Kishore Kumar Birth Anniversary

 It's actually tomorrow (Aug. 4th), but.. 

One cannot really say anything that has not been said before, but one can give it a shot.

Born in Khandwa, he found fame in Mumbai (where else?) after a longish struggle. His brother Ashok Kumar was already established in one of the studios there, and got Kishore some roles in films, and maybe, gave him hope. Eventually, Khemchand Prakash gave him a break, and Kishore sang in Saigal style. Dukhi man mere, sun mera kehna was a song from Ziddi in that style. Later, SD Burman mentored him and got him to find his voice. The rest is history.

He sang mainly for SD Burman, as Dev Anand's voice, or in his own films where he was on screen. But not many music composers opted for him, while Rafi was going strong. That changed after Aradhana, his major hit with Rajesh Khanna lip-synching. They both took off. 

He produced countless hits, for many music directors like Kalyanji Anandji (Safar, Johny Mera Naam, Mahal are some), Rajesh Roshan (Julie, Des Pardes etc.), Laxmikant Pyarelal, and RD Burman, his favourite (Parichay, Golmaal, Aandhi, Kati Patang and so on), Chitragupt (Ganga ki Lehren), apart from SD Burman (Prem Pujari, Gambler, Mili, Jewel Thief). 

Heroes he gelled with included Amitabh, Dharmendra, Randhir Kapoor apart from Rajesh Khanna and Dev Anand.  He also sang for Deven Verma, and Pran. And many others. 

A salute on his birth anniversary, 2023.

A to Z of Kishore Kumar

I will try and list songs sung by Kishore Kumar that start with each letter or have it in the first word.

A- Are yaar meri tum bhi ho ghazab
B- Bhanwre ki gunjan hai mera dil
C- Chingari, koi bhadke..
D- Deewana leke aaya hai dil ka taraana
E- Ek main aur ek tu dono mile is tarah
F- Maaf karo o baba maaf karo
G- Guni jano re bhakt jano
H- Hum the woh thi aur sama rangeen samajh gaye na..mannu, tera hua ab mera kya hoga?
I - Is mod se jaate hain.
J- Jaane kya soch kar nahin guzra
K- Kuchh to log kahenge
L- Lekar hum deewana dil
M- Main hoon jhum jhum jhum jhum jhumroo
N- Nakhrewali, dekhne mein dekhlo yeh kaisi bholi bhali
O- O mere dil ke chain
P- Phoolon ke rang se
Q- Beqaraar dil tu gaaye ja
R- Raatkali ek khwab mein aayi aur gale ka haar hui
S- Saamne yeh kaun aaya dil mein hui hulchul
T- Teri duniya se hoke majboor chala
U- Ulfat mein zamaane ki har rasm ko thukrao
V- Vaada tera vaada..
W- Woh shaam kuchh ajeeb thee
X- (From Mr. X in Bombay)- Mere mehboob qayamat hogi..
Y- Yeh dil na hota bechara
Z- Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hai jo makaam woh phir nahin aate..

Listening to Kishore Kumar- Ina Mina Dika

I never get tired of listening to him. His voice is full of life. I must have first heard him in the late sixties, on radio when I was around 8 or 9. The early songs may have been Yeh dil, na hota bechara, from Jewel Thief, and then the delectable Mere sapnon ki rani kab aayegi tu from Aradhana. I still listen to these two.

In between, the range of songs I heard and liked grew into a big number. Almost all Rajesh Khanna films had him, and so did most Dev Anand films. Pal bhar ke liye koi hamein pyar kar le, picturised on Dev Anand and Hema Mailini was  a favourite those days, and so was the duet from the same film (Johny Mera Naam) -O mere Raja,..and still are.

Hum the woh thi aur samaa rangeen was my favourite among many lovely songs in Chalti ka Naam Gaadi, and his own acting was even better. Paanch rupiah baarah aana, also for its innovative lyrics. The film called Padosan was non-stop fun, in large part due to his singing and acting.

He also sang some superb songs in relatively unknown films- only the songs are remembered today. Pyar maanga hai tumhise from College Girl, Tum kitni khoobsurat ho fro Jangal Mein Mangal, O hansini from Zahreela Insaan, Aise na mujhe tum dekho from Darling Darling are some examples.

His duets from Aandhi are probably the best ever. And there were three in the film. Other duets that are memorable, for me Koi maane ya na maane, from Adhikaar, Pyar hua hai jab se, Mere meet bata, Tu laali hai savere wali, Gore rang pe na itna gumaan kar, Maar gayi mujhe teri judaai, Jaisa des waisa bhes phir kya darna, Neend churake raaton mein, Tum bhi chalo hum bhi chalen chalti rahe zindagi,..

Soulful songs? Those were in plenty also- Ajnabi, tum jaane pehchane se lagte ho is one standout song in this category. Mere mehboob qayamat hogi is another. All his songs from Amar Prem too.

Qawwali? He sang one in Anokhi Ada in this style- Haal kya hai dilon ka na poocchho sanam. Bhajan? Jai Govindam, Jai Gopalam (a parody), with the funniest lines- peechhe pad gaya income taxum, etc..

Nonsense lyrics? Ina mina dika, ..

Talented Folks I Know

This is triggered by a short film starring Divya Sharmaa, a former student at KIAMS. As usual, this is a short list (the long list would take too long) of some others (friends and relatives included)-

Padmapriya, actress who has won a National Award.

Abhinav Kamal, film-maker. Has won a Cannes Award.

Mir Ali (Osmania, IIMB)-lyricist of films such as Dor.

Bugzy, Pradyumna, Harshad Lunavat, Vivek Anant, Anuja,..photographers.

Parul Kashyap..blogger.

Harimohan, Pavan Tarawade, Sreeram, Devapriya Roy..published authors.

Arvind Joshi- Salsa dancer and trainer.

Shweta Sinha, Poonam Bhatia, Sheetal Garg, Anumeha Saxena, Shraddha Nigdikar, TK Chatterjee, Parth Gokhale, Milind Deshpande..singers.

Geeta Choudhary- humourist in real life. Indira, photographer, and artist.

Suhita Thatte- actress.

Jayant Dharmadhikari- writer of scripts, producer of Ankahee.

Dash (IIMB), Gowri, Meenu Mynam, Soumya Marla..writers.

Sanjana, Jasmine, Shrunga, Ayushi, Avik, Philip, Urvaksh,..Shreya, Ram..actors in a play or two at Indore.

Harish Chaudhary, Shweta Kushal,..directors of a play or two.

Rajan of India (IIMB), Thomas (a colleague at VJIM)- fun guys who coined interesting names for people.

Of course, talents extend in many directions..there will be a long list another day. For instance, cooking.. I am ready to taste and certify..

Same Singer Different Sounds

I am sometimes amazed by the ability of a singer to sound very different. I am of course talking of playback singing in Bollywood, an under-recognised art form globally. But anyway, I am going to illustrate using a favourite singer's songs. Kishore Kumar is the singer. A sample of his different sounding songs-

1. Ajnabi, tum jaane pehchaane se lagte ho.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIQmdaEerPE

2. Mere sapno ki rani kab aayegi tu.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EofAlMh2Huo

3. Tum aa gaye ho, noor aa gaya hai.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSjrsT8pTbQ

4. O manchali, kahan chali.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13q8acgdiY4

5. Ajnabi se banke karo na kinara.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kci6Q_mpUVU

6. Dukhi man mere sun mera kehna.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWk-Lwn1rcg

7. Tum bin jaoon kahan.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uqJhSXH89Q

8. Bachna ae haseeno, lo main aa gaya.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsjLQOco35U

9. Naach meri bulbul ke paisa milega.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzRz0p_UGhw

10. Meri pyari Bindu... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr_enRRcyuw

Why Kishore Kumar is Kishore Kumar

I am now close to his birthplace- Khandwa. So I thought I should once more pay this incredible guy a tribute. I have heard all singers who sang for Hindi films from about 1950 to date, one way or another, male and female, and also like many of them. But I still think Kishore Kumar was different-for me at least.

We used to joke among friends that even if he sang a sad song, he came out sounding upbeat. An example is 'Dukhi man mere, sun mera kehna, jahan nahin chaina wahan nahin rehna'..though a sad song, his singing somehow gives it a soothing quality.

Another quality of his singing was clear articulation. I never was a fan of western music, mainly because I could not figure out the lyrics. Some country music was an exception, but that was it. With Kishore Kumar, his words came out crystal clear, unlike a few of his predecessors. Understanding the song made it more pleasurable. Whether it was a solo or a duet. I think an extreme case of the music taking a complete backseat is a classic SD Burman song, ' Dil aaj shaayar hai' from Gambler, which remains a favourite.

The range. 'Koi hota jisko apna' to 'Chingari koi bhadke' to 'Ina mina dika', 'Zindagi ek safar hai suhana' to 'Nafrat karne walon ke seene mein pyar bhar doon' to 'Ye jawani hai diwani hat meri rani' to 'Dil kya kare jab kisi ko kisi se pyar ho jaye'...I could go on, but his solos just don't stop surprising you. Jhumroo alone is a good example of what he could do. A haunting 'Koi humdum na raha, koi sahara na raha' is offset by the exuberance of "Main hoon jhum jhum jhum jhum jhumroo, fakkad ghoomoon banke ghumru" with brilliant yodeling to accompany it.

And the duets are as amazing. 'Salaam-e-ishq meri jaan zara qubool kar lo' is a great mujra, but it comes into its own with KK joining in after one stanza has been completed. Same with the Aandhi classic, tuned by RD Burman- 'Tere bina zindagi se koi shikwa to nahin'. Older ones include 'Yeh raatein ye mausam nadi ka kinaara ye chanchal hawa', "Machalti hui hawa mein chham chham hamare sung sung chali ganga ki lehrein', 'Piya piya piya mora jiya pukare,... tum hi basi ho gori man mein hamare', Gaata rahe mera dil', 'Yeh duniya wale poochenge, mulaqat hui kya baat hui, yeh baat kisi se na kehna', Aankhon aankhon mein hum tum ho gaye deewane'.

He also managed to imitate the actors' voices in most cases, sounding romantic with Rajesh Khanna, sombre with Sanjeev Kumar in elderly roles, and macho with Amitabh Bachchan. He also acted and sang some super songs for himself, as in Chalti Ka Naam Gadi- each is a minor classic. 'Padosan' had this crazy scene where he tutors Sunil Dutt with 'Meri pyari Bindu' while circling around him with his gang. 

Monali Thakur on her Songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kez9ufDZQSs

Meet the lovely Monali Thakur, interviewed in this video. She is a singer who has done some good singing, but I became aware of her after I watched her as the lead actress in Nagesh Kukunoor's new film Lakshmi, screened at our campus. She has done a marvellous job as an actress too, and I certainly hope we see more of her on screen.  I am rather tired of Kareena, Katrina and Priyanka.

Among other songs, she has sung the English Vinglish marriage party song with some Marathi words in it. And 'Sawaar loon' from Lootera.

In case you like the above, there are more parts of that interview, like this for example-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbANVAfhkIg