Sonu Nigam: Kishore Kumar was the best all-rounder – Exclusive

Kishore Kumar is a part of our stream of consciousness. When we were growing up in the ’80s, we would listen and perform to his songs like Jahan teri yeh nazar (Kaalia, 1981). I remember I was in hospital with a broken hand when I heard about his death in 1987. Two deaths which shook me, one was Rafi saab’s in 1980 and then Kishore da. 

His was a complex voice. I think when he started off in films like Ziddi (1948), you hear the song…Marne ki duayen kyon mangu, there is a distinctive KL Saigal touch, especially in the lower notes. As everyone knows he was a Saigal bhakt. Then he gradually evolved into his own person, his own voice. You see the influences of the ’50s singers of the West, especially in his yodelling. His “yodelling” was vocal gymnastics, it just wasn’t breaking of the voice. It was a jugglery moving from the notes in the chest to the falsetto. You can see his technical prowess in the songs of Half Ticket (1962), all too clearly. Or where he is doing the half man-half woman impersonations in the Aake seedhi lagi. Unbelievable! 

Also you take a song like Kaise kahe hum (Sharmeelee, 1971), the melancholy he conveys in the song is amazing. While it is picturised on Shashi Kapoor please observe the “harkats” and the actual pain. You can almost “touch” it.

He also belonged to a generation of actors who also had to “sing” their songs.

He belonged to the Ashok Kumar pedigree, so getting acting offers came very easy to him and he was a born natural. But he always maintained that he just wanted to sing and that’s it. He was an accidental actor according to his own words and didn’t really enjoy acting as much as he enjoyed singing. But within the popular film and music format look where he took it all to.

Though I started my career singing Rafi saab’s cover versions in Delhi and Mumbai, music lovers who know me well know that I’m steeped into the Kishore Kumar style of singing. I don’t copy him but amalgamate his singing style. If you hear the antara of Sooraj hua maddham… Hai khubsurat yeh pal….(Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, 2001) it’s totally Kishore da’s style of singing. Or even if you hear Meri duniya hai tujh mein kahi (Vaastav, 1999) you will see the Kishore-esque style of singing. 

Kishore da had no boundaries. Other playback singers were bound to traditional forms of singing. But Kishore da experimented with the form and style. He could just be free flowing like water. As me and my dad say, he’s the best “all rounder”- singing, acting, producing, directing, music direction. There’s no word for him except using a cliche – genius. 

Sonu Nigam reveals why Kishore Kumar was the most talented person in Hindi films. Continue reading …Read More