Kumar Sanu says he was given his first car by Gulshan Kumar, recalls singing for Amitabh Bachchan: ‘Had chills running down my spine…’

Kumar Sanu revisits the time he had first sung for megastar Amitabh Bachchan for his movie Jaadugar.

Kumar Sanu recalls singing for Amitabh Bachchan for the first time. (Photo: Sanu, Amitabh/Instagram)

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Singer Kumar Sanu has sung in over 25 languages, having begun his career in 1989. He was at his peak in the 90s and sang a number of chartbusters in his time. In a recent interview, the artiste opened up about changing his name, producer Gulshan Kumar and singing for megastar Amitabh Bachchan for the first time in Jaadugar.

Kumar Sanu had a great working relationship with prolific music composers Kalyan ji and Anand ji. In fact, it was them who made Sanu change his name for work. Speaking with ETimes, the singer recalled that because it is usually presumed that Bengalis don’t have a good hold over Urdu, audience prefers not to listen to their songs in Hindi as much, or at least that was the case earlier. Sanu said his name was changed officially from Bhattacharjee to Sanu on the composers’ behest, despite him being able to sing in Urdu fluently: “Kalyan ji-Anand ji gave me the name Kumar Sanu. I have used the name ever since.”

Sanu also spoke about the time he sang for superstar Amitabh Bachchan for the soundtrack of the movie Jaadugar. Sanu was comparatively a newbie then in Bollywood and a voice sample of the singer was sent to Bachchan for consideration via Sanjay Dutt. Big B was in the US at the time due to work commitments. Kumar Sanu said he was not even told by the composers that he would be singing for the star and got to know of it while in recording booth.

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“When I was recording the song, I had no clue I was doing playback for Amitabh Bachchan. The minute I heard that, I got chills running down my spine,” Sanu told the publication. But all was well as the actor was impressed with his vocal range and even complimented him in Bengali.

Later in the chat, Kumar Sanu also opened up about collaborating with Gulshan Kumar, and said thanks to him he never had to face any financial troubles after landing in Mumbai: “He gifted me my first new car and he also invested financially in helping me buy my first house,” the singer revealed.

Apart from having a flourishing singing career, Kumar Sanu is also a politician and is a member of the ruling BJP.

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