In today’s weekend blog, I am writing about some unknown facts/stories about the legendary Bollywood celebrity KISHORE KUMAR. Although he was a multi-faceted person, he gained the most popularity as a playback singer. He was an unschooled singer who had no classical training. He was truly a master of all trades-be it was his beautiful voice that could make any song alive, or his quirky antics while recording the songs were very famous. Though he is best known as one of the greatest singers, he was also a good actor. Apart from singing and acting he was a lyricist, composer, producer, director, and scriptwriter.
Here are some fascinating story snippets from the eventful life of the legendary actor-singer.
1 As a child, Kishore Kumar’s voice was very shrill- As per family sources, when he was 5/6 years old he got hurt badly, and he started crying very loudly, and after this bout of crying subsided, there was a change in his voice, that continues to enthrall us till date.
2 The popular song Panch Rupaiya Barah Anna is based on a true event in his life-During his college days, Kishore Kumar used to eat at his college canteen. It has been said that for many years after coming to Bombay, he still owed the sum of Paanch Rupaiya Barah Anna to the canteen owner. He immortalized this fact in the famous song Paanch Rupaiya Barah Anna in 1958 film Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi.
3 Not many people know that Kishore Kumar was stage shy– In the 1950s and 60s, it was made mandatory by Playback Singer Association that every playback singer be present at a fundraising stage show. But on the day of the show, Kishore Kumar locked his house and become untraceable, which he did because he had stage phobia. His elder brother Ashok Kumar forced him to do stage shows, as because of his cranky nature Kishore had not filed his income tax returns for many years, and the IT department sent him notice of recovery for lakhs of Rupees (in those it was a big sum). So that he could repay the income tax department, he started stage shows, Ashok Kumar stood guarantee for him with the income tax department, hence Ashok Kumar forced him to do stage shows.
4 He was probably one of the most eccentric actors of all time- He was famous for his eccentricities. He once put up a sign outside his bungalow ‘ Beware of Kishore Kumar. Once he reportedly kept shaving off his part of mustache and hair till he was paid his entire fee by the producer.
5 His directors had better watch out, or else– Once when a director dragged Kishore Kumar to court for not following his instructions on the sets of a film, he decided to take the director seriously. While shooting a scene in which he was driving a car, Kishore kept driving till he reached Panvel because the director had forgotten to stay ‘cut’.
6 A ‘character singer’- Amitabh Bachchan and Kishore Kumar formed a great actor-singer partnership in the 1970s. For the immortal number, ‘Khaike Paan Banaraswala’. Kishore Kumar actually chewed Banarasi Paan before recording the song, to get the desired feel in his song. He also sang many songs for Rajesh Khanna and became such a master of capturing the actor’s mannerisms and way of speaking, that the latter once remarked “ We were two people with one voice”
7 A man who stood up for his belief, even if it affected his career- His denial to endorse then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s 20-point program, and not attending a stage show organized by Sanjay Gandhi, led to the ban of his songs/films on AIR, Vividh Bharti and Doordarshan.
8 During his lifetime he married four times- his wives were Ruma Guha, Madhubala, Yogeeta Bali, and Leena Chandavarkar. He used to call them ‘Bandariyas’ as they all happened to stay at Bandra or had lived there before.
9 The 1973 film Abhimaan– Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who directed this film, had picked up the story idea of this film from the life and times of Kishore Kumar and his first wife Ruma.
10 He had a unique style of yodelling– Yodelling is singing in a manner that the voice fluctuates rapidly between a normal and an exaggerated tone. He was the first Indian singer who started yodeling while singing. There are many songs, in which yodeled, like “ Main Hoon Jhum Jhum Jhumroo”, “Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana”, Chala Jaata Kisi Ki Dhun Mein”, and many more.
There are many more stories about Kishore Kumar, which I might cover in my future blogs.
Waiting for your views on this blog
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
22nd October 2022.
My next blog will be after the Diwali festival holidays.
WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY DIWALI