Kishore Kumar

Kishore Kumar (August 4, 1929 - October 13, 1987), born as Abhas Ganguly, was a Bengali Indian film playback singer (Hindi, Bangla, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Oriya) and actor. He also worked as producer, composer and lyricist but is chiefly remembered as one of the three leading male playback singers in Bollywood (the other two being Mohammed Rafi and Mukesh). He sang extensively with the songbirds of Bollywood - Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.

Kishore becomes a known face

Kishore never wanted to act, but he was too afraid to rebel against his elder brother Ashok Kumar, who was hell-bent on making him a popular Bollywood hero. After his initial films flopped, Kishore decided that he would act so badly in the forthcoming movie that no producer would ever again ask him to act in a movie. As a result of this decision, Kishore started acting in a strange, funny way. But instead of rejecting him, movie buffs were delighted to see a hero who could make them laugh. His style was a welcome change from the sober, romantic and tragic traditional heroes of Bollywood. Thus, Kishore became comedy-film producers' first choice. In the late 1950s, he used to run from one studio to another, recording songs, acting, composing music and sometimes even writing lyrics! He even produced and directed some movies.

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Apart from S D Burman, Khemchand Prakash was another composer who recognized Kishore's singing talent early. He composed Kishore's songs in the movie Ziddi. Ziddi's songs established Kishore as a singer. Incidentally, it was at Khemchand's studio, where Kishore met Lata Mangeshkar, with whom he sang many duets later. Lata was going to Khemchand's studio and Kishore was also bound for the same place. Lata thought that some loafer was following her! It was only after reaching the studio that she realized the 'loafer' was Kishore, Ashok Kumar's younger brother. Soon, many other composers like Ravi realized that Kishore had potential to be a good singer. Many lyricists, including Majrooh Sultanpuri and Shailendra became ardent admirers of Kishore.

Related Topics:
Khemchand Prakash - Lata Mangeshkar - Ravi - Majrooh Sultanpuri - Shailendra

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S D Burman established Kishore as the voice of popular actor Dev Anand when he got him to sing for Dev Anand in the movies Taxi Driver and Paying Guest. After S D Burman fell out with Lata Mangeshkar in 1957, he gave patronage to Asha Bhosle. Till this time, duets were not very popular in Bollywood. Once S D Burman told Majrooh Sultanpuri "We invest so much energy in recording duets, and nobody likes them". Majrooh replied "The mistake is ours. We lyricists never write any good songs that couples would love to hum." S D Burman and Majrooh went on to work together on the most popular duets in the late 1950s. S D Burman, Majrooh, Asha and Kishore worked together in many movies including Kishore's home production Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), in which Kishore Kumar, Madhubala, Ashok Kumar and Anoop Kumar acted. The songs Ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si, Haal kaisa hai janaab ka, Paanch rupaiya baara aana became very popular. They were also heard in Dev Anand's Paying Guest (1957) and Teen Deviyan. The song Mana janab ne pukara nahin from Paying Guest was a smash hit among the guys. Asha and Kishore became famous for singing 'casual' duets like Chhod do aanchal, zamaana kya kahega, Aye nigah-e-mastana, Aankhon mein kya ji, Arre yaar meri, tum bhi ho gajab, Chhedo na meri zulfein. Majrooh, Asha and Kishore also recorded popular duets with composer Ravi in the movie Dilli Ka Thug (1958) - C...A...T...Cat maane billi, Hum to mohabbat karega.

Related Topics:
Dev Anand - Lata Mangeshkar - Asha Bhosle - 1958 - 1957

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Majrooh Sultanpuri and Shailendra were favorite lyricists of Kishore. He got them to write songs in his home productions. In those days, musicians would recommend lyricists to producers. The musician duo Shankar-Jaikishan had promised Shailendra that they would recommend him to all the producers, but they didn't keep their promise. Shailendra sent them a note - Chhoti si yeh duniya, pehchaane raaste hain; Kahin to miloge, phir poochhenge haal (The world is small, the roads are known; we shall meet somewhere, then I would ask you - "How do you do"). Shankar-Jaikishan realized their mistake. They made a song out of the above words and got Kishore to sing it.

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Majrooh penned most of Kishore's hit songs in his initial days, most of them with S D Burman, for Dev Anand - Hum hain raahi pyaar ke, Maana janaab ne pukaara nahin etc.

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Kishore was interested in composing music as well. It is said, along with Kalyanji Shah (of Kalyanji-Anandji fame), he introduced electronic music to Bollywood. The electronic sounds in some of S D Burman's music are credited to Kishore (he assisted S D Burman sometimes). Sometimes, Kishore would compose music himself and write lyrics too. In 1961 movie, Jhumroo, Kishore wrote, composed and sang Main hoon jhumroo. This song is a very nice example of his yodelling ability. Kishore could sing in female voice too. In Half Ticket (1962), he sang "Aake Seedhi Lagi" in male as well as female voice. The song was written by Shailendra and composed by Salil Chowdhury.

Related Topics:
Kalyanji-Anandji - 1961 - 1962 - Salil Chowdhury

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