I am sure most Indians or for that matter, people of Indian origin who follow the music of Bombay would know of him, but it is my guess that most focus on his songs, otherwise passing him off as a maverick, or an eccentric recluse, at best. He was actually a very charming, intelligent, and interesting person, as I discovered, after reading a couple of his biographies recently. So, I thought I should jot down a little bit of what I gleaned, i.e., on the less talked about aspects of Kishore. One thing I am sad about is that I never got to attend any of his spectacular stage shows or Kishore nites as they were termed, they would have been quite entertaining, for sure. So, let me start by telling you something you may find hard to believe, Kishore was initially quite scared of getting on stage. Would you believe that he insisted on singing from the shadows or as in his first performance, in the shadow of Sunil Dutt, much like it the movie scene in Padosan with the song - Mere Samne Wali?
But well, you may not know this, Kishore appeared on the Anand
set with a shaved head forcing Mukerji (another version states that Kishore’s
gatekeeper sent back an irate Mukerji who had come to discuss the project) to
cancel the shoot and replace him with Rajesh Khanna. Kishore explained many
years later that he hated acting, and wanted to be nothing more than a singer.
He explains that all the tomfoolery was only to get out of acting, but well, in
a way all that backfired and he became a good comedian! As Dev Anand mentions
in his autobiography, Kishore was always an enigma.
Kishore took to a serious career in singing only after acting
issues with producers. At that juncture, his first wife Ruma Devi had suggested
he cut down on acting assignments, especially as some of his films were not
doing too well. The big leap came with Aradhana, propelling him into a busy musical
career, which resulted in him singing some 2,905 mesmerizing numbers! Yeah,
there was a silly Malayalam song too in that list, it was “ABCD Chettan KD,
Aniyanu pedi” (actually not as atrocious as you would imagine, when it
comes to pronunciation since it had a lot of Hindi lines in it).
As they say, there is always a method to his madness, and a
classic example is how he used to study the actor of the song carefully before
he recorded it, to make sure the song really matched up with the character. Who
really does those things these days, in fact, most don’t even know what the
character is or for that matter who the actor is! The life of the song is in
the mood it creates and Kishore insisted that he understood it well in advance,
not just the film scene or the situation, but also the character of the actor playing
the role. RD Burman used to mention that Kishore always imbibed the persona of
the actor, even the walk, the talk, and the mannerisms for a few days during the
recordings.
People remember Kishore for his yodeling, something he
introduced in Bollywood. Both Kishore and his brother Anoop had studied the
works of Swiss singer Tex Morton and the Australian Jimmy Rodgers for many
years, before perfecting the yodeling style. Though Anoop reached nowhere in
his singing career, Kishore excelled at it. And that was how Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo
became his signature yodel! Brilliant yodeling hits followed, Zindagi Ek Safar
Hai Suhana (Andaz), Bhor Aayee Gaya Andhiyara (Bawarchi), Ye Sham Mastani (Kati
Patang), and many more. Dev Anand states that he always encouraged it, stating
that “It sounded like the cry of a solitary voice in the loneliness of the
hills, a cry for romance. Kishore was also fascinated with the Israeli singer
and entertainer Chaim Topol, and seemingly saw his movie ‘Fiddler on the Roof’
more than a hundred times.
Kishore it appears studied the nuances of western music,
and took pains to understand complex compositions of classics such as Mozart, and
the styles of maestros such as Elvis and Frank Sinatra! Fascinating tidbits
jump out from his recording sessions, how Lata and Asha would insist on Kishore
being kept out of the recording rooms during their parts, simply because he
made them laugh uncontrollably during rehearsals. He did see sides others did
not, like how he got Hema Malini to sing a Bengali song Gun Gun Gun Kore.
Asha would always say that it was Kishore who drove her to such heights, making
her take risks and going up the scale at times, well beyond the original plan,
only because her duet partner Kishore had done it in the previous stanza!
Some might wonder how a popular singer who produced so many
hits and commanded a good price was perpetually in financial difficulties, well
it had to do with his passion for producing films, and though he did not quite
have that box office knack, many of them were good. But the fact that they left
him penniless made Kishore a bitter man most of the time.
We saw at the outset that he had this incredible stage
fright, but also that he went on to become one of the greatest stage
entertainers. Kishore Kumar nites were much talked about and ever-popular, and
in those days when they did not use technical wizardry and pyrotechnics.
Performers had to get the audience on their feet using their own skills and indeed,
it was a tough act. Melody, mimicry, tomfoolery, and of course yodeling,
interspersed with some brilliant singing and play-acting took him to
entertaining heights. One of his signature techniques was to start a song
without music and let the orchestra catch up, unlike singers today who need to
start with the right chord!
But what you did not know was that in his early days, he had
recording studios cleared of bystanders since he could not tolerate anybody
staring at him! Can you imagine that he wanted to be blindfolded at times so
that he would be to himself in the recording room? Actually, the first time
he went on stage was at Calcutta, to start a series of Kishore Kumar nites, and
he actually backed out, joining the troupe on stage only at the very last
moment, eventually starting his stage career with a composition of his own,
done impromptu on the spot! Sunil Dutt explains that he took Kishore along to
entertain the Jawans at Ladakh once and Kishore refused to come on stage. At
this point, Sunil suggested that he go in front and Kishore sing in the
background (much like they did later in Padosan), but then they found that
there was no curtain behind which Kishore could hide. Sunil then suggested that
Kishore stand in his shadow and as the songs progressed, Sunil stepped out
leaving Kishore exposed. Initially, the singer panicked, but then continued on,
gaining confidence. Slowly he got the stage fear out of his system and became
a superlative performer. Kishore studied Danny Kay the Hollywood actor and it
was after watching him that Kishore molded himself as a complete stage
entertainer later on in life.
A photo of the mantelpiece at his home shows many
photographs of Vivekananda, his mother, Virgin Mary, Ganesha, and Marlon
Brando’s large still from Godfather. That was a surprise. Why Brando?? Seems
Gary Cooper was his favorite actor and Marlon Brando was his idol. In fact, a
meeting between Brando and Kishore had also been planned. But it was not to
happen, for in that very year, 1987, Kishore passed away.
Back to the singing career of Kishore - After coming out of
his Saigal fixation, Kishore finally found his own style, thanks to SD Burman and
Dev Anand. Interestingly SDB heard Kishore singing while at Ashok’s house in
order to discuss the film Mashal and hearing Kishore, asked him to forget Saigal
and start singing in his own voice. Not only did he just say it, but decided to
help Kishore mold his voice over several years. It was Dev Anand who help
catapult to the top of the charts, with his songs tuned by SD and the trio
Dev-SDB-Kishore delivered many hits while Kishore became well known as Dev’s
voice.
Dev Anand says - After he became a star-actor, and the
artist in him grew in great measure, Kishore never sang for anybody except for
me, barring a few exceptions. Whenever I needed him to sing for me, he was
ready to play Dev Anand in front of the microphones in the recording studios.
He always asked me in what particular way I wanted to perform the song on the
screen, so that he could modulate and style his singing accordingly. And I
would always say, 'Do it with all the pep you want, and I shall follow your
way.' There was that kind of rapport between the two of us.
But curiously Kishore got stuck for a while as a straight
romantic singer and continued with his comedic roles and films, as an actor,
nevertheless continuing with his daily Riyaz with his harmonium, meticulously.
That was around the time when his problems with the IT department started. After
the film Padosan, his style of comedy fell by the wayside and Kishore no longer
had the luxury of twin careers, he was forced to focus on his voice. Adding
misery, disagreements with his wife Ruma Ghosh resulted in her leaving him and
going back to Calcutta. Soon enough, after Chalti ka Naam Ghadi, he married the
ailing Madhubala. Her surgery at London did not pan out and upon their return,
the relationship descended into gloom, squabbling and pathos. Door Gagan ki
Chaon Mein flopped, taxmen came after him and his finances were in shambles. The
tax authorities pounced on Kishore who was already broke. Ashok had to pay the Rs
25,000/- deposit, in order to avoid bigger issues.
In 1968, Kishore once again came across SDB after many years
and the latter suggested he focus on his voice. In 1969, SDB roped him in for
Aradhana, for a singing comeback and in the process, Kishore built up a rapport
with RDB who was assisting papa SDB. Their tweaking of the song Roop Tara mastana
created an everlasting memory for the audience. His partnership with Rajesh
Khanna blossomed and many memorable numbers ensued. Finally, he had his voice,
that special brightness, his price and his place in the Bollywood film factory.
Time went by, things changed - Khanna went out and Amitabh Bachchan came in. Kishore
hits tuned by RDB and Gulzar followed with wonderful regularity.
One incident I always remember is his absence from the radio
waves during the Emergency years. I missed him sorely and only recently did I
lay my hands on the Shaw commission report which provided many details of the
incident.
It all started with the discussions to create a TV show 'Geeton
Bhari Shaam' with many film personalities praising Sanjay Gandhi’s 20-point
program, for which a team from Delhi had come to Bombay in Jan 1976. VC Shukla
was the minister for I&B and he was represented in the above meeting by
Joint secretary CB Jain. Kishore Kumar did not attend the meeting and GP Sippy
the producer suggested that Jain contact Kishore directly to persuade him, as
Kishore was playing truant and refusing to help with the propaganda work. When
Jain called Kishore and pressed him, stating that they could come and meet
Kishore at his home, Kishore replied curtly that he was unwell with a heart
ailment and that he did not wish to sing on the radio or TV. Jain was miffed
and considered this grossly discourteous behavior. Around the same time Kissa
Kursi Ka had been trashed and Aandhi had been banned.
Returning to Delhi, Jain reported the incident and Kishore’s
noncooperation to his boss SMH Burney. Burney decided that Kishore be banned
from the AIR and Doordarshan, that none of his songs be played on these
channels and that none of his films be shown on TV. They also decreed that all
sales of gramophone records with his songs be frozen. HMV agreed and also decided
to stop future song recordings with Kishore, but Polydor did not do so. Burney then
noted in the files that this was having a desired effect on the film industry
and that others quickly toed the line stating - these measures “had a tangible
effect on film producers”.
After a while, whether due to pressure from his peers and
others in the industry or of his own volition, Kishore sent a letter to the
ministry a couple of months later in July, where he agreed to cooperate with the
government. It also appears that others interjected on his behalf and we can
read about the visit undertaken by Dev Anand to Delhi to meet Shukla, Dev’s
attempts to get Nargis to interject on behalf of the film people etc. Eventually,
in view of this “undertaking in which Kishore had agreed to cooperate with the
government,” Jain wrote, “we may lift the ban and watch the degree of
co-operation that he extends.”
Facing the Shaw commission inquiry much later, after all the
damage was done, VC Shukla who had formally approved Burney’s actions, accepted
responsibility for the regrettable misuse of authority. I used to wonder what happened to these characters ever since
and read that Sayed Muzaffar Hussain Burney lived on to a ripe age of 92,
passing away in 2014, serving as a governor in various states, then as the
chairman of the minority commission and also as the chancellor of the JMI
University. Jain seems to have continued in the bureaucracy, working with
tourism and so on. VC Shukla kept changing alliances and parties and passed
away in 2013. Strange are the ways of fate, I guess! Kishore on the other hand continued to suffer through several IT raids and had to do a number of stage
shows to pay his tax dues.
One of my all-time favorites and a particularly fascinating
Kishore number is Yeh Jeevan Hai from Piya ka Ghar, a soft, melodic and
intimate piece. Imagine, he sang it without a rehearsal, as he did often in the
old days, sitting in a high back chair, with an unmoving body but gesticulating
with his hands and expressive in his face! Zindagi ka Safar, Badi Sooni (sung after
SDB recovered from a heart attack) and Mera Jeevan Kora Kagez, were superb
numbers, those which remind me of my college days and our resident Kishore – VK
Haridas - who sang them with such aplomb. Wo Sham Kuch Ajeeb and Koi Hum dam
are perhaps the most satisfying, though. A long gap of mediocre songs followed
till Chookar mere man ko, Mere Naina Sawan Bha do, Hume Tumse Pyar and Chalte Chalte
came about.
Mechanical toys, dolls, real and dummy dogs, mannequins and brooding
alone at his home took up most of Kishore’s spare time. Another short-lived
marriage with Yogeeta Bali followed, with arguments over her using his toilet,
something he could not tolerate and later her overbearing mother-in-law Geetha Bali,
an actress from yesteryears. Finally, in 1978 that Leena Chandavarkar entered
his life and balanced it, but it was perhaps a wee bit late. They got married
in 1980, his fourth marriage and had a son Sumit.
Kishore never drank or smoked, but chewed fresh betel
leaves, plucked from his own garden. His secret hiding room, his glass door
which guests frequently banged into, the all-around closed-circuit TV etc. are
all the stuff of legends. What most people did not know was that Kishore went
to that hidden room to practice, and I read that he would spend days to get a
song right before he went to the recording studio. He loved fish and mutton curries, fried food like pakoras and bhajjis, while kheer and rabdi were his favorite desserts. He
hated parties, loved watching Hitchcock and horror movies and did talk to his
trees and the many pet dogs and cats, often.
Kishore always wanted to get away from Bombay – Once he told
Pritish Nandy - Who can live in this stupid, friendless city where everyone
seeks to exploit you every moment of the day? Can you trust anyone out here? Is
anyone trustworthy? Is anyone a friend you can count on? I am determined to get
out of this futile rat race and live as I’ve always wanted to. In my native
Khandwa, the land of my forefathers. somehow, thanks to peculiar circumstances,
I was persuaded to act in the movies. I hated every moment of it and tried
virtually every trick to get out of it. I muffed my lines, pretended to be
crazy, shaved my head off, played difficult, began yodeling in the midst of
tragic scenes, told Meena Kumari what I was supposed to tell Bina Rai in some
other film – but they still wouldn’t let me go. I screamed, ranted, went
cuckoo. My shirts flying off, my trousers falling off, my wig coming off while
I’m running from one set to the other. Very often I would mix up my lines and
look angry in a romantic scene or romantic in the midst of a fierce battle. It
was terrible and I hated it. But who cared? They were just determined to make
me a star, because I was dadamoni’s brother. People bore me. Film people
particularly bore me. I prefer talking to my trees.
Dev summarizes Kishore’s character admirably - He was a
great funster, though this was not apparent to the outside world. Since we were
both childlike, we made jolly good friends. He often confided in me, like a
child in his elder brother. Before he got married to his first wife, he asked
me if marriage was a good idea. I told him, 'If you like the idea, and are in a
mood for it, it is the best thing in the world." But Kishore remained an
enigma to me, a very loveable enigma. A great singer who never learnt singing
professionally from a master, a great comic actor who never went to a training
school, a reasonably good director who conceived and directed his own movies,
having never been an assistant to any director.
In the end, money became his craze, and overwork
followed, if only for the thrill of counting wads and wads of money.
Perhaps it was looming insecurity. It was bound to have a detrimental effect
and in 1982 he had a massive heart attack at Calcutta where his stage shows had
started. Advised a bypass, Kishore turned it down and continued singing and
making movies. In 1987 Ashok Kumar, his elder brother and the mainstay in his
life passed away. A few months later in Oct 87, Kishore had his second attack,
which took away his life, he was aged just 58. There is continued talk about
his eccentricities, but they are not really worth talking about, the man, the
singer was much above all those silly antics. He was a man who sang from his
heart.
Dev Anand concludes - And finally, one day, without
giving any warning, he was gone, suddenly. I stood by his dead body in
his bedroom all alone, closed my eyes and silently sang all the songs he had
sung for me, in a deep moment of sorrow. Then I rushed back to my car outside,
and cried and cried, crying all the way back home.
References
Kishore Kumar – Method in Madness
– Derek Bose
Kishore Kumar – The definitive
biography – Kishore Valicha
Shah Commission Interim report – Volume 2
A lovely site with all kinds of Kishore trivia and see a lovely video of him recording a song
6 comments:
I just loved him and his performances on screen. As far as his songs go, it is his timing that makes him stand out. His. timing of responding to the previous line (by the co singer) Just close your eyes and listen to it. It is almost like responding at the right time with the right tone.
He is the equivalent of Charlie Chaplin in India. Director, producer, actor, singer, music director all rolled into one.
Thanks haddock..
A real enigma , that was Kishore!!
Never knew this kishore..what an immensly talented singer
Yeah - a real enigma
Not that Kishore is the only singer who never sees into the text to sing on the stage but his timing and performance is just out of this world.
Thanks Sudhir,
I recall reading he prepared quite a bit before his stage shows, also any difficult song he was going to record. Yes, sometimes he did it without any rehearsals, but otherwise, he prepared in advance.
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