I had a big send off planned for this final post - a trip back through memory lane when Kishore owned Bollywood and his songs alone could guarantee the opening of a movie regardless of the actor in the starring role (including playback on both Anil Kapoor's & Sanjay Dutt's first films). Every music composer wanted to work with him and he did some of his best work near the end of his career. I listen to his songs much the same way a classical music fan listens to the symphony - never tiring of every intonation his voice makes nor of hearing songs I have heard 100 times before. His voice affects me like no other and would be my first choice if I had to pick a 'desert island soundtrack' meaning a collection of records that would accompany me should I be marooned like Tom Hanks in 'Cast Away'.
He was larger than life and his career spanned almost four decades in Bollywood as a singer, actor, director, producer & music composer. But his first love was singing and he will always be remembered for that. I have fond memories of a concert I attended that he gave at Sanmukhanand Hall in Bombay in 1983. Our seats were on the 7th row (two rows behind Ashok Kumar) in the sold out arena. Kishore came out and entertained the crowd single-handedly for over 4 hours and left the audience breathless. So here we are, over two decades after his passing and despite my self-imposed exile from Hindi Cinema in the three years following his death - I still love Bollywood. And judging from what I see - Bollywood's love for Kishore continues to this day. His songs have been in several major movies in the modern era - 'Om Shanti Om' & 'The Darjeeling Limited' (just to mention a few) and if you Google his name you will get 159,000 hits - exactly 55,000 more than the the #1 singer in Bollywood today, Sonu Nigam.
I racked my brain trying to come up with that one song that would be the defining moment in Kishore's career in the 80's and just couldn't do it. His popularity during that time was unprecedented as he was the last remaining member of the 'Big Three' (along with Mukesh & Rafi). So the song for today is the one I mentioned in the post above - a live recording of the haunting Aa Chalke Tujhe from the movie 'Door Gagan Ki Chaon Mein' - a movie in which Kishore acted, sang, directed, produced & composed the music for as well.
And the video for today is by the only Hollywood actor that Kishore provided playback duties for (click here to view)... somehow I think Kishore would have approved & just proves to me that I am not the only one who misses him. The original video/song that Homer et al were singing is from the movie 'Johnny Mera Naam' and can be found below.
6 comments:
Yeah, I my favorite of the three is Mohd. Rafi for his voice. But Kishore Kumar has the charm and peasonality. I also think that Manna Dey was important as well . And if I start naming one I feel I have to continue. But I won't (don't worry)it's just that playback singers of that high talent don't exist any more. You were very lucky too see him (Kishore Kumar).Can't wait too read your next post.
Hi, I just have a question. Where do you get hindi soundtrack cd's or tapes that can be shipped to Canada? Because SaReGaMA does not ship outside of India. I am looking for soundtracks that were not realeased on Lp, that's why I would like too know. Thanks
I haven't watched the Simpsons that much, but really enjoyed that clip. I'm going on pure memory here, but is that song from Johnny Mere Naan? Sounds very familiar.
Stella - There are countless message boards on the internet waging war between the KKK (Kishore Kumar Klan) and the Rafians :) I am more like you when it came to these greats, I have my obvious favorite but can appreciate the talents of the others as well. As far as the soundtracks go I was lucky enough to have most of my collection built up by pilfering my parent's music collection. But both emusic.com (50 free MP3 for new subscribers) and bollyfm.net (free MP3 songs) are both excellent resources for songs as is the iTunes store.
Alan - great call on the song! It is indeed from the 'Johnny Mera Naam' starring a very dashing Dev Anand & a too cute for words Hema Malini. The picturisation of the song is just priceless - with Dev serenading Hema outside her house while she playfully shuts all the doors & windows pretending to play hard to get. Classic song & movie - I do wish I knew what inspired them to pick that song out of all the Bollywood songs out there!
Kishore is sorely missed. I love to play his songs in my car. I grew up listening to his songs on the radio and for some strange reason I prefer to listen to the songs of the 70s and 80s. There is something about them that makes you want to listen to them. Rafi and Kishore were the greatest singers of all time that have not been replaced to the present day.
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