The one thing you can say about Abhas Kumar Gangopadhyay or Kishore Kumar is this.He was a natural.He was born with great talent and made excellent use of it.I have read interviews of both Lataji and Ashaji.They are both agreed on one point.Kishore Saab was a genius.And he was the best singer in Bollywood.It did not matter that he sang fewer songs than Rafi.But what he sang was head and shoulders above the rest.In quality and excellence.He had some rare gifts.
His techique involved singing directly into the mike.This made the song seem fluent and effortless.He could yodel very beautifully.He was good at singing all kinds of numbers.But KK was in his element when he sang energetic, westernized songs or stylish romantic ones.Like "Samne Yeh Kaun Aaya.."(Jawani Diwani) or "Chalte Chalte Mere Yeh Geet..."(Chalte Chalte).He sang from the heart.You could see a beautiful human being in each of his renditions.Here was a person who was also a successful actor.His forte was certainly comedy.He could make you laugh with abandon, he was completely camera-free.He also did emotional roles with sensitivity.
He was a good writer, a decent director.Really the quality that shone through in all his work was his immense original contribution.He had a fruitful combo with Rajesh Khanna-RDB-Anand Bakshi.Together, they have produced some of the most stylish songs of Bollywood.Indeed the void created after his death on 13th October 1987 will be quite impossible to fill.