We are at a gathering organised by the music club Rewind in Mumbai’s Andheri on a Saturday evening, exactly four weeks away from the 88th birth anniversary of Kishore Kumar. His forthcoming birthday is not the motivation for the gathering, but we don’t exactly need a reason to celebrate his music.
As we begin, we are introduced by the Rewind experts to a rare audio clip in which Kishore plays a father, asking his son—Kishore again—in a childlike voice (reminiscent of a similar turn from him in the 1962 classic Half Ticket ), to sing a song. The son Kishore asks whose song he should sing—his guru K.L. Saigal’s or his elder brother Dadamoni’s (Ashok Kumar)—adding that he will charge a rupee for Saigal and 25 paise for the latter.
This eccentric audio clip pretty much summarises the genius of Kishore Kumar. It tells us, first and foremost, about his zany humour; secondly, his childhood singing inspiration, Saigal, whose style he tried to imitate in his debut song ‘Marne Ki Duaaein Kyon Maangun’ ( Ziddi , 1948); and, lastly, his unapologetic love for money.
Spreading his wings
After his debut as a singer in Ziddi , he became the singing voice of the reigning superstar Dev Anand. But there is an anomaly in their long-standing association. In between Paying Guest in 1957 and Teen Devian and Guide in 1965, Anand starred in 19-odd films and none of them featured a Kishore song.
What happened in those seven years? Quite a lot. Kishore’s résumé grew with more acting roles alongside playback singing. He debuted not only as a music director ( Jhumroo , 1961, as the first released soundtrack after two films with Phani Majumdar— Neela Aasmaan and Suhana Geet —got shelved) but also as a film director ( Door Gagan Ki Chhaaon Mein , 1964). And all the while, he was also nursing his ailing wife Madhubala.
Door Gagan… was apparently inspired by Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (Kishore was also married to Ray’s niece, Ruma Guha Thakurta, till 1958). Kishore is credited for the music, and writing, directing and producing the film. Regarding the lyricist credit in the film which is given completely to Shailendra, team Rewind shares an anecdote (which was narrated to them by Shailendra’s third son, Dinesh).
After someone informed the unpaid lyricist that he had been dropped from the film, Shailendra called up Kishore, who answered the phone in a woman’s voice. But Shailendra knew this trick and demanded that he be told the reason for being dropped from the film. Kishore told him he had no funds but had to write one more song, so he wrote it himself. Shailendra demanded to hear the song. Kishore sang it over the phone, to which Shailendra, in utter disbelief, replied that he would have written virtually the same lyrics for it. The song was ‘Aa Chal Ke Tujhe Main Le Ke Chaloon’.
Suhana Geet , had it been released, would have bust the myth that Kishore didn’t know classical music—Mohd. Rafi was the go-to singer for classical songs those days. We are played what is the only surviving portion of a Suhana Geet song, ‘Baaje Baaje’, composed and sung by Kishore. It is in Raag Bageshri.
International inspirations
Kishore’s first release as a composer, Jhumroo , in May 1961, coincided with the debut release of another little musician called R.D. Burman—Chhote Nawab. Interestingly, Kishore went on to sing the most number of songs with RD later. Their first collaboration was ‘Khit Pit Khit Karein’, which was recorded in 1964, the Rewind team tells us, but was used in Phir Kab Milogi a decade later in 1974. This makes Bhoot Bungla (1965) their first official film together as composer-singer.
However, it was papa Burman, SD, who was instrumental in not only shaping Kishore’s voice in the early years but also helping him get his mojo back as a singer after he was bogged down by acting assignments, a job Kishore claimed he detested.
It was SD and Anil Biswas who brought the real Kishore out of the Saigal-inspired Kishore. In an Anil Biswas composition, ‘Husn Bhi Hai Udaas Udaas’ ( Fareb , 1952), a Saigal kind of song, Kishore sings by relaxing the nasal intonation famously associated with the yesteryear singer.
His inspirations grew with his exposure to world music. He learnt yodelling by listening to James Charles Rodgers and Tex Norton albums that his brother Anoop Kumar purchased. He mimicked Danny Kaye’s scat singing technique, from ‘Oh By Jingo’, to perfection in a song from Baap Re Baap (composed by O.P. Nayyar, 1955), ‘Aisi Shaadi Se Hum Toh Kunwaare Bhale’. Speaking of shaadi and inspirations, he imitated another idol of his, Frank Sinatra, in Shabbash Daddy (1979). Sinatra’s ‘Love And Marriage’ became ‘Pyaar Aur Shaadi’, almost word by word, in this film that also stars his third wife Yogeeta Bali.
Kishore’s ‘harbola’ (Bengali for mimicking) skills and ability to effortlessly slide into multiple voices was an inextricable part of his idiosyncratic personality. And that’s clear right from the audio clip with which we began down through his entire oeuvre.
The author is an urban cogwheel who finds solace in writing about films and music.
