Filmi

Filmi is the popular song tradition of Indian cinema, in which playback singers voice pre-recorded songs that actors mime on screen. Since the first Indian talkie in 1931, film songs have been the country's dominant popular music, blending Hindustani and Carnatic melody, folk forms and, increasingly, Western orchestration and pop. Composers such as *Naushad*, *S. D. Burman* and *R. D. Burman* built songs as narrative set pieces, sung by voices like *Lata Mangeshkar* and *Mohammed Rafi*. From the orchestral golden age through *A. R. Rahman*'s digital reinvention, filmi albums remain India's best-selling and most beloved recordings.