Kishore Kumar: The traditional concept of a comedian has always been one of lowly stature, that of a sidekick. It was Kishore Kumar who successfully became Hindi cinema’s comic hero whose popularity relied primarily on his comic talents. Add to that his phenomenal acting talent and amazing singing voice and you have a performer who bordered on the genius. And like most geniuses he was notoriously eccentric! He was born Abhas Kumar Ganguly. At the age of 18, he came to Bombay where elder brother Ashok Kumar was a major star. He got his first opportunity as a singer in Bombay Talkies Ziddi (1948) where he sang the song Marne ki Duaen Kyon Mangu for Dev Anand. Being an ardent admirer of KL Saigal, the song was sung in the style of the legend. But in spite of Ziddi’s success, Kishore found few offers forthcoming and did the odd singing assignment with bit roles making a rather tepid acting debut as hero in the forgettable Andolan (1951).

Birthday: 4th August, 1929 in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh.

Date of Death: 13th October, 1987 in Mumbai.

Spouse: Ruma Guha Thakurta (1951-1958) (divorced)

Madhubala (1961-1969) (her death)

Yogeeta Bali (1976–1978) (divorced)

Leena Chandavarkar (1980-1987) (his death)

Debut Film: Andolan (1951).

Major Impact: Naukri (1954).

Successful Films: Baap re Baap (1955), New Delhi (1956), Miss Mary (1957), Asha (1957), Chalti ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Jhumroo (1961), Half Ticket (1962), Door Gagan ki Chaon Main (1964), Mr X in Bombay (1964), Pyar Kiye Jaa (1966), Padosan (1968), Charulata (1964).

Awards: Won several Filmfare Awards for his songs.

Facts we didn’t know:

Has sung 327 duets with Lata Mangeshkar. At 440, only Mohammad Rafi has sung more duets with Lata.

Along with Kalyanji Veerji Shah, he introduced electronic music to Bollywood.

Had a misunderstanding with Amitabh Bachchan in the mid 1980s. He refused to sing for Amitabh when Amitabh refused to act in a movie produced by Kishore. Amitabh then faced his worst phase in his career after this. He later made a comeback several years later with Kaun Banega Crorepati.

Kishore learnt yodeling by listening to his brother Anoop Kumar’s Austrian records.

Was a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock films.

His dad’s name was Kunjilal, a lawyer by profession, and his mom’s name was Gouri Devi, who came from a wealthy family. Kishore was the youngest in the Ganguly family, preceded by Ashok, Sati, & Anoop. Sati was married to Sashadhar Mukherjee, who was the brother of film-maker Subodh Mukherjee, and Bollywood actors Joy & Deb Mukherjee. Sati’s son, Shomu, went on to marry Tanuja Samarth, and who subsequently gave birth to Kajol and Tanisha. Tanuja is the sister of Nutan Behl, who, in turn, is the mother of actor Mohnish Behl. Tanuja and Nutan are the daughters of the famed Shobhna Samarth. Sati was also aunt-by-marriage to Ram Mukherjee, who would subsequently marry and give birth to Raja and Bollywood actress, Rani Mukherjee. Ashok’s daughter is noted Bollywood actress, Preeti Ganguly, who is married to comedian and character actor, Deven Verma. Ashok’s grand-daughter is actress, Anuradha Patel. -Sampurn Media