A Tribute to Kishore Kumar – “The Enfant Terrible” Genius

#kishorekumar

A Tribute to Kishore Kumar – “The Enfant Terrible” Genius

?“Legends Live Forever”. This phrase is very apt for the legendary Indian male playback singer (late) Kishore Kumar, the voice which captivated (and still does) his innumerable fans across South Asia and across the world.

This compilation is a humble attempt to pay my tributes to Kishore Kumar (aka Kishore da, aka the “original” KK), purely as his diehard fan forever and to the best of my knowledge. My apologies in advance for any factual errata or those who do not agree with some of my favourite song choices of his.

Kishore Kumar was born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly in August 4, 1929 in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, India. He was the younger brother of Ashok Kumar, a big name in Indian cinema in his own right and a leading hero-cum-actor in his era. His younger brother (Anoop Kumar) also acted in a few films.

Kishore Kumar, to me and his legions of fans worldwide, was a “genius” as he shared traits of other “geniuses” of the world across fields of work or eras or geographies, viz:

a)????Once-in-a-lifetime Voice – all Kishore Kumar fans in one voice will say this – There cannot be another Kishore Kumar ever and nobody can sing (with a voice) like him. Period! His booming manly voice with the occasional usage of yodelling is etched in our memories forever.

b)????God-gifted Talent - unlike his contemporaries in Indian music industry (famous ones like Mohd. Rafi, Mukesh, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, et al) most of whom were trained in Indian classical?music, Kishore Kumar had no formal music training whatsoever! (Disclaimer - I am however not claiming by any means that he was a better singer than them! Each of them is a legend in their own right).

c)????Multi-faceted Personality – he was not just a singer. He was also a versatile leading movie actor, imitator, composer, music director, movie director & producer, all rolled into one.

d)????“Comic, Eccentric” Personality – he was fun-loving by nature and also cultivated a “comical eccentric image” in terms of his choices and portrayal of movies/roles/songs and overall, in his way of living & communicating.

e)?????Colourful Life - he led a colourful romantic life with multiple marriages & divorces, starting with Ruma Guhathakurata (his first wife and renowned Bengali actress of yesteryears) to the mesmerising Madhubala (a legendary actress and beauty who was India’s heartthrob those days, who passed away untimely) to Yogeeta Bali (a leading Bollywood actress in the late 70s and 80s) and finally to the bubbly Leena Chandravarkar (another contemporary leading Bollywood actress). Kishore Kumar may not have had the quintessential movie hero-type good looks (plus there was a significant age difference between him and the last 2 actresses), but it must have been his magnetic personality and his god-gifted voice that would have attracted those beautiful and talented women to marry him.

He lent his voice as the lead playback singer to many leading Bollywood stars across generations viz, from Dharmendra, Shashi Kapoor, Jeetendra, Vinod Khanna, Sanjiv Kumar, Uttam Kumar to Anil Kapoor, Mithun Ckakraborty, Rishi Kapoor, etc., with many famous hit songs. But standing apart from them were 3 other leading actors, for whom he went on to become their voice across most of their films. This can basically be mapped to categorise the three main phases of Kishore Kumar’s singing career. First was the Dev Anand phase, then the Rajesh Khanna phase and lastly Amitabh Bachchan phase. Personally, I like his songs from the Rajesh Khanna phase most. Reason, the depth and variety of the songs, the movie contexts and maturity of his voice. Not taking anything away from the other 2 phases though, but I feel the other 2 phases were a shade less impactful for me. Other fans of Kishore Kumar may disagree with me, but they have every right.

The other aspect that I must bring out was his collaboration with Indian film industry stalwarts from the world of music. While he sang for many composers/lyricists/music directors and with many female co-singers in duets across his career, I may stick out my neck to say that the combination of Kishore Kumar + Asha Bhosle + Rahul Dev Barman, will stand out head over heels in terms of the sheer number of hits, quality & depth, and to me personally that was the “Golden Age”.?Again, it’s my personal view and not to take away from his collaborations with Lata Mangeshkar or Laxmikant-Pyarelal or Anand Bakshi or Bappi Lahiri.

While most will remember his Hindi songs, he also sang in many other Indian languages including?Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam and Oriya?in his four-decade long career.?Some of his Bengali songs (both movie and non-movie playbacks) still retain cult status amongst Bengalis worldwide. My fellow Bongs will swear by them??

Many have tried and still try, but there can never be another Kishore Kumar. ?Singers like Amit Kumar (his own son), Kumar Shanu, Babul Supriyo, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, etc. all have tried to copy his voice and style of singing, but no one even came close by any stretch of imagination.?Maybe they would have been better off to find and create their own identity, which at least some of them did later. There have been and are still hordes of other singers / wannabes who have made singing Kishore Kumar songs in concerts, festivals, TV shows, etc. as their career/profession even today. Inference: Kishore Kumar is still very relevant today and his songs still sell!

A few relatively unknowns about Kishore Kumar:

a)????His first job in the film industry was as a “chorus singer” at Bombay Talkies!

b)????The famous film “Anand” was offered to Kishore Kumar first for the lead role. But rumour has it that it went to Rajesh Khanna, after Hrishikesh Mukherjee (the film director) was shooed away by the gatekeeper of Kishore Kumar’s house!

c)????There was a “Beware of Kishore” sign at the door of his Warden Road apartment in Mumbai. Again, rumour has it that he bit H S Rawail’s (a famous producer) hand when offered a handshake. When asked about it, Kishore Kumar pointed at the door sign!

d)????He was such a prankster, that frustrated by his antics, a filmmaker apparently went to court to get a verdict that Kishore Kumar will have to follow the director’s orders!

e)????It is said that he had put skeletons, skulls and bones with red lights and sounds in his living room, to shoo away the media and unwanted visitors!

f)?????During the Emergency period in India (1975-1977), he was banned from All India Radio (AIR) and Vividh Bharti as he had refused to endorse the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s 20-point programme.

g)????That Kishore Kumar’s popularity transcended geographical boundaries, was exemplified by the unabashed and self-confessed fandom of Kishore Kumar by Ramiz Raja (ex-cricketer and captain of Pakistan cricket team and current chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board)!

Like famous relic hunter characters (Indiana Jones, Lara Craft, National Treasure, etc.), hunting for old and rare Kishore Kumar songs is a passion for many Kishore Kumar fans. Along with 2 of my best friends since childhood ( Abhijit Sinha and Satyaki Lodh ), we have named our private WhatsApp group as “Abhas da Zindabad” and we are passionate about Kishore Kumar and his songs.

Now to get to the final piece of this tribute, no better way than to list out “My Top 10 Kishore Kumar songs”, viz.,

1)????Chingari Koi Bhadke (Amar Prem, Rajesh Khanna)

2)????Badi Sooni Sooni Hain (Mili, Amitabh Bachchan)

3)????O Majhi Re (Khusboo, Jeetendra)

4)????Kuch To Log Kahenge (Amar Prem, Rajesh Khanna)

5)????Gadi Bula Rahi Hey (Dost, Dharmendra)

6)????O Mere Dil Ke Chain (Jeevan Saathi, Rajesh Khanna)

7)????Hum Bewafa Hargiz Na The (Shalimar, Dharmendra)

8)????Ei Je Nodi (Bengali Non-Movie track)

9)????Kiska Rasta Dekhe (Joshila, Dev Anand)

10)?Manjile Apni Jagah (Sharaabi, Amitabh Bachchan)

There will of course be many other songs that other Kishore Kumar fans will list out as their own favs, but that’s Kishore da for you!

Dated: August 28, 2022

Author: Subham Sarkar (https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/subham-sarkar-519b7114/), Chief Strategy Officer, Netlabs Global IT Services, www.netlabsglobal.com

Disclaimer: The contents of this blog are authored purely in an individual capacity and based on the personal opinions of the author.?