Kishore Kumar was not only a legendary singer, he was a brilliant, colorful and sometimes, eccentric personality. It was only a matter of time before someone decided to make a movie on him. News is that Ranbir Kapoor will be playing him in this movie. I have liked Ranbir in most of the roles he has performed so far, but I am not sure he is the right choice for Kishore. Ranbir is way too modern, clean-cut and REGULAR. I hope I am wrong and Ranbir re-invents himself to play this role brilliantly.
Here are a few of his stories (the last one from a Rajeev Masand interview of Asha Bhosle) I expect to find in the movie:
- Lata Mangeshkar was supposed to sing with him in the song ‘Aake Seedhi Lagi‘ (Half Ticket) but wasn’t available due to some reason. Kishore convinced the music director, Salil Chowdhury, to let him do both the male and female voices. Kishore sang the female voice in this song with amazing comic effect!
- In the song ‘Piya Piya Piya Mera Jiya Pukare‘ (Baap Re Baap), Asha Bhosle sang a ‘Haan…’ out of turn when Kishore was supposed to sing. Lata was distressed and wanted to redo the song. Kishore asked her not to worry. He said that he was the hero in the movie, and that he would put his hand on the heroine’s mouth when she sang the out-of-turn ‘Haan…’. (If you have a hard time catching the blooper, it’s after Kishore’s first line in the second stanza).
- The song ‘Nahin Nahin Abhi Nahin’ (Jawani Diwani) starts with this exchange between Kishore and Asha:
Kishore: Ay aao na, dila hai bekarar!
Asha: Na na, na naaaa!
Kishore: Ayyyy!
Asha: Na naaaaaaa!
- R.D. Burman
- put this into the song, based on Kishore’s suggestion! You have to hear this actually hear this piece to get a little bit of insight into Kishore’s mind.
Please share your favorite Kishore story in the comments.
Kishore Kumar’s original name is Aabhas Kumar Ganguly.
He has sung 327 duets with Lata Mangeshkar. At 440, only Mohammad Rafi has sung more duets with Lata.
He was very famous for yodeling, he learnt yodeling by listening to his brother Anoop Kumar’s Austrian records.
Lata remembers Kishore da on his birth anniversary on 4th Aug 2010 :
Together they have given hits like “Dekha Ek Khwab To”, and “Gum Hai Kisi Ke Pyar Mein” — and on Kishore Kumar’s 81st birth anniversary, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar remembered him as a multi-talented artist.
‘Aaj, 4th aug ko Kishore da ka janmdin hai, Kishore da, bahurangi kalakar the, wo sirf ek mahaan gayak hi nahi the, wo utne hi acche sangeetkar, kavi, abhineta, film director, producer bhi the’ (Today is Kishore da’s birthday and he was a multi-talented artist. He was not just a wonderful singer, but a great poet, actor, musician, producer as well),” Lata posted on her Twitter page Wednesday.
Interestingly, both Lata and Kishore da were born in the same year and in the same state – Madhya Pradesh.
‘Shayad hi aap sab ko pata hoga ki Kishore da aur mera janm varsh 1929 hai, wo mujhse 1 month 24 din bade the, hum dono ka janm Madhya Pradesh me hua tha, unka Khandwa aur mera Indore’ (You might not know but Kishor da’s and my birth year is the same and he was one month and 24 days elder to me. We both were born in Madhya Pradesh – he in Khandwa and I in Indore),” posted Lata, whose birthday falls on Sep 28.
Lata also mentioned that the first duet they had sung together was for the movie “Ziddi”.