It is the birth anniversary of Kishore Kumar, a day worth remembering for all lovers of music. Born 4th August 1929, Kishore was never a trained singer. His biopic mentions that he once got badly injured as a child, cried very loudly for several days, and that "opened" up his vocal chords! It is one of those injuries that changed Indian music forever!
He started his film career as a comic hero in many films, where his costar was Bhagwan. It was films like Chalti Ka Naam Gadi, Nayi Dilli and Hum Sab Ustad Hain that established him as a comic hero of some repute. But his heart was in singing and he dabbled in it, until he was finally discovered and established by Sachin Dev Burman as a playback singer. His early tunes were magical, and best when he gave voice to himself:
Or this one:
Or my favorite:
But of course he is most well known as a playback singer for providing the singing voice to Dev Anand in films like Jewel Thief, Guide. His teaming up with RD Burman led to both reaching unimagined heights of creativity and success. The voice of Kishore also provided impetus to the success of Rajesh Khanna as a hero in the 70s and then Amitabh Bachchan in the late 70s and early 80s.
Read more here!
He started his film career as a comic hero in many films, where his costar was Bhagwan. It was films like Chalti Ka Naam Gadi, Nayi Dilli and Hum Sab Ustad Hain that established him as a comic hero of some repute. But his heart was in singing and he dabbled in it, until he was finally discovered and established by Sachin Dev Burman as a playback singer. His early tunes were magical, and best when he gave voice to himself:
Or this one:
Or my favorite:
But of course he is most well known as a playback singer for providing the singing voice to Dev Anand in films like Jewel Thief, Guide. His teaming up with RD Burman led to both reaching unimagined heights of creativity and success. The voice of Kishore also provided impetus to the success of Rajesh Khanna as a hero in the 70s and then Amitabh Bachchan in the late 70s and early 80s.
Read more here!
Great article, Pardesi, truly he was a sensational voice, uber talented, and one of the best of BW ever produced, TBH I like his movies better than SRK's or Bachchan's just for the sheer fun they were
ReplyDeleteRemembering Kishore is SO easy, I listen to his song every day and it is like he never left!
ReplyDeleteAnd a lin k to a wonderful interview with the highly eccentric man by Pritish Nandy:
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I think Singer has longer life, if he had sung classical ever green songs. Kishore ,Lata ,Rafi all are still part of life where as even biggest superstar has just been faded away from memory and not part of life any more. I also put one post ,dedicated to Kishore on NG.
ReplyDelete@Kunal, nice to see you man. Where are you?
I saw that one, thanks! It is funny how Kishore and Rafi live on and we have forgotten songs from the last 5 years!
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