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Although she remains bitter about how she was allegedly treated by her ex-husband, singer Kumar Sanu, Rita Bhattarchya said that she still recalls the early years of their relationship and marriage very fondly. In an interview, she said that she cannot deny how good a husband and father Sanu was back in the day, although she didn’t mince words as she described the ‘torture’ that he allegedly put her through later. They split when she was pregnant with her third son, and has recently opened up about the hardships she experienced in life subsequently. Chatting with Siddharth Kannan, however, Rita claimed that she was the one who encouraged Sanu to use his talent, because he was content being in Kolkata, singing for Rs 100.
She said, “I can confidently say that Kumar Sanu became who he did because of me. Were it not for me, he wouldn’t have come to Mumbai in the first place. He had no ambition. Back then, he was Sanu Bhattacharya. We didn’t have anything. But I knew that he should go to Mumbai and try his luck out… We came here with the help of a relative, and we met some music directors, including RD Burman. The man had nothing, except his voice.”
She continued, “We had seen such terrible times; honestly, I even looked for fallen pennies on the street. Me and Sanu, both of us. Anything would’ve helped at that time; what if someone had dropped some money. This was around Peddar Road…” Rita said that when they first came to Mumbai, they lived with a relative in Vashi. Sanu then found some work at a dance bar called Preeti Restaurant. The couple then moved into a ‘jhopad patti’ in Nerul. “We paid Rs 200 as rent there,” Rita said.
She added, “When you’re poor, you remember each and every detail. You never forget it. I remember I would carry drinking water on my head in a pot that I’d bought for Rs 20. “I didn’t even have the proper utensils to make tea. I would make tea in a ‘katori’, on a stove. You won’t believe it, we couldn’t even afford tiny ornaments for our little temple.” Rita said that it was at her suggestion that Sanu met T-series boss Gulshan Kumar, who happened to be looking for a Kishore Kumar sound-alike at the time.
Gulshan Kumar would release cassettes featuring cover versions of popular songs, and he was always on the lookout for singers like Sanu, who sounded like a past legend. After he began working for T-series, Sanu’s fortunes changed. He went from singing for less than Rs 100 to getting paid Rs 15,000 per week. Rita said that before long, they were living a luxurious life, travelling to work in a Mercedes car given to them by Gulshan Kumar, and with disposable income on hand for the first time. “He would buy me new jewellery every day,” she recalled, revealing that at his peak, Sanu would charge Rs 15,000 per song, and would record a dozen songs a day.
In an interview with Hindustan Times, Kumar Sanu said that he doesn’t work as often as he used to, because the industry seems to have moved on. “Mera journey abhi tak bahut achha raha hai (I have had a great journey till now), everybody respects me in the industry. Par sabse badi baat hai ki log respect toh dete hain, pyaar dete hain, hamara gaana bhi sunte hain (but the biggest thing is that people give me respect, love and even listen to my songs). I don’t know why they are not using my voice for more songs in Hindi films,” he said.
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