artistes like her because Bollywood in recent years has been known to not pay its singers. For the uninitiated, Neha Kakkar in 2020 had first opened the pandora's box, speaking to IANS, about singers hardly getting paid in the film industry. After Neha, Aditya Narayan, too, has reiterated the notion saying singers don't get a "single penny" in Bollywood and that there is a "pandemic in the music industry".

Aastha belongs to a new generation of singers who have learnt to craft a career and make money without banking on Bollywood. But now that new-age voices like her don't depend on film soundtracks for an income or career, will the film industry learn to pay singers their dues in order to avail their services?

"Everyone who is working is paid for their art and talent. So, obviously, singers giving their voices to songs must be paid, too. I don't know if it will bring a change in the industry but definitely we singers need to put our foot down," she replies.