"Henceforth I wont sing for this man." The leading singer of the time was fuming with anger. And the comment was towards Mithun Chakraborty. And reason being - Mithun married Yogeeta Bali, who was his wife before! He was possessive about everything he liked!
Once he came with half make up on his face and when Director asked why the remark was "Adha Paisa, Adha Makeup" (Only half of the compensation is receieved so only half make up). He was paranoid about money. But he recorded free of cost for some films produced by Rajesh Khanna and Danny Dezongpa - If he loves, he will give his heart!
"What - are you nuts, I never saw you yesterday, I was in Khandwa yesterday" - He was shouting at renowned director G P Sippy. Last day when Sippy reached his home, he was driving out and Sippy pleaded him to stop car but he didnot. Sippy chased him and caught him near Madh Island (Malad, Mumbai) and he behaved in such a way that he never met Sippy. Next day, he was telling Sippy that he never met him last day. He was eccentric to the nth degree. Totally unpredictable.
He put a board "Beware of Kishore" outside his home!
Amidst of all eccentricities and paranoid behaviour - he is the jewel crown in Indian Film Industry. Singer, actor, music composer, dancer, lyricist, director ------- what not! Well, I can write a book on Kishoreda whom I consider as next to god for his voice and songs but would like to limit this review regarding his stint as a singer with some highlights regarding his personal life.
Sachin Dev Burman should be given the credit to identify the talent of Kishore as a singer as he heard him singing at Ashok Kumar’s residence and given a valuable advice "Dont imitate Saigal. Develop your own style". Kishore took his feedback. And later on developed his own style that was followed by many succesful singers (From Kumar Shanu to Abhijit to Shan -----) The famous Yodeling style which is considered to be his trademark was adopted by him when he heard certain records of his brother Anoop Kumar.
Some of my personal favourites of Kishore Kumar with famous Music Directors are listed below
S D Burman - Roop Tera Mastana (Aradhana), Phoolo ke range se (Prem Pujari), Khilte hai gul yaha (Sharmilee), Tere mere milan ki ye (Abhiman) and Badi Sooni Sooni hai (Mili). S D Burman went into a coma from where he didnot recover after the recording of Badi Sooni Sooni hai and Kishore was always sentimental about this song for this fact.
R D Burman - who later became the biggest patron of Kishore Kumar - very difficult to list a few songs, still - Musafir hai yaro (Parichay), Mere Naina Sawan Bhado (Mehbooba), Chingari Koi Bhadke (Amar Prem), Ye Sham mastani (Kati Patang), Meri Bheegi Bheegi Si (Anamika), Sagar Kinare (Sagar) ------ I am skipping a lot here
Kalyanji Anandji - Zindagi Ka Safar (Safar), Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas (Black Mail), O Sathire (Muqqaddar ka Sikandar), Khaike Paan Banaras Wala (Don), Neele Neele Ambar Pe (Kalakar)
Bappi Lahiri - Chalte Chalte (Chalte Chalte), Ke Pag Ghunguroo (Namak Halal), Manzile Apni Jagah hai (Sharabi)
and I am ending this list with Rajesh Roshan - Dil Kya Kare (Julie), Chookar mere man ko (Yarana).
Also, I love certain other songs like Madan Mohan’s "Ye Shaam kuch Ajeeb hai" (Dont know movie name) & Shivhari’s Silsila from movie Silsila!
Kishoreda has given full life to any song he sung. He could give full justice to the emotions the singer should reflect in the song. Any one who heard songs like "Mere Naina sawan bhado" , "Is mod pe jate hai" will refuse to believe that these songs are sung by a person who is never trained in music.
Being a person who created several controversies, he even had fight with Sanjay Gandhi refusing to sing for congress rally during the period of emergency and Sanjay banned Kishore’s songs from AIR which was lifted due to pressure from various sides.
He won 8 film fare awards, had married four times (Ruma Ghosh, Madhubala (it is alleged that Kishore Kumar became a converted muslim to marry her), Yogeeta Bali and Leena Chandavarkar). He is survived by two kids, Amit Kumar (from Ruma) and Sumit Kumar (From Leena).
In a nutshell, he was the embodiment of talents with lots of eccentricities. But all of us repsect his talents and will keep listening to him till the time this world exits! Hats off to you!!