Artist Birtday :	04/08/1929 (Age 58)
Born In :	Khandwa, Central Provinces, British India
Occupation(s) :	Singer,Music director,lyricistactor,film producer,directorscreen, writer
Genres :	classic,Romantic,Sad

Kishore Kumar Biography:

Abhas Kumar Ganguly (born 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987), better known by his stage name Kishore Kumar Singer was an Indian playback singer, actor, music director, lyricist, writer, director, producer and screenwriter. Kushore Kumar was one of the most popular singers in the Indian film industry and from soft numbers to peppy tracks to romantic moods, Kumar sang in different genres but some of his rare compositions which were considered classics were lost in time. According to Ashok Kumar,Kishore Kumar’s success came due the fact that his voice hit the microphone straight at its most sensitive point. Apart from Hindi, he sang in many Indian languages including Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam and Urdu. He also sang on private albums in several languages especially in Bengali. He won 8 Filmfare Awards for Best Male Playback Singer and holds the record for winning the most Filmfare Awards in that category.

Kishore Kumar Singer:

Early Life:

Kishore Kumar was born in a Bengali family in Khandwa, Central Provinces (now in Madhya Pradesh) as Abhas Kumar Ganguly. His father, Kunjalal Ganguly (Gangopadhyay) was a lawyer and his mother, Gouri Devi came from a wealthy Bengali family and was a home-maker. Kunjalal Gangopadhyaya was invited by the Kamavisadar Gokhale family of Khandwa to be their personal lawyer. Kishore was the youngest of four siblings, the older three being Ashok (the eldest), Sati Devi, and Anoop.

While Kishore Kumar was still a child, his brother Ashok became a Bollywood actor. Later, Anoop also ventured into cinema with Ashok’s help.[12] He graduated from Christian College, Indore.

Career:

After Ashok Kumar Singer became a star of Hindi films, the Ganguly family visited Bombay (now Mumbai) regularly. Abhas Kumar changed his name to ‘Kishore Kumar’ and started his cinema career as a chorus singer at Bombay Talkies, where his brother worked. Kumar’s first film appearance was in Shikari (1946), in which his brother, Ashok played the lead role. Music director Khemchand Prakash gave Kumar a chance to sing “Marne Ki Duayen Kyon Mangu” for the film Ziddi (1948). After this, Kumar was offered many other assignments, but he was not very serious about a film career. In 1949, he settled in Bombay. Kumar played the lead in the Bombay Talkies film Andolan (1951), directed by Phani Majumdar. Although he got some acting assignments with the help of his brother, he was more interested in becoming a singer. But Ashok wanted Kumar to be an actor like him. Between 1946 and 1955, Kumar appeared in 22 films of which 16 were flops and since he was disinterested in taking up acting as a career, he would find ways to be in the bad books of the director or producer, so that they throw him from their films. It was only after the success of films such as Ladki, Naukari, Miss Malaysia, Char Paise and Baap Re Baap that Kumar developed an interest in acting seriously, which resulted in him having successful films as the lead actor between 1955 and 1966.

During the initial stage of his career, Kishore Kumar was deeply inspired by singer K. L. Saigal and imitated his style of singing in some of his early films. He had a great respect for poet and musician Rabindranath Tagore who influenced him in many ways.

He was an ardent admirer of Hollywood actor-singer Danny Kaye. He hung the portraits of all these three personalities at his Gouri Kun residence and would bow respectfully before them everyday as a rule.

In his later career, Kumar was also heavily influenced by playback singer Ahmed Rushdi and his liking towards Rushdi was to the extent that former paid a tribute at Royal Albert Hall in London to the latter by singing some of his songs.

Later years:

Kishore Kumar Singer produced and directed some movies in the late 1970s and early 1980s; Pyar Zindagi Hai, Badhti Ka Naam Dadhi (1978), Sabaash Daddy, Zindagi (1981), Door Wadiyon Mein Kahin (1980) and Chalti Ka Naam Zindagi (1982)—which was his last appearance as an actor.[citation needed] Kumar’s son Amit Kumar became a Bollywood singer in the 1974 with the song “Apne Bas Ki Baat Nahi”, composed by Kumar for the film Badthi Ka Naam Daadi. Amit Kumar became popular with success of the song “Bade Achche Lagte Hai”. Kishore continued singing for several actors even in 1980s. Kumar performed stage shows right from 1969 to earn money to pay his income tax arrears. Kumar stopped singing for Amitabh Bachchan in the year 1981, after Bachchan refused to appear as a guest in the film Mamta Ki Chhaon Mein, which Kishore produced. Kishore declined to give voice for Amitabh in Naseeb, Coolie, Mard and Desh Premee. Kishore said he would give his voice to Randhir Kapoor in the film Pukar. Since Kishore shared good rapport with R. D. Burman, he agreed to sing in Mahaan, Shakti and Bemisal. Later, Kishore Kumar Singer called a truce by singing for Amitabh in a solo song in Shahenshah and later in Toofan. Kishore sang the song “Mera Geet Adhura Hai” for his production Mamta Ki Chaon Mein and picturised the song on Rajesh Khanna. Kishore Kumar Singer had directed the film, but died in 1987 and Rajesh Khanna helped Amit Kumar in releasing the film in 1989. He also temporarily stopped singing for Mithun Chakraborty after Yogeeta Bali divorced him and married Chakraborty. However, he later sang for Chakraborty in Surakshaa in the 1970s, and in the 1980s in many films, including Boxer, Jaagir, Fareib and Waqt Ki Awaz.

Personal life:

Kishore Kumar Singer married four times. His first wife was Bengali singer and actress Ruma Guha Thakurta aka Ruma Ghosh. Their marriage lasted from 1950 to 1958. His second wife was actress Madhubala, who had worked with him in many films including his home production Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958) and Jhumroo (1961). When Kumar proposed to her, Madhubala was ill and was planning to go to London for treatment. She had a ventricular septal defect (hole in the heart), and he was still married to Ruma. After his divorce, the couple had a civil wedding in 1960 and Kumar converted to Islam and reportedly changed his name to Karim Abdul. His parents refused to attend the ceremony. The couple also had a Hindu ceremony to please Kumar’s parents, but Madhubala was never truly accepted as his wife. Within a month of their wedding, she moved back to her bungalow in Bandra because of tension in the Kumar household. They remained married, but under great strain for the remainder of Madhubala’s life. Their marriage ended with Madhubala’s death on 23 February 1969.

Many journalists and writers have written about Kumar’s seemingly eccentric behavior. He placed a sign that said “Beware of Kishore” at the door of his Warden Road flat. Once, producer-director H. S. Rawail, who owed him some money, visited his flat to pay the dues. Kumar took the money and when Rawail offered to shake hands with him, reportedly Kishore put Rawail’s hand in his mouth, bit it and asked “Didn’t you see the sign?”. Rawail laughed off the incident and left quickly. According to another reported incident, once Kumar was due to record a song for producer-director G. P. Sippy. As Sippy approached his bungalow, he saw Kumar going out in his car. Sippy asked Kishore Kumar Singer to stop his car but Kumar increased his speed. Sippy chased him to Madh Island where Kumar finally stopped his car near the ruined Madh Fort. When Sippy questioned his strange behavior, Kumar refused to recognize or talk to him and threatened to call the police. The next morning, Kishore Kumar Singer reported for the recording session. An angry Sippy questioned him about his behaviour the previous day but Kumar said that Sippy must have dreamt the incident and said that he was in Khandwa on the previous day.

Once, a producer went to court to get a decree that Kishore Kumar Singer must follow the director’s orders. As a consequence, he obeyed the director to the letter. He refused to alight from his car until the director ordered him to do so. After filming a car scene in Bombay, Kumar drove until he reached Khandala because the director forgot to say “Cut” In the 1960s, a financier named Kalidas Batvabbal, who was disgusted with Kumar’s alleged lack of cooperation during the shooting of Half Ticket, reported to the income tax authorities, who raided his house. Later, Kumar invited Batvabbal to his home, asked him to enter a cupboard for a chat and locked him inside. He unlocked Batvabbal after two hours and told him, “Don’t ever come to my house again”.

Kishore Kumar Singer was a loner; in an interview with Pritish Nandy (1985) he said that he had no friends—he preferred talking to his trees instead. Once, when a reporter made a comment about how lonely he must be, Kumar took her to his garden, named some of the trees there and introduced them to the reporter as his closest friends.

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