The Golden Musical Years: The inimitable voice of Kishore Kumar

From KL Saigal to Mohammed Rafi to Kishore Kumar! This is how the baton has passed between the dominant male playback singers of each era of Hindi cinema. Where Saigal mesmerised listeners with the richness of his voice, Rafi was all about versatility. Then followed Kishore, whose voice had its own distinct sonorous texture. While Aradhana’s (1969) success had paved the way for Rajesh Khanna’s ascent into stardom, the film also marked a change in guard in the world of playback singing. Although Mohammed Rafi sang many fine songs in the 1970s, it was Kishore who became the preferred male playback artiste for nearly every hero – be it Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna or Amitabh Bachchan – working in the industry post Aradhana.   

Just consider the year 1972 for instance, and nearly every popular Hindi film song, featuring a male actor, from the year was sing by Kishore. In Mere Jeevan Saathi, which starred Rajesh Khanna and Tanuja, and which was directed by Ravikant Nagaich (also directed Farz, 1967 and The Train, 1970), Kishore sang a spate of hits, which included ‘O mere dil ke chain’, ‘Deewaana karke chhodoge lagta hain yun humko’, ‘Deewaana leke aaya hai’ and ‘Chala jaata hoon’. In the upcoming episode of  'The Golden Years: 1950-1975' where he discusses the many fine Hindi film songs of 1972, Javed Akhtar says of ‘Chala jaata hoon’, “I can say with complete confidence that in the entire world only Kishore Kumar could have sung this song. This is because the falsetto that is present in the song’s antaras, the way Kishore Kumar has sung it, no Indian singer could have done that. And any foreign singer, who could sing the falsetto, would not have been able to sing the rest of the song.”

What also helped Kishore is that RD Burman, who had emerged as the dominant music composer following the success of Kati Patang (1970), Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971) and Caravan (1971), played a big part in further propelling Kishore’s success. The Kishore-RD tandem complemented each other perfectly as the playback singer’s voice brought out the verve and energy of RD’s uptempo compositions and vice-versa. Kishore sung some of the best RD numbers in this era such as for the latter’s songs in Seeta Aur Geeta (1972). Both the popular duets from the film – ‘Oh saathi chal’ and ‘Koi ladki mujhe kal raat’ – featured Kishore singing with Asha Bhonsle and Lata Mangeshkar respectively. The interesting thing was that while Kishore sang for Sanjeev Kumar in this film, it was Manna Dey’s voice that was used for Dharmendra’s songs – ‘Zindagi hai khel, koi pass koi fail’ and ‘Abhi toh haath mein jaam hai’.

The aforementioned examples of Kishore singing for RD is not to suggest that the singer was only suited for the Western nature of RD’s compositions. In fact, when the composer came up with equally mesmerising Indian-based, classical-style compositions such as in his work in Amar Prem (1972), Kishore was able to do full justice to the songs there too. Listen to any one of Kishore’s songs - ‘Chingaari koi bhadke’, ‘Yeh kya hua’ or ‘Kuchh toh log kahengey’ - from the film and you can feel the pain, anguish and catharsis of Rajesh Khanna’s character even today. 

The one film whose songs, nonetheless, best signify the Kishore Kumar-RD juggernaut in 1972 is Jawaani Deewani. Here Kishore’s rendition of  the title track ‘Yeh jawaani hai deewaani’ and ‘Saamne yeh kaun aaya’ perfectly articulated the manic nature and youth culture omnipresent in RD’s compositions. Kishore also sang the rather sensuous duet ‘Nahin, nahin abhi nahin’ with Asha Bhonsle in the film. But the Jawaani Deewani pièce de résistance was the other Kishore and Asha duet in the film, ‘Jaane jaan dhoondhta phir rahaa’. As Javed Akhtar notes, “Even if this one song [‘Jaane jaan’] was the only song in this film, it would have been sufficient. What a beautiful composition, how well is it written and how wonderfully sung by both Asha Bhonsle and Kishore Kumar. Even when Asha Bhosle sings in the lower octaves, it is simply outstanding. The song’s composition, the way it has been sung, the words in the song – all have made this song, iconic. People remember this song even today and even when they hear it now, they feel overjoyed.”  

Catch the next episode of The Golden Years: 1950-1975 with Javed Akhtar this Sunday at 8 pm to know more about the many wonderful Hindi film songs from 1972.