The spark that he was

VINAY KUMAR

Yodelling or singing romantic songs. Adding a note of comedy or a dash of sadness, Kishore Kumar could do it all.

HATS OFF TO YOU Kishore Kumar in "Rukshana".

It was about five decades ago when a young lad from Khandwa landed up in Bombay to meet his idol K.L. Saigal, the great singer whom he adored and idolised. As his brother Ashok Kumar was a superstar at that time, he did not think it to be an impossible task. As luck would have it, the lad could not meet Saigal but coming days saw him being cajoled to enter the filmdom. The lad was none other than Kishore Kumar, born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly, who hailed from an orthodox Bengali Brahmin family.

In the years to come, Kishore Kumar would emerge as the man who could act, mimic, sing and produce films. Truly, a multi-faceted, versatile genius he wanted to be the greatest and most successful singer on the land but picked up acting on the way.

In the later years, he concentrated on his playback singing and came up with such smash hits that swayed the people to his tunes.

Kishore Da burst on the Hindi film scene like a breath of fresh air, lapped up comic roles and essayed them with such lucidity that the roles looked tailor made for him. Remember "Chalti Ka Naam Gadi" and "Padosan" where he regaled with his acting and ruled the hearts with his melodious voice. As he kept to himself, loved his solitude and frowned upon anything that he considered pedestrian, Kishore Da came to be known as outrageous, a madcap genius, unpredictable and as someone who had an uncanny penchant to be comic, crazy and bizarre who would scold his producers and teach his directors a lesson or two in filmmaking.

Kishore Kumar came to be associated with the most charming women of his times and married four interesting women who were linked with the entertainment world. His first wife was Ruma Devi, who had established her own choir, and the other three were successful Bollywood actresses - Madhubala, Yogeeta Bali and Leena Chandravarkar. If he separated from Ruma Devi - mother of well-known singer Amit Kumar - it was because she wanted to build a career and he wanted someone to build a home. His second wife, Madhubala, a popular heroine of her times, was very sick and wanted to be married before she died. He married her knowing it. She was a big fan of Dilip Kumar and watched from her bed "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" nearly 500 times. Often Kishore Kumar would get upset on seeing her watch Dilip Kumar's movies. Kishore Da watched her lie in bed for years. She died in February 1969.

He considered his third marriage with Yogeeta Bali a joke but found happiness in the fourth marriage with ssLeena Chandravarkar who herself had passed through tragic times.

In a rare interview to Pritish Nandy, the then editor of Illustrated Weekly of India, Kishore Da had expressed a desire to quit Bombay and settle in Khandwa as he considered Bombay to be a "friendless, stupid" city where everyone was out to exploit someone. He thought that he got a chance to act as all producers and directors were bent upon making him a star because he was Dadamoni's brother, the great hero of his times. So what did he do? He screamed, went cuckoo, played difficult, went crazy and tried so many other tricks but in his own fashion became an actor.

An interesting tale was narrated about Kishore Da when he had refused to bow to the wishes of Sanjay Gandhi to sing for a Congress rally in Bombay during Emergency. For a while a ban was put on All India Radio on playing his songs but he refused to apologise. Scores of prominent producers and directors finally convinced those in power to lift the ban.

As one who preferred to be a loner who did not smoke, drink or socialise, Kishore Da spent time talking to his trees, even singing to them. His movie "Door Gagan Ki Chao Mein" which had opened with just 10 people in the hall, went on to become a hit. It is another matter that he mixed words like "Boom, boom, boompitty, boom, boom, chiachikachik, chik, chik, yadlehe, yadlehe, ooo" in his songs to rib-tickling effects on his audience. His "Mere Sapno Ki Rani " launched him and Rajesh Khanna on the path to super stardom from Shakti Samant's celebrated hit "Aradhana" and Kishore Da went on to give his fans, admirers and all others strings of hits in "Amar Prem", "Aapki Kasam", "Safar" and "Kora Kagaz'. His duets with Asha Bhonsle and Lata Mangeshkar climbed popularity charts and Kishore Da was suddenly everywhere.

It could only be termed as a strange coincidence that the three great singers of Hindi filmdom - Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Mukesh - died suddenly of massive heart attacks. Kishore Da died on October 13, 1987 at age 58.

"Zindagi Ka Safar, Hai Ye Kaisa Safar, Koi Samjha Nahin, Koi Janaa Nahi", Kishore Da once sang. True but really "Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Guzar Jaate Hai Jo Muqaam Woh Phir Nahi Aate." Kishore Da will never come back but his songs will continue to hit airwaves for generations to come.

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