Kishore Kumar
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Kishore Kumar's place in history
Kishore Kumar was, foremost, a playback singer; then an actor--mainly but not always a comic actor; and then a music composer, film director, producer, writer and renaissance man at large.
By the early 1960s he was among the 'big three' of 'playback singing' in Hindi-Urdu films--behind the towering Mohd. Rafi and the perennial no.2, Mukesh. This meant that--unlike niche players Manna Dey and Tala Mehmood--he sang for heroes and in the biggest budget films. However, in terms of numbers and commercial success, during most of his career he was a distant no.3.
The songs he was assigned were slotted into three types i) comic, which was his mainstay; ii) serious, though mostly in his own films; and iii) as the frequent (but not sole) voice of Dev Anand who, in turn, was no. 3 among the 'big three' superstars of Hindi-Urdu cinema in the 1950s and '60s. Fourthly, his voice was more likely to be used by fellow Bengali music directors like SD Burman, RD Burman and Hemant Kumar. Above all, he was known for his yodelling, invariably in comic songs.
All this changed forever in 1969, after languishing at no.3 (or worse) for twenty-three years.
Things had started changing around 1968 when Rafi began to sound somewhat stale. That year Rafi's thitherto unquestioned dominance on the charts gave way, albeit slightly, to Kishore (who had the biggest hit sung by a male: Mere samnewali khidki mein), Mukesh and even Mahendra Kapoor and Manna Dey. Rafi-loyalists like Shankar-Jaikishan used Kishore rather than Rafi in the most important song of Duniya (1968). SD Burman gave him all the Dev songs of Jewel Thief. RD Burman gave him the memorable Pyar hua hai jab se in Abhilasha. Though Rafi ruled the 1968 charts in terms of sheer numbers, Kishore had major hits. (See Binaca Geet Mala 1968: greatest hits )
1969
The breaking point for Rafi and the turning point for Kishore was the film Pyar Ka Mausam (1969) in which Kishore and Rafi had to sing the same song, on separate tracks: Tum bin jaoon kahan. Glamorous superstar Rafi sang the song for the film's handsome young hero, while the still no.3 Kishore sang it for the hero's podgy, middle-aged father. Composer RD Burman got Kishore to yodel during the interlude, which was romantic rather than comic. In the Rafi version an electric guitar played the same passage in the interlude. This caused the unthinkable to happen. Audiences suddenly realised that Rafi's voice had its limitations. On the one hand Rafi could not yodel, while Kishore could. But this was the lesser of Rafi's suddenly-discovered shortcomings. Rafi had ruled north India for decades on the strength of his sparkling clear voice. Now that audiences could compare the two singing the same song, separately, they felt that they preferred Kishore's rich timbre to Rafi's smoothness.
Then in the summer of 1969 came the cheerful Mahal. Kalyanji-Anandji gave Kishore the best Dev songs--and they were highly popular.
Had Kishore not toppled Rafi in 1969, someone else would have. Even Rafi fans started finding him stale. The no.1, no.2 and no.4 hits sung by a male singer in 1969 were all sung by Mukesh. Rafi only got no.3. (See Binaca Geet Mala 1969: greatest hits
So, despite having bested Rafi in Tum bin jaoon kahan, on paper the hierarchy remained where it was: Rafi (because of sheer numbers), Mukesh (because of the aforesaid hits) and Kishore.
It was Aradhna (autumn of 1969) that catapulted Kishore to the very top. Its Rafi songs were sweet and they, too, did well. However, they were decent, well behaved--and staid. On the other hand, for the first time in 23 years, Kishore unshackled his genius and let his voice flow. He swept north India with an effortless, lyrical, youthful romanticism. There have been only four moments in the history of Indian film music when music took a generational leap and a new set of talents swept the country: Junglee (1961/ Shankar-Jaikishan, Rafi, Shammi Kapoor), Teesri Manzil (1966/ RD Burman, Rafi, Majrooh, Shammi), Aradhna (1969/ Kishore, RD Burman, Anand Bakshi, Rajesh Khanna) and Roja (1992: AR Rahman, Vairamuthu, Mani Ratnam). (Officially, Aradhna's music was composed by SD Burman, which his son RD was credited as his assistant.)
The Kishore, RD Burman, Anand Bakshi, Rajesh Khanna combine's supremacy was reaffirmed a few weeks later by Do Raaste, the second biggest hit of the year.
For the next seven years Kishore Kumar was the no.1 male singer of Hindi-Urdu films--perhaps all of India. Almost every important Hindi-Urdu actor, including those who could not think of anyone but Rafi (or Mukesh) singing for them, used Kishore's voice
Kishore Kumar sang in Bengali, Hindi Urdu, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam and Oriya.
The eight-time Filmfare Award winner rose above awards and now has an award in his name, the 'Kishore Kumar Award' instituted by the Madhya Pradesh government.
Early life
Abhas Kumar Kunjilal Ganguly was born on August 4, 1929. Like his megastar brother Ashok Kumar, he replaced Ganguly with the caste- and region-neutral Kumar and took on the screen name Kishore Kumar.
Kishore died on October 13, 1987.
Marriages
Kishore Kumar married four times but was still a loner in his personal life. He married singer-actress Ruma Ghosh in 1950 but got divorced about eight years later in 1958. Even before the two could officially separate, he married Madhubala against his parents wish. The marriage did not work as Madhubala was on death bed due to her heart ailment and had to move out of his house due to rising family pressure. After Madhubala passed away in 1969, he married Yogeeta Bali in 1976 but got divorced in 1978. He then tied the knot with Leena Chandavarkar in 1980 which lasted till his death.
Kishore Kumar stopped singing for Mithun Chakraborty for some time as his third wife Yogeeta Bali divorced him after about three years of marriage to marry Chakraborty in 1979. However, the singer could not avoid singing for Mithun Chakraborty for long and lent his voice for his film Surakkhsha (1979) and later on for several of his hit films - Disco Dancer, Faraib (1983) and Waqt Ki Awaz (1988).
As fate would have it, he recorded his last song 'Guru Guru' with Asha Bhosle for Mithun's film Waqt Ki Aawaz, a day before his death on his brother, Ashok Kumar's birthday.
Friendships: or the lack thereof
Though Kishore Kumar had fan following in millions, he was a loner in real life with no friends in and outside the industry. In an interview with Pritish Nandy, he had confessed that he did not have any friends to count on and thus he called his trees his closest buddies. Not only this, when asked by a reporter about his friends, Kishore Kumar introduced her to his favourite trees in his garden with their particular nick names. Much to the surprise of the reporter, he referred them as his best friends. However, Rajesh Khanna and Rahul Dev Burman were considered to be his closest pals for a long time.
Kishore Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan’s relations soured in mid-1980s when the actor turned down the offer of making a guest appearance in Kishore’s production venture Mamta Ki Chhaon. The singer was so put off by Amitabh’s gesture that he stopped singing for him altogether. However, the two made peace when Kishore Kumar finally sang ‘Aaya Aaya Toofan’ in Amitabh Bachchan’s film Toofan a few years later. However, both are revered by their fans as the late Kishore Kumar is known as the legendary singer of the Indian music industry while Amitabh Bachchan is the biggest superstar of Bollywood.
After a short dispute with Amitabh Bachchan, Kishore Kumar stopped singing for Mithun Chakraborty for some time as his third wife Yogeeta Bali divorced him after about three years of marriage to marry Chakraborty in 1979. However, the singer could not avoid singing for Mithun Chakraborty for long and lent his voice for his film Surakkhsha (1979) and later on for several of his hit films - Disco Dancer, Faraib (1983) and Waqt Ki Awaz (1988).
Humour and eccentricities
The funny man was not only funny in his movies but also in real life and had his own way to see life. A loner in real life Kishore da, as he was fondly called by his loved ones, was a very private person and apparently hated it when people tried to disturb his privacy. Let's take a look at some incidents of Kishore da's real life which resembles the funny moments of his films.
When Hrishikesh Mukherjee was shooed away by Kishore Kumar's watchman: We all still remember late superstar Rajesh Khanna and Hrishikesh Mukherjee's classic film Anand but very few of us know that the film was originally offered to Kishore Kumar and Mehmood. However, due to some misunderstanding, Kishore da couldn't do the film. According to Wikipedia, Hrishikesh Mukherjee was supposed to meet Kishore da for the project. However, he was driven away by the latter's gatekeeper due to a confusion. Kishore da, who was not paid by a Bengali organiser for a stage show had instructed his gatekeeper to shoo away this Bengali, if he ever visited his house and the watchman unknowingly drove away Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Later, Mehmood couldn't do the film for some reasons and Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan were signed for the project.
Beware of Kishore Kumar: There is a list of stories about the multi-faceted Kishore Kumar's humour quotient. Apparently, he had placed a sign that said "Beware of Kishore" at the door of his Warden Road flat. Producer-director, H. S. Rawail, who once owed him some money, visited his flat to pay the dues. Kishore da, happily took the money and when Rawail offered to shake hands with him, Kishore Kumar apparently put Rawail's hand in his mouth, bit it and asked "Didn’t you see the sign?". The filmmaker understood Kishore da's humour and laughed off the incident. According, to another incident mentioned in Wikipedia, Kumar was due to record a song for producer-director G. P. Sippy. As Sippy approached his bungalow, he saw Kumar going out in his car. After following him for long, Sippy was finally able to stop him at Madh Island but Kishore da refused to recognize him and threatened to call police. However, after meeting him next day on the recording, he behaved normal and told Sippy must have dreamt the incident as he was in Khandwa on the previous day.
When Kishore da drove to Khandwa: Troubled by Kishore Kumar's funny antics, a filmmaker apparently once went to court to get a verdict that the singer will have to follow director's orders. But little did he know who he was messing up with. Kishore da obeyed all the instructions given by the director. During a shot, Kishore refused to get down of his car until the director ordered him to do so. In fact, during shooting for a car scene for the same film, Kishore da drove until he reached khandala as the director forgot to say 'cut'.
His living room had skulls and bones with red lights: Kishore da, had his ways to stay away from limelight as he never enjoyed the media attention. He preferred staying away from media and hated to give interviews. According to a report in Hindustan Times, Kishore Kumar would never give in when people chased him for interviews. He would usually get away from the scene leaving a regret note behind. It is also reported in the article that his living room had skulls and bones with red lights and sounds backing them up to shoo away unwanted visitors!
He hated when people didn't pay him: Kishore da was very particular about his fees and hated when people didn't pay him. According to Wikipedia, the legendary singer only sang when he was confirmed by his secretary that he was fully paid. The report further says that Kishore da once appeared on the sets of a film with make-up on one side of his face. When the director questioned him, he replied saying "Aadha paisa to aadha make-up." (Half make-up for half payment). Not only this on the sets of Bhai Bhai, Kishore Kumar refused to act because director M V Raman owed him 5,000. However, after elder brother Ashok Kumar's persuasion, Kishore agreed to shoot but as soon as the shooting started he said, Paanch Hazzar Rupaiya (five thousand rupees) and did a somersault.
When Kishore da was banned on All India Radio: Kishore Kumar, who always listened to his heart and did what he thought was right apparently entered into a tiff with Mrs. India Gandhi's close ones. According to a report in Hindustan Times when the government asked him to sing during emergency, he drove them away by using Bengali expletives. It is also reported in the same story that the then Information & Broadcasting minister VC Shukla didn't appreciate Kishore da's attitude and announce a ban on the legendary singer on All India Radio.
