Kishore Kumar was the greatest artist ever…..

If you look through the history of male Indian film personalities, including playback singers, actors, music directors, lyricists and directors, you would come across many names that were exceptionally outstanding in their respective areas of strength.

You had Manna Dey, Mohammad Rafi and Hemant Kumar who were not only mellifluous but also possessed a very sound classical depth of singing. They were technically very correct. The same goes with Sonu Nigam today. You had Uttam Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad, Amitabh Bachchan (especially in the second half of his career, post 2000) and Nana Patekar who were and still are outstanding actors. You had music directors like S.D Burman, R.D Burman, Shankar-Jaikishen, Jatin-Lalit and A.R Rehman who have won laurels from around the world providing music that would cut across generations.

However, among all these great names, it would have been almost impossible for you to find an all-round artist of the caliber of Kishore Kumar. Acting, singing and music direction came to him so naturally that you would have definitely found it hard to fathom which facet he specialized in. It was he who invented the “Yoodley Yoo” in Hindi cinema in the 1970s. He could do almost anything with his voice – laughing in the middle of a song and changing his voice significantly to bring about different expressions. He was equally amazing in romantic songs, melancholic songs and the jovial ones. That is why he won the hearts of the millions around the world, because his style was simple. He reached out to the masses through his songs. You did not need knowledge of classical music to enjoy his brand of songs. After a long day’s work, if you needed to relax with some music, Kishore Kumar’s voice provided you with exactly that. His acting was also beyond the ordinary in films like Padosan, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Half Ticket and Lukochuri (Bengali), just to name a few. He had no inhibitions in front of the camera and his dialogue delivery was truly amazing.

I remember in one of his songs, the female artist had not turned up for recording. So Kishore volunteered to sing the female portion as well, by altering his voice, and believe me, no audience would ever have caught the trick had it not been declared later. I don’t think anybody else would have had the guts to sing in a female voice in an actual film song. Such was the talent of the man. All this he did, without receiving any formal classical training in music. His was a voice that was gifted by God.

If you look back, you would find actors who were better than him and you would find playback singers who were technically superior to Kishore Kumar in classical music. However, you would never find any artist, who could be as versatile as he was. That is what separated him and put him in a different league compared to his compatriots in Indian cinema. He was certainly the most talented artist that Indian cinema has ever seen. I would be very privileged indeed, if I am fortunate enough to witness and enjoy the skills of anyone as versatile as him in my lifetime.