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| Edited By: Param Arunachalam |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Aug 04, 2016, 12:12 PM IST
This week’s post is an attempt to explore the man behind the musical phenomenon of Kishore Kumar. At the outset, it must be said that given how complex and how brilliant an individual he was, a post like this will just be scratching the surface.
Like most in his generation, Kishore Kumar was enamoured of K.L. Saigal’s voice and while he had no formal training in music, he considered Saigal is guru. His elder brother, Ashok Kumar, however, had different plans. He guided him towards a career in acting and discouraged his singing aspirations.
The film industry, with the notable exception of SD Burman and Dev Anand, did not give Kishore Kumar his due as a singer in his early years. For the most part, music directors gave him songs to sing only when he was starring in the film. Sometimes, even that did not happen. In Shararat (1959), Shankar – Jaikishan had Mohammed Rafi sing two songs for Kishore Kumar’s character in the film – 'Ajab Dastan Hai Ye Teri Zindagi' and 'Tu Mera Copyright'! In another instance, when Kishore Kumar found out that Salil Chowdhury was planning to use Hemant Kumar’s voice for Kishore Kumar’s character in Naukri (1954), he had to plead to Salida to give him a chance. The result was 'Chhota Sa Ghar Hoga'.
In the 1950s, acting was the means to Kishore Kumar’s end of being able to sing. In the 1960s, he bolstered his singing career by turning music director and producer. Some of the best songs Kishore Kumar ever sang were set to his own music. Sample 'Aa Chal Ke Tujhe' (Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein, 1964):
It was after more than two decades in the industry and the age of 39 that Kishore’s perseverance finally paid off and he got the big breakthrough he deserved. Despite SD Burman’s misgivings and with the help of a new ally – RD Burman – Kishore Kumar got to sing two songs for Aradhana (1969) that brought him enormous commercial and mainstream success. Nothing succeeds like success and no matter what they may have thought about his singing ability, music directors could no longer ignore his popularity. Aradhana also won him his first, belated Filmfare award for 'Roop Tera Mastana'. The two songs from Aradhana that changed the course of Hindi film music:
Kishore Kumar’s creative genius was evident in his livewire acting performances and in the music he composed for Jhumroo (1961), Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein (1964) and Door Ka Rahi (1971). He was also a fantastic team player and his creative inputs found their way in many other creations. While he may not have gotten credit for them explicitly, his contributions are widely acknowledged.
For example, it was Kishore Kumar who suggested to Salil Chowdhury that he sing both the male and female voices in 'Aake Seedhi Lagi Dil Pe Jaise Katariya' (Half Ticket, 1962) to fill in for Lata Mangeshkar, who was unavailable due to some reason.
His quick thinking bailed out Asha Bhosle when she sang out of turn in the second antara of 'Piya Piya Piya Mera Jiya Pukare' (Baap Re Baap,1955). Kishore Kumar placated the distressed Asha Bhosle and told her that he was the hero in the movie and that he would put his hand on the heroine's mouth when she sang the out of turn to cover-up Asha’s blooper.
When you hear an especially quirky improvisation in a Kishore Kumar song, it is very likely that he himself had something to do with it. For example, the playful, sexy spoken exchange that precedes the song, 'Nahin Nahin Abhi Nahin' (Jawani Diwani, 1972) was Kishore’s spur-of-the-moment idea.
The gold standard of Kishore Kumar’s improvisations, however, has to be the king of Bollywood’s madcap songs - 'Ek Chatur Naar Karke Singaar' (Padosan, 1968).
Despite his enormous popularity in the 1970s, Kishore Kumar remained extremely humble, to the point of coming across as being insecure. It is truly amazing that someone as successful and talented as him could remain so grounded.
The story goes that he was so much in awe of Salil Chowdhury’s composition for 'Guzar Jaye Din Din Din' (Annadata, 1972) that as a mark of respect, he sat on the floor to learn the song and put in hours of practice to get it right.
One of Kishore Kumar’s insecurities was about signing classically influenced songs. It was Kishore who suggested RD Burman to use Bhupinder Singh instead of him for 'Beeti Na Bitaayi Raina' (Parichay, 1972). A few years later, he tried to excuse himself from singing 'Mere Naina Sawan Bhadon' (Mehbooba, 1976). This time, RD Burman would not budge and Kishore Kumar asked him to record Lata Mangeshkar’s version first so that he could learn from it. When one hears his magical rendition, one can’t help but wonder if it was his humility that egged him to work extra hard and perform as well as he did.
Kishore Kumar was perceived as a jovial and eccentric person but that may just have been a façade to hide his inner turmoil. He never had things easy. It couldn’t have been easy for a man as talented as him to struggle for 20 years to be taken seriously as a singer. He had a rocky personal life as well as he went from marriage to marriage – Ruma Guha, Madhubala, and Yogeeta Bali – before finding true happiness with Leena Chandavarkar. Towards the end, Kishore Kumar became increasingly disillusioned with the film industry and became somewhat of a recluse. Glimpses of this troubled man can be seen in his interview with Lata Mangeshkar.
It is unfortunate that the “crazy” narrative overwhelms other aspects of Kishore Kumar’s complex personality. If we peel off the superficial, what we see is a beautiful, misunderstood man. The documentary Zindagi Ek Safar: Kishore Kumar does a fairly good job of making sense of the man behind the music.
