Bollywood singer Kishore Kumar – The Voice of Romance

Bollywood singer Kishore Kumar – The Voice of Romance

He was a famous Bollywood playback singer, actor, lyricist, composer, producer, director, screenwriter cum a scriptwriter. He used to be among the three leading male Bollywood playback singers along with Mukesh and Mohammed Rafi during his life time.

Born on 4 August 1929 at the Khandwa town of Central Provinces and Berar, British India that is now located in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Kishore Kumar was a man of many talents. He was a famous Bollywood playback singer, actor, lyricist, composer, producer, director, screenwriter cum a scriptwriter. Kishore Kumar, however, was more popular as an actor during his lifetime. And his songs gained more mass appeal especially after his passing away in 1987.

Kishore Kumar, who used to be among the three leading male Bollywood playback singers along with Mukesh and Mohammed Rafi during his life time. Born into a Bengali family, Kishore Kumar’s original name was Aabhas Kumar Ganguli. His parents were advocate Kunjalal Ganguli and Gouri Devi, who hailed from a very well-to-do family. Abhas was the youngest of four siblings. The other three were Ashok Kumar, who was the eldest, Sati Devi and Anoop Kumar.

Abhas was still a child when his eldest brother, Ashok Kumar became a famous Bollywood actor. This gave Abhas or Kishore Kumar the apt opportunity to get an easy break into the Hindi filmdom. Kishore Kumar did not have a formal training in music, but it was just a matter of time before he started taking a keen interest in movies and music. He was a great fan of legendary senior Indian actor-singer, Kundan Lal Saigal and he soon started mimicking his style. His gradually developed his own yodeling style of singing after music director, SD Burman advised him to stop copying Saigal.

In the Bollywood music circles, yodeling style of singing soon became Kishore’s trademark. And in the time to come, Kumar sang in various languages like Hindi, Bengali that was his mother tongue, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam and Oriya. Music director S. D. Burman appreciated Kishore Kumar’s singing style and is credited for boosting Kumar’s singing talent. He asked Kishore to sing for films like Munimji (1954), Taxi Driver(1954), House No 44 (1955), Funtoosh (1956), Nau Do Gyarah (1957), Paying Guest (1957), Guide (1965), Jewel Thief (1967), and Prem Pujari (1970).