Method in Madness

That's the title of a book by Derek Bose about Kishore Kumar. A nicely illustrated hardback, I found it at Manney's book store in Pune. It is a delightful read, particularly because I am a die-hard fan of the singer. Of course, his multi-faceted personality shines through the writing of Bose, and his life's story also gets told in a way that is different from another book by Kishore Valicha that I had earlier read.

His ability to mimic his stars played a great role in Kishore Kumar sounding like them on screen. Initially, he was afraid of stage shows, but after he got over the stage fear, always made sure that his audience - and himself-had a blast. Over 2000 songs are credited to him, and about seven films that he directed are too. He also composed quite a few, including the great ones from Jhumroo and Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein. Door Ka Rahi also had a couple of great numbers.

A wonderful character, who had his share of miseries in his marriages- four in all. But he never gave up, and enjoyed life to the full. There's an anecdote about how he bugged Laxmikant about learning some instrument (he was actually self-trained in singing and music) when Laxmikant and Pyarelal were musicians in an orchestra, which is telling. His co-singers all respected him for his uncanny ability to understand his audiences.