The Joy of KK

There is an energy to life in India that makes you overlook problems like the traffic, water shortage etc. I would not give it up for anything. Of the many positive aspects, one comes by every year on 4^th August. It happens to be the birthday of Kishore Kumar, a man who brought joy into the lives of millions of Indians or as PG Wodehouse would say “spread sweetness and light”. The great thing now is that every FM station plays his songs through the day on his birthday. They also come up with new nuggets of information every year. E.g. for a continuous period of six years, KK had a live concert at Shanmukhananda Hall in Bandra every weekend and it would be sold out; his lawyer father never allowed him to learn music as he thought it was frivolous; the only Hindi song featured on Simpsons is “Pal bhar ke liye”. What amazes me is the hold he has on listeners 27 years after he passed away. It always reminds me of a statement from Javed Akhtar “Time is kind to great people”. This eccentric man’s legend keeps growing with every passing year.

My love affair with Kishore started when I was 7 or 8 years old. My Dad bought me a grey coloured “Greatest Hits of Kishore” cassette. I remember being mesmerized by “O mere dil ke chain” and “Roop tera mastana”. The journey continued through my school & college years as I kept discovering new facets of the man and his songs for different moods. He even made the utterly mediocre songs of “Tohfa” sound tolerable!

Today it seems unthinkable that this genius took more than 20 years to make a mark as a playback singer. I would put it down to his eccentricities, his acting commitments and the fact that the likes of Shankar-Jaikishan, Naushad, Roshan and Madan Mohan were too classical. I am sure he would have struggled with their tunes. The only pointer I have towards that is from one of KK’s concerts where he sang “Man re tu kahe na dheer dhare” as a tribute to Rafi.  Even as the most ardent KK fan I could not bring myself to like it. I am glad that the Burmans arrived on the scene with the kind of music that suited Kishore’s voice. 

There are three things that make him stand out as a singer

• His diction. Every word of every song is pronounced so clearly and perfectly.  
• Breath control – having listened to so many of his songs over the years, I still cannot find one where I can hear him breathing. Contrast that with today’s singers like Sonu Nigam whom you can hear taking deep breaths between lines
•  “The feel”. Anup Jalota summed it up very well when he said that it is necessary for a playback singer to know a bit of acting. While Kishore hated his acting days, I think it stood him in good stead when he turned to playback. No one else could have brought that touch of drunkenness to “Yeh jo mohabbat hai” , “Nadiya se dariya”, “Yeh lal rang” and “Yeh kya hua..” or the paan chewing effect to “Khaike paan banaraswala”. Legend has it that he sang Khaike with two paans in his mouth but I have it from a very reliable source that it is not true. He just acted as if he was eating paan.

There is something about his voice that enthralls you, can make you feel ecstatic. It’s very difficult to pinpoint the magic but I have attempted an explanation

“The hum”. There are some songs where he starts by humming and that is enough to bowl you over. Listen to the magical beginning of “Kora kagaz tha..”. It captures the echo of the mountains and the freshness of the mountain air. I still get goosebumps when I listen to it. The other day I listened to Rimjhim gire saawan on Youtube. The song again starts with KK humming and adds so much to the beauty of the song. The hum is missing in the records so go to YouTube to catch it.

He had the most manly voice ever for a playback singer. Rafi’s voice was mellifluous, soothing but it never hit you like Kishore’s. In the famous Hum kisise kum nahin medley, after “Chand mera dil”, Kishore’s voice in “Aa dil kya” is like a boombox. It conveys the impression to the audience that he is the king. Or take the small part that he sings for Amitabh in the title song of Satte pe Satta. It just lifts the song to a different level. Or “Bachna ae haseeno” – even in the remixed version that was created for Ranbir Kapoor’s movie, you feel ecstatic when you hear the original snippet sung by Kishore.

The emotion and feel he brought to each song was palpable. Look at the soulfulness in “Tere bina zindagi se…”, you can feel Sanjeev Kumar pining for the old days as Kishore sings “Tum jo kehdo to aaj ki raat chand dubega nahin”. A similar emotion comes through in Main shaayar badnaam as Raza Murad lies on his deathbed remembering his life and all his regrets. “Jaane Tute Dil Mein Kya Armaan Hai Baaki”

The other extreme emotion of joie de vivre is of course rendered in so many songs. The one that comes to mind immediately is Jai jai shivshankar. I cannot think of a more joyful song. Kishore brings it to life by even mouthing some dialogues at the end “Bajao bajao imandaari se bajaao…” that is the actor in him coming to the fore. In this and many other songs, you feel as light as a bird in full flight when you hear KK’s voice rising to a crescendo. An offbeat song that illustrates this is “Kali ram ka baj gaya dhol”. In “Mohabbat bade kaam ki cheez hai”, KK’s voice soars skyhigh as he sings “Mohabbat se itna khafa hone wale, chal aa aaj tujhko mohabbat sikha de”. It’s such a strong riposte to Yesudas’s melodious yet weak voice.

The sensuous and romantic feelings are best illustrated in some classic duets with Lata. Although Asha had a style similar to KK, his best duets have been with Lata. Savour these – in “Bheegi bheegi raaton mein” when KK sings “aisa lagta hai tu banke ghata apne sajan ko bhigoke khel khel rahi ho” you can literally feel the rain. In “Pehli pehli baar dekha aisa jalwa” the way Amitabh teases Rekha with “Pakdi kalai to na chhodoonga kabhi” is divine. If I was a girl, I would love to be wooed by such a voice! “Kali palak teri gori”, “Aaj madhosh hua jaye re”, “Sar se sarke”, “Aap ki aankhon mein kuch”, “Aankhon mein humne aapke”, “Are yaar meri tum bhi ho gazab”, “Hum dono do premi” – the list is endless.

Finally of course, the man’s creative genius in composing songs and improvising on the spot. The mind boggles when you think that Mere bhole balam was originally supposed to be a dialogue between Sunil Dutt and Guru Kishore. KK converted that to a song that is forever etched in the minds of all movie lovers. And he also created possibly the greatest male duet in Bollywood history - “Ek chaturnaar”. Manna Dey didn’t want to lose to Kishore but acknowledged later that the improviser deserved to win because he captured the spirit of the song! Padosan in my view was the perfect culmination of all of Kishore’s gifts – acting, comedy, composing and incredible singing. The only other film that comes close is “Chalti ka naam gaadi” with Paanch rupaiya barah aana being the pinnacle of his creative genius.  

I know comparisons between singers are dangerous and often lead to acrimonious debates. The only observation I have is that in songs sung by KK and another singer, it is invariably the KK version that became more popular. Maybe it was because many of these were SD/RD numbers that suited his voice. But he does sound better than more accomplished and technically superior singers. Just listen to “Khilte hai gul yahaan”, “Rimjhim gire saawan”, “Mere naina saawan bhaadon”, “Tum bin jaaoon kahaan” and you will know what I mean. The only song in my view where he comes out second best is “Kitne bhi tu kar le sitam” – the Asha version is better.

I have had virtually no regrets in my life but often I think what it would have been like to go to one of the KK concerts in the 80s. Why oh why didn’t I have any relatives / friends in Mumbai? A concert in the summer holidays in Bombay would have been so ideal. There is at least one item on my bucket list that will soon be ticked off – a visit to the Kishore Kumar Smarak in Khandwa.