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| The legend called Kishore Kumar! |
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Today is the 85th Birth Anniversary of our famous Kishore Kumar, Hindi Film playback singer, actor, director, lyricist, composer, the list goes on...a multi-faceted personality.
As all my friends know, my day begins with MS Subbulakshmi's Vishnu Sahasranaama first and then the radio is switched on. From Vividh Bharati's Sangeet Sarita programme, I start hearing Kishore, Rafi, Manna Dey, Latha and Asha's songs! They seem to repeat the songs often but I never get bored. Kishore is the first favourite of all the members in my family. I have written many times, about how crazy my elder son was and is, about Kishore Kumar's songs. My mood lifts up as soon as I hear his voice! We can recognise Latha's voice the decade of the song, since she started singing from a small girl to middle age and now old age...her voice changed slowly (Latha is my favourite singer too!). But Kishore Kumar's is the same from the mid 40's to the late 80's. You can know more about him with this wiki link
here.
He came to to Bombay with his brother, Ashok Kumar, who was a famous actor then, to do playback singing. But became famous by singing along with acting, in movies. At some period, he was so busy acting in films that Rafi sang some songs for Kishore Kumar in some movies! He was a good actor playing serious roles plus a great comedian. But all of us remember him for his eternal songs in Hindi films. He had sung all types of songs from classical, semi classical to masti bhari songs! All the music directors were after him. His tantrums were legendary. An example is here via an interview he gave to Pritish Nandy, the famous journalist for the then famous magazine,
Illustrated weekly:
Pritish Nandy: I understand you are quitting Bombay and going away to Khandwa...
Kishore Kumar:
Who can live in this stupid, friendless city where everyone seeks to
exploit you every moment of the day? Can you trust anyone out here? Is
anyone trustworthy? Is anyone a friend you can count on? I am determined
to get out of this futile rat race and live as I've always wanted to.
In my native Khandwa, the land of my forefathers. Who wants to die in
this ugly city? PN: If you didn't like Bombay, why did you stay back? For fame? For money?
KK: I
was conned into it. I only wanted to sing. Never to act. But somehow,
thanks to peculiar circumstances, I was persuaded to act in the movies. I
hated every moment of it and tried virtually every trick to get out of
it. I muffed my lines, pretended to be crazy, shaved my head off, played
difficult, began yodelling in the midst of tragic scenes, told Meena
Kumari what I was supposed to tell Bina Rai in some other film - but
they still wouldn't let me go. I screamed, ranted, went cuckoo. But who
cared? They were just determined to make me a star. PN: But you succeeded, after your fashion...
KK: Of
course I did. I was the biggest draw after Dilip Kumar. There were so
many films I was doing in those days that I had to run from one set to
the other, changing on the way. Imagine me. My shirts flying off, my
trousers falling off, my wig coming off while I'm running from one set
to the other. Very often I would mix up my lines and look angry in a
romantic scene or romantic in the midst of a fierce battle. It was
terrible and I hated it. It evoked nightmares of school. Directors were
like schoolteachers. Do this. Do that. Don't do this. Don't do that. I
dreaded it. That's why I would often escape. PN: Is that why you prefer to be a loner?
KK: Look, I don't smoke, drink or socialise. I never go to parties. If
that makes me a loner, fine. I am happy this way. I go to work and I
come back straight home. To watch my horror movies, play with my spooks,
talk to my trees, sing. In this avaricious world, every creative person
is bound to be lonely. How can you deny me that right? He was acting as if he was crazy, but was very very intelligent, eccentric, you can say. Both Latha and Asha used to say in some interviews that he used to cut jokes all the time and their voice used to get 'kharaash' with all the laughing, before recording the songs. So they tried not to laugh, but Kishore would not let them stay sober! Everybody who came across him loved him. You can read more about him in the link and get alarmed or just laugh! I feel like copy-pasting the whole interview but pushed myself to stop! I regret that he died very early in his life...he was just 58. You can read about his career and other information in the wiki link I quoted in the beginning. Now, let me write about my favourite songs of Kishore! He is a good comedian, I said. Have a look here in this song. Suni Dutt also is here who was a famous hero of those days, but here, he is not 'visible' at all: He sang for Dev Anand in many movies. Both Latha and Kishore's voices are superb here. and here! He sang for Sanjay Dutt here This is my favourite song. Kishore is singing for his brother Ashok Kumar. You can see Tanuja also (Kajol's mother!). Music director is Kishore Kumar. I think he produced this movie. Here is the song. This song is from 'Amar Prem'. Rajesh Khanna's famous movie. All the songs in this movie are good. One sample is here: 'Aradhana' was a hit movie of those days. All the songs by music director, SD Burman in this movie, were famous. One is here. Kishore is singing for Amitabh here. This song is from the famous movie, 'Julie'. I love this song. Kishore is singing for Amitabh in Shiv-Hari's music, for the film, 'Silsila'. My favourite song. Again all the songs in this movie are hits. Only Kishore and Amitabh can do justice to this song, 'paan banaras wala'! Another masti song of Kishore, picturised on Randhir Kapoor and his wife Babita (Ranbir Kapoor's parents!) is here. Lovely song. This is a sad song, but a very good song. This is my most favourite song picturized on Amitabh. Kishore's voice is at its best! Such a deeeeep voice! Music is by Bappi Lahiri! Here it is! Let me conclude this post, reluctantly, with a happy song! Still so many of my favourite songs are there. I might make another post with them. He was not classically trained, but he was able to sing any type of songs. He was a gifted person. He is going to live in the hearts of all music lovers forever. P.S.: Please mention your favourites in the comment section! How did I forget to add the songs of this movie, Aandhi?! All the songs are good. It is here Another favourite song which should not have been left out! Enjoy this!
