Journalism of Courage
It is legendary singer, music director, actor, filmmaker and screenwriter Kishore Kumar's 91st birth anniversary today. Born on August 4, 1929 in Madhya Pradesh's Khandwa as Abhas Kumar Ganguly, Kishore first made an appearance in movies in 1946's Shikari. By this time, his elder brother Ashok Kumar was already an established actor in the Hindi film industry. (Photo: Express archive)
However, Kishore Kumar had no desire to be in front of the camera. At least initially. In his early years, he gave multiple flops. But the artiste began to take a keen interest in acting only after some of his latter films like Ladki, Naukri, Baap Re Baap, New Delhi among more became hits.
Here he is seen interacting with Satyajit Ray. (Photo: Express archive)
Kishore Kumar always wanted to be a singer. He was deeply inspired by the likes of KL Saigal and Western singer Danny Kaye. It is said that Kumar had the portraits of these gentlemen hung in his house along with that of the Bengali poet-writer Rabindranath Tagore.
Kishore Kumar is photographed along with a very young Asha Bhosle. (Photo: Express archive)
One of Kishore Kumar's first songs as a playback singer was "Marne Ki Duayen Kyon Mangu" for the film Ziddi, which released in 1948. Post this, he got several offers for playback singing.
Here Kishore Kumar is seen with Lata Mangeshkar. (Photo: Express archive)
It is said that Kishore Kumar was so inspired by KL Saigal that he would imitate his style of singing in his early years. However, music director SD Burman encouraged him to find a style of his own, which led to Kumar yodelling in several tracks. This ultimately became a key feature of a Kishore Kumar song.
Here he is seen with SD Burman. (Photo: Express archive)
Throughout the 50s-70s, Kishore Kumar gave voice to numerous Dev Anand tracks. He also famously sang for stars like Rajesh Khanna, Shammi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Rishi Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Vinod Khanna among others. (Photo: Express archive)
Kishore Kumar was married four times -- to Ruma Ghosh, Madhubala, Yogeeta Bali and Leena Chandavarkar. He had two children from his marriages to Ghosh and Chandavarkar -- Sumit and Amit Kumar.
Kishore Kumar with Anup Jalota. (Photo: Express archive)
Apart from his talents, Kishore Kumar also attracted attention due to his alleged eccentric behaviour. According to various reports, he once took a reporter to his garden and introduced her to his "friends" which happened to be trees and plants that he had named. He also had allegedly placed a 'Beware of Kishore' board on his residence's gate.
Kishore Kumar is seen sharing a light moment with Shashi Kapoor, Sharda, Krishna, Mohammad Rafi and others. (Photo: Express archive)
Kishore Kumar is the only singer who has eight playback singing Filmfare Awards to his name. A record which is yet to be broken.
Kishore Kumar is seen conversing with RD Burman. (Photo: Express archive)
Kishore Kumar breathed his last on October 13, 1987. An official biopic on the singer-actor, with Ranbir Kapoor in the lead, is being conceived by director Anurag Basu. For now, the film is still on hold.
Kishore Kumar clicked with Hema Malini. (Photo: Express archive)
