He was a mad genius who defied conventions and rewrote the rules both for playback and acting. We take a look back at his prolific career…
He was born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly on August 4, 1929. His father Kunjalal Ganguly was a lawyer. Kishore was the youngest of four siblings, the other three were Ashok, Sati Devi and Anoop. There was an 18 year gap between Ashok and Kishore. One story goes that a young Kishore used to mimic the famous singers of his era and was a hit during family gatherings. He used to ask for one anna to sing his brother’s songs and four annas to sing his idol, KL Saigal’s. He had a naturally gifted voice and an ear for tune since childhood. The latter quality came in handy while recording difficult songs. For instance, he reportedly took home a tape of Lata Mangeshkar’s version of the classical based Mere naina saawan bhado (Mehbooba – 1976), listened to it for a week and then recorded his portions with consummate ease.
His big break came when composer Khemchand Prakash gave him a chance to sing for the new star on the horizon, Dev Anand for the film Ziddi (1948). The song, Marne ki duayen kyun mangu, sung in KL Saigal style, became a hit – and a life-long friendship between Dev and Kishore got forged.
Kishore was also getting acting offers and acted in films like Andolan (1951), directed by Phani Majumdar, Bimal Roy's Naukri (1954) and Hrishikesh Mukherjee's directorial debut Musafir (1957). These aren’t the mad-cap comedies that he later became famous for but straight dramas that highlighted his sensitivity as an actor. Salil Chowdhury, the music director for Naukri, gave him the song Chhota sa ghar hoga, which got him noticed in the music circuit.
It was SD Burman who advised him to stop copying Saigal and form his own style. Dada Burman thought Kishore’s voice best suited soft romantic numbers and gave him many hits like Maana janaab ne pukara nahi (Paying Guest—1957), Hum hain rahi pyar ke (Nau Do Gyarah -- 1957) and Haal kaisa hai janaab ka (Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi -- 1958), to name a few.
It was this latter film, along with the earlier released Aasha (1957) and Half Ticket (1962) that catapulted him as a numero uno comic actor. Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi was also where his romance with co-star Madhubala blossomed. He was married to singer-actress Ruma Guha Thakurta at the time and also had a son, Amit by her. He divorced her to marry Madhubala in 1960.
There’s was to be a short-lived happiness. Madhubala had congenital heart disease and Kishore even travelled with her to London in search of a cure. But the doctors were wary of operating on her and the couple returned back disheartened. Madhubala got weaker by the day and had to be bedridden most of the time in the coming years, before finally bidding adieu in 1969. Kishore got married twice more. He next got married to Yogeeta Bali in 1976 but divorced her after two years. He then got married to Leena Chandravarkar in 1980 and remained married to her till his death seven years later. His other son, Sumit, is her child. Maybe it was Madhubala’s death that led him towards further disillusionment from the fickle industry. Kishore started generating a reputation of being a difficult actor. His films started flopping and his playback career too suffered. Only old faithfuls like SD Burman and RD Burman were offering him any work. But he could produce some great work even in these troubled times. He acted in, produced, directed and even gave music to arguably the best film of his career, Door Gagan Ki Chaon Mein (1964).
He also appeared in a supporting role in the outrageous comedy Padosan (1968), in which his song duel with Manna Dey, Ek chatur naar, remains close to being an unparalleled feat. But fortunes were to change for the better.
Aradhana (1969), starring the next superstar Rajesh Khanna, made him the overnight singing sensation all over again, with hits songs like Mere sapno ki rani and Roop tera mastana, proving more popular than Rafi numbers, Baghon mein bahar hai and Gunguna rahen hai bhanwaren from the same film. Kishore won his first Filmfare Award for Roop tera mastana and went on to win seven more, a record.
The Kishore-Rajesh Khanna combination produced such gems as Pyar deewana hota hai (Kati Patang –1972), O mere dil ke chain (Mere Jeevan Saathi – 1972), Jai jai Shiv Shankar (1974) and many more. Such was his popularity that even Dilip Kumar, who had almost always chosen Rafi as his voice, had to succumb to Kishore’s magic in Sagina (1974). Saala main to sahab ban gaya from the film remains popular even now.
He became the voice for all the popular actors of ’70s and ’80s, be it Amitabh Bachchan, Dhairmendra, Shashi Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Vinod Khanna et al. He formed a winning combo with every music director, be it RD Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, Bappi Lahiri to Ravi, Khayaam and even Hridyanath Mangeshkar. He could even afford to say no to giving playback to the reigning superstar Amitabh Bachchan during the mid-‘80s, when Amitabh allegedly refused to do a guest appearance in Mamta Ki Chaon mein produced by Kishore. Though the duo later patched up and he sang for Amitabh for Shahenshah (1988) and Toofan (1989), released after Kishore’s death.
He was doing well professionally and had even paid off his arrears to the income tax department but his health was suffering. He had a heart scare in 1986, after which he cut down on assignments and wanted to leave the industry and settle back in Khandwa. However, it wasn’t to be. He had a massive heart attack on October 13, 1987 and succumbed to his death. He was just 58… Guru guru aa jao guru, from Waqt Ki Awaz (1988) composed by Bappi Lahiri is said to be one of his last recorded songs…