Musicians should be first choice for concerts, not actors: Armaan Malik

New Delhi: He expressed his displeasure over reports about actress Sonakshi Sinha being roped in to open Grammy Award-winning singer Justin Bieber's India gig, and Armaan Malik sticks to his views. The singer says everyone is invited to sing for a film project, but priority should be given to musicians when it comes to concerts. "I am for actors singing for the movies that they are acting in. It helps to promote the movie that they are in. That is perfectly awesome and great, but when they are opening acts for concerts then I feel the chance should be given to musicians or a singer first," Armaan, who performed live at FLYP@MTV Café here last month, told IANS. The singer had a heated debate on Twitter with actress Sonakshi Sinha when he criticised the trend of actors turning playback singers. "Actors are actors and singers are singers. Leave the stage and mic to us, that's our playground not yours," he had posted, in reaction to singer-composer Kailash Kher's views on Sonakshi being picked to perform at Bieber's concert in the country over any other acclaimed Indian singer. Armaan, known for hit songs like "Wajah tum ho", "Naina", and "Chaar Shanivaar", feels "singers are stars in their own right". "They have the power and capability of becoming a star. So, definitely if a question of musical concert is there then singers and musicians should be given the first chance and when it comes to movies, I think everyone is open to sing. Movies are a promotional thing and everyone should be free to sing in that," he added. Armaan is the son of singer and music director Daboo Malik and nephew of famous music director Anu Malik. He has given hits like "Jai Ho" title song, "Main hoon hero tera", "Buddhu sa mann", and "Sau aasmaan". After singing in regional languages, Armaan said he wants to widen his horizons and sing in international languages. "I want to challenge myself by singing songs in different languages because I feel that the more you expand your musicality, the more you will grow as an artiste," said the singer, who is the brother of music director Amaal Mallik. He added: "I have sung in ten or eleven languages and they have done well in the regions. I want to continue doing so, and probably sing in international languages like French or a Spanish or Arabic... Try my hand at those type of things. It will help me grow." The singer has a wish list too. "I always wanted to sing for Varun Dhawan and Shah Rukh Khan. These two actors are on my top of my wish list." Work wise, Armaan says there are a lot of interesting things coming up. "I am singing a very interesting duet with my mentor and my idol Sonu Nigam in forthcoming movie ‘Mubarakan', which stars Arjun Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Athiya Shetty and Ileana D'Cruz. I am getting to sing the song with my favourite singer for the very first time. It is going to be a lot of fun," he said, adding that there are other songs in the pipeline too. "There are singles that I am planning and songs in films through the whole year but I can't reveal anything as of now."