KK In His Own Words
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From: parrikar@mimicad.Colorado.EDU (Rajan P. Parrikar)
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.misc
Subject: Kishore Kumar – Some more stuff (Long)
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Date: 13 Oct 93 08:08:53 GMT
Sender: news@Colorado.EDU (USENET News System)
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder Lines: 259
Originator: parrikar@mimicad
Here’s some more stuff on The One and Only. This file had been sitting in my KK directory for quite a while and I had forgotten all about it until the recent KK >> Rafi thread
Rajan Parrikar
Mimicad Center Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Colorado at Boulder E-mail: parrikar@mimicad.colorado.edu parrikar@spot.colorado.edu
From Phillumfare’s special issue (Nov 1-15, 1987), less than a month after KK’s death:Kishore, in his own words:
“My father Kunjalal Ganguli, was a pleader (advocate) who earned Rs 30 a month. My mama, Dhananjay Banerjee, a classical singer, was the only family link I had with music. But I was never trained to be a singer. It was my brother Dadamoni who learnt music from the well-known Saraswati Devi.”
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“Very early in life I was fascinated by K.L. Saigal. I used to save my pocket money to buy his records. He’s my real guru.
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“In Padosan, I mimicked my mama – long hair, kajal in the eyes, constant paan-chewing and the works. My performance was so perfect that shooting was halted after two days. Both Mehmood and Sunil felt that I was stealing every scene from them, and they got down to working on their get-ups. That’s how Mehmood and Sunil got to wearing wigs etc.”
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“When I married Leena I didn’t expect to be a father again. After all, I was in my fifties then. But Sumeet has been a source of immense joy to me. Leena, Amit, Sumeet and I today make a well-adjusted foursome. I had always longed for a secure, happy family. It remained just a dream until Leena came along. With her, for the first time, I have achieved emotional security.”
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“I was surprised when “Lata agreed to do stage shows with me in London. Though I was thrilled, I was worried about one thing – her discipline. She would never go on stage without proper rehearsal. But I like to take things easy. We had to sing five duets: Chai pe bulaya hain (Souten), Gata rahe mera dil (Guide), Jai jai shiv shankar (Aap ki Kasam), Accha to hum chalte hain (Aan Milo Sajana) and Kora kagaz tha yeh man mera (Aradhana). The problem arose when it was time for us to go on stage. We couldn’t decide who should go first. I suggested that Lata sing first because she was my senior. But she didn’t. Instead she went on stage to introduce me. She praised me a lot, but made it a point to add, “I call him Da because he is older to me”. Yes, I’m one month and 24 days older than her! We did three shows in Wembley. During the first one there was a problem because organizer had publicized that we’d be singing “Angrezi mein kehte hain I love you”(Khuddar). But Lata refused to sing the song because it contained the word ‘idiot’ in it. Again she put her foot down against “Pag ghungroo” (Namak Halal) because she said it belittled Meerabai. Instead, she said, I should sing a bhajan. I was nonplussed because I couldn’t remember any. Finally, I managed to sing one – Hari naam ka pyaala – rendered originally by S.D. Burman. It was received with great applause.”
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“I am a crazy fan of Topol’s. When we were in London, I saw an advertisement of “Fiddler on the Roof” in the drama section of a newspaper. I thought they’d made a mistake. When I checked, I was told that there WAS a stage show of “Fiddler…”. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was. I had seen the film at least a hundred times and now I had an opportunity to see my favourite actor perform right in front of me. Would you believe it, I attended all the four consecutive shows. I went backstage to introduce myself to Topol and even took his autograph. I still remember the date – September 9, 1983. He presented me a copy of his autobiography, Topol by Topol, and I presented him the records and cassettes of my songs. In 1960, he was only 48-49 but still he played the old man so beautifully. I think nobody, just nobody, can perform the way Topol did in Fiddler. He actually sings through the whole film. Neither Dilip Kumar nor Ashok Kumar can match him.”
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