The exceptional, exuberant, and eccentric showman that was Kishore Kumar
BILKULONLINE
SUNDAY Special
By Vikas Datta
New Delhi, Aug 4 : The Hindi film industry, despite its designated roles, has always witnessed different aspirations – some actors wanted to become directors, some directors wanted to be singers, some singers wanted to be actors, lyricists wanted to be singers, and so on in many other combinations.
And then, there was Kishore Kumar, who did everything. Known primarily as a singer for several generations of superstars, and then as an actor in some quirky comedies, he was a complete film package, also being a lyricist, screenwriter, music composer, producer, and director in his over four-decade-long career, which predated Independence. Kishore Kumar, who was born on this day (August 4) in 1929, was also the Hindi film industry’s biggest prankster and eccentric. His array of exploits included biting a producer’s hand when he came to deliver his money, making another defaulter pay up by landing at his house each morning to chant “Ae Talwar, de de mere aath hazaar” (Rs 8,000), leaving his co-actors and singers in splits on sets with his antics, among others.
Nevertheless, his contribution to films is immense and difficult to summarise. Take his singing career, where his mellifluous voice reverberated for stars from Dilip Kumar to Dev Anand to Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna to Amitabh Bachchan to Shashi Kapoor, and Jeetendra to Vinod Khanna to Sanjay Dutt in a range of emotions, moods, and situations. “Gentleman gentleman” to “Khwab ho tum ya koi haqeeqat” to “Pal pal dil ke paas”, “Zindagi ke safar mein maqam” to “Khaike paan Banaraswala” to “Khilte hain gul yahan”, “Haal kya hain dilon ka” to “Qurbani qurbani” to “Kya yehi pyar hai” for these actors, respectively, are just a mere trace of his oeuvre. That is not to forget “Ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si”, “Ham to mohabbat karega”, “Mere mehboob qayamat hogi”, and many others, for himself on his own onscreen forays. He is estimated, as per one biographer, to have sung 2,905 songs between 1946, when he became part of the industry, to 1988, when he succumbed to a heart attack.
An overwhelming majority of this, at 2,648, were for Hindi films, but also included 154 in Bengali, and a handful of songs in Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Marathi, Odia, Assamese, English, Punjabi, Kannada, and Malayalam. However, neither the mention of some of his songs nor the number-crunching can reveal the effortless expertise he was capable of, yet made endeavours he made to get into the spirit of the song – demanding Laxmikant-Pyarelal provide a cycle with a bell so he could record “Daakiya daak laya” from “Palkon ki Chhaon Mein” (1977), and his penchant for improvisation. One prominent example of the latter is the madcap contest of “Ek chatur naar” from “Padosan” (1968), where Manna Dey, who was singing for Mehmood, revealed how Kishore Kumar, nonchalantly covering up for Sunil Dutt, stole a march over him midway with just a few, ad-libbed words. As Master Pillai (Mehmood) sings “Naach na jaane, angan tedha, tedha tedha tedha..” as he cavorts around, Bhola (Sunil Dutt, voiced online by Kishore) responds mockingly, “Oh kede! Are sIdhe ho jaa re, sIdhe ho jaa re…”. This was enough, Dey recalled, to settle the “contest” in Kishore Kumar’s favour.
Then, there was his uncanny sense of gauging the mood of the composer. Brother Ashok Kumar, in an interview, recalled that once, Kalyanji-Anandji were miffed with Kishore Kumar as he did not show up for rehearsals but came straight away on recording day. But before they could even say something, Kishore Kumar told them he knew what the tune would be, picked up a harmonium, and proceeded to render it. As a flabbergasted Kalyanji asked him how he had come to know it, the singer just smiled. Yet, it was the same Kishore Kumar, who as a fan of K.L. Saigal – like almost all singers of his generation, agreed to do a record covering hits of the legendary singer, but junked it when he felt he was not doing justice to his idol. In acting, Kishore Kumar was not very enthusiastic, despite 100-odd films in Hindi and Bengali, and is perhaps the only one to turn down Satyajit Ray, and that too twice – for “Parash Pathar” (1959) and “Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne” (1968). He did sing for Ray’s “Charulata” (1964) and “Ghare Baire” (1985).
And that is not to say that filmmakers did not accommodate him – one of his most famous roles, of Guru, in “Padosan” was specially created, as no such character was there in “Pasher Bari” (1952), the Bengali film it was based upon, and he was tipped for the main role in “Anand”, but escaped by shaving his head. There is so much about him, but it is clear that he was one of a kind.
