Kishore Kumar

Kishore Kumar was one of the most versatile artists of the Indian film industry. He was a singer, a lyricist, a composer, an actor, a producer, a director, a screenwriter and also a scriptwriter. However, the man is mainly known for his brilliance in the field of music. He is regarded as one of the finest Indian male playback singers of all time and is fondly remembered by his fans till date. A versatile singer, he has sung in many Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam and Oriya. Explore the biography cum life history of Kishore Kumar.

Kishore Kumar was born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly on 4th August 1929. He took birth in a Bengali family in the small town of Khandwa (now in Madhya Pradesh). His father Kunjilal Ganguly, a lawyer, and mother Gouri Devi had four children, out of which Kishore was the youngest one. Kishore's brothers, Ashok Kumar and Anoop Kumar, entered the arena of Bollywood when he was still a child. With time, Kishore also developed an interest in movies as well as singing. One fact worth mentioning is that the singer never ever took formal training in music from anyone.

Initially, Kishore Kumar used to copy K L Saigal while singing. It was Sachin Dev Burman who advised him not to copy Saigal but develop his own style. With this advice in mind, Kishore eventually developed a distinct style, which is remembered by people till date. Slowly, he entered the field of, first, acting and then, singing, composing music and writing lyrics. He also tried his hand at producing and directing several movies. Though Kishore Kumar is mainly known for his singing, his acting skills have also been widely appreciated, especially in comedy films like Half Ticket, Padosan, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, etc.

With time, music directors started recognizing the potential of Kishore Kumar and he became one of the leading singers in the Indian film industry. The period of 1960s was a lean patch in the career graph of Kishore. Most of his films bombed at the box office. Soon, S.D. Burman's son, Rahul Dev Burman made his debut in Bollywood and went on to become one of the most popular music directors of his time. Kishore Kumar worked with him in films like 'Padosan'. Kishore won his first Filmfare award for the song, "Roop Tera Mastana". From then onwards, started the prime years of the career of Kishore Kumar.

The hit duo of Laxmikant-Pyarelal also composed many tunes for Kishore Kumar. Then, there was the 'jodi' of Kalyanji-Anandji, with whom Kishore did films like Dharmatma, Laawaris, Muqaddar Ka Sikander, Don, etc. Kishore Kumar sang for the young heroes like Rishi Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt also. No one can forget the hit number 'Kya Yahi Pyar Hai' from Sanjay's first movie 'Rocky'. He also worked with composers like Rajesh Roshan, Sapan Chakravarty, Bappi Lahiri, etc. Kishore Kumar sang for almost all types of actors, right from Amitabh Bachchan to Anil Kapoor to Govinda.

During the Indian Emergency in 1975-77, Kishore refused to sing for Indira Gandhi's 'Emergency Propaganda'. In retaliation, she banned his songs on all the national media. When Amitabh refused to do a guest appearance in a film produced by him, Kishore stopped singing for the actor. By late 1980s, Kishore had grown tired of the type of songs he was singing and decided to retire from the industry. However, in October 1987, he died of a heart attack in Mumbai.