Musicians - Kishore Kumar

Home > Listing Index > Musicians > Kishore Kumar

	Musicians - Kishore Kumar

Kishore Kumar (August 4, 1929 - October 13, 1987), born as Abhas Ganguly, was a Bollywood film playback singer (Hindi, Bangla, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Oriya) and actor of Bengali Indian origin. He was one of the most popular playback singers of his time and his recordings are still best-sellers.

Although known primarily for his successes as a singer, Kumar was a noted actor. His comedy work included Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Half Ticket, Padosan, Baap Re Baap, Pyar Diwana (1973), and Hungama (1971)). As a straight actor he had roles in films such as Naukri, Bandi, Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein, Door Ka Raahi.

In addition, Kumar achieved notable successes as a lyricist, composer, producer, director, screenwriter and scriptwriter.

Childhood

Kumar was born in a Bengali family as Abhas Kumar Ganguly, in the small town of Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh. His father Kunjalal Ganguly was a lawyer and from a middle-class family, whereas his mother Gouri Devi was from a wealthy background. Kumar was the youngest of four children born to his parents. Ashok Kumar was the eldest son, followed by Sati Devi, the only daughter in the family. Next was Anoop Kumar, and five years younger to Anoop was Kishore.

When Kumar was still a child, his elder brother Ashok Kumar became a star actor in Bollywood, which had a major effect on the youngest Kumar. He became a great fan of K. L. Saigal and used to do impressions of his singing. Often his parents would persuade him to mimic his brother's Ashok Kumar's song Main ban ka panchhi. Anoop Kumar also ventured into Bollywood following Ashok's successes.

Initial days in Bollywood

Kishore Kumar followed his elder brothers' footsteps and came to Mumbai to pursue a career in films as a singer. At this juncture, Anoop's career was stalling as his singing was not as strong as his acting (this was an era where actors who could also sing were in great demand.) On a visit to Austria Anoop bought some records to help him improve his vocal skills. On a later occasion, back in India, he was reportedly entering his home when he heard yodelling emerging from a room. Annoyed, he is said to have thundered "Who touched my records?" However, on entering the room he found that it was in fact the youngest Kumar whose voice it was. He had learned how to yodel from Anoop's Austrian records.

Kumar disliked acting and instead wanted to become a leading singer in Bollywood. However, he didn't have any formal training in singing or music. Through his brother Ashok's contacts in the industry Kumar did though make his debut in films - initially failing to make an impression. But he continued acting, which allowed him to sing on the soundtracks of the films. At this stage of his career, Kumar's style was derivative of K. L. Saigal's. Once, Sachin Dev Burman came to Ashok Kumar's house and hear what sounded like K. L. Saigal's voice coming out of the bathroom. Impressed, S. D. Burman asked Ashok who was singing. Hearing the answer, he waited until Kishore Kumar had finished bathing. He had a little talk with Kumar during which he expressed his appreciation of his singing but advised, "Don't try to ape K. L. Saigal. Apers never make great artists. You should develop your own singing style." After this, Kumar developed his own trademark singing style, which was completely different from the styles of Rafi, Mukesh and Saigal. He used to yodel in many of his songs. Sachin Dev Burman became his mentor and guide. S D Burman, who had never heard yodelling before, used to call it "gala tod ke gaana" ('break-throat singing'). Yodelling became Kishore's trademark, and the media described his singing style as "yodelling at the moon".

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.

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.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Kishore Kumar ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Kishore Kumar; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay