This is not a review on Kishore Kumar per se. Writing a review on such a multi faceted genius like him, is akin to holding the drops of the sea water in your palm. Kishore Da was not just a popular singer, he was an actor, writer, director, movie maker to boot. Add to that he also composed music, wrote lyrics, and apart from Hindi, sang in Bengali, Oriya, Kannada, Marathi and Kannada also. He sang for the biggest stars of the 70’s- Amitabh Bachan, Rajesh Khanna, Jeetendra, Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, as well as medium rung actors like Rakesh Roshan, Vikram, Anil Dhawan, Vinod Mehra to actors like Sanjeev Kumar, Shashi Kapoor. And for a major part of his career, he was identified as Dev Anand’s voice, having sung so many memorable songs for his movies. He worked with the leading composers of the time- R.D. Burman, Laxmikant Pyarelal , Kalyanji Anandji, Rajesh Roshan to more choosy music directors like Khayyam, Salil Choudhury and lesser known composers like Sapan Jaganmohan. Refusing to kow tow to Sanjay Gandhi’s diktats during the Emergency, his songs were banned by AIR, a move that only increased his popularity.
But Kishore Da for me was something more than all that. There are two ways in which you idolize a person, one is to appreciate his work and admire him. The other is where the person does not just be a role model to you, he is some one who becomes a part of you.
Every thing he does or says, touches you somewhere in your heart. For me Kishore Da, was one such person. His songs were just not songs for me, they echoed the feelings in my heart. Feelings which I could never express so beautifully, came to life, through his songs. It was as if Kishore Da was out there expressing my feelings, through his songs. He was the voice to my innermost feelings and desires.
I grew up on Kishore Da in the 70’s as a kid, listening to the radio, tuning in to the latest hit songs. In the 80’s, when the quality of Hindi movie songs hit rock bottom, it was Kishore Da’s older numbers that helped me escape from the cacophony. As a single youngster in the 90’s, it was Kishore Da’s songs that found an expression for my innermost feelings of love, desire, joy, sorrow, pain and frustration. Now I am 40, married, with kids, but Kishore Da’s songs still echo in my heart and mind, as they did when I was a kid, as they did when I was a teen, as they did when I was a youngster growing up.
It maybe due to the fact that Kishore Da’s songs touch some part in me. Driving on the road, every time I just play Raah Pe Rehte Hai, i just feel Kishore Da’s voice echoing my thoughts while driving. Or going on a long walk, or trek, and then I hear Kishore Da’s Musafir Hoon Yaaron, echoing every moment.
Feeling down, needing that extra bit of inspiration, and I hear "Samjhauta Gamon se kar lo, Zindagi mein gam bhi milte hai". Or I feel lonely and lost all by myself in a place, "Badi sooni sooni hai, zindagi yeh zindagi". When I feel that none around understands my pain, and left to fight it myself, my thoughts wander to "Dukhi Man mere, sun mera kehna". "Kiska Rasta dekhe" echoes my feeling of a futile wait for something hopeful.
It was Kishore Da’s songs, that gave a voice to my romantic feelings. Want to write a love letter to a girl, describing her beauty "Phoolon ke Rang Se, dil ki kalam se", was what I had imagined. And to show the eternal love for a girl "Humein tumse pyaar kitna" from Kudrat was the best. Imagining driving with my girl to the tune of "Choodi nahin mera dil hai". Or the tones of "Dil kya kare" or promising to come back with "Chalte Chalte, mere yeh geet yaad rakhna".