Since the 1950s, most songs in films produced by the various regional Indian cinema industries have been sung by playback singers; the actors who appear to be singing and dancing are only lip-synching the words.
In the earliest years of Indian cinema, actors were more likely to be singers and to leave the dancing to specialists who appeared in what are called "item numbers."
Stars such as Kishore Kumar, K. L. Saigal, Suraiyya, and Noor Jehan were known as both singers and actors.
However, in the 1950s and 1960s, producers and directors increasingly tended to hire actors who could dance and leave the singing to playback singers.
Puneeth Rajkumar was one of the actors in kannada Movie Industry who is famous for both singing and acting.