Shankar Mahadevan is the best Indian composer today: Sonu Nigam

New Delhi, Feb 21: Despite the hype about music maestro A.R. Rahman's Golden Globe win and Oscar nominations, singer Sonu Nigam says Shankar Mahaden of the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio is the best Indian composer today.

'Today the best composer, who sings equally well, is Shankar Mahadevan - his compositions are as beautiful as his singing is,' Sonu said on Zee News' celebrity chat show 'Kahiye Janab', being aired Saturday.

Sonu admits that most people would say Rahman is the best composer and he too appreciates the maestro's music.

'Normally, everyone will say A.R. Rahman is the best. The most remarkable thing about him is that he never overdoes things. His voice is sufiana and he never tries to go beyond that. That is the best part about his style. I would say that the composers who sing well should sing themselves, like some of them do,' opined Sonu.

According to the singer, who has lent vocals to hit songs like 'Yeh dil deewana' and 'Sandese aate hain', music composers use extremely high scales in songs nowadays.

'These days the composers use such high scales; they won't compose low pitched music. Recently I recorded a song 'Do baat pakki' that was so high pitched that it made me go to my highest scale,' he said.

Sonu, whose short acting career in Bollywood was marked by flops like 'Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani', 'Kaash Aap Hamare Hote' and 'Love In Nepal', says an actor can hardly be a singer.

'A singer is a person who sings on stage. In a recording studio, technology can turn a read verse into sung lines. For example, Farhan Akhtar has sung many songs, but I bet even he does not consider himself a singer. Singers are Salamat Ali Khan, Ameer Khan, Ghulam Ali or Mehdi Hassan. In my view even I am not a singer, maybe in the view of others I am,' Sonu said.