Tuesday 5 August 2014

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna



Coming from a generation that grew up listening to his extremely hummable songs on AIR's Vividh Bharti and Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, seeing a Google doodle paying tribute to the master of yodel Kishore Kumar, on his 85th birth anniversary, was the ultimate compliment. It only shows that his appeal has transcended many generations - from the era of 35 RPM LP records to 35 GB USB drives, via cassettes and compact discs.

Radio stations and TV channels had built up a hype over his 85th birth anniversary. But for millions of Indians  Kishore Kumar's songs were anyway everyday happenings, they were meant to be hummed while taking baths, shaving or listened to in their I-pods or car stereos. Only their favorites varied - for some it was his racy numbers like Bachna ai haseeno or Om Shanti Om, to others it was a sad numbers like Chingari Koi badke or Koi hamdam na raha,  while for others it was the middling melodious romantic numbers like Pyaar maanga hai tumhi se or Ek ajnabi haseena se. To each his own such was Kishore Da's range.

His rise coincided with the rise of Rajesh Khanna, for whom he lent his voice in many films and later did so for Amitabh Bachchan and many other stars before dying at a relatively young age of 59. Interestingly some of his hit songs figured in movies that did not do well in box office. But thanks to the popularity of the song they are still in great demand in YouTube and other song downloading platforms. While watching those songs one felt the director or producer had let Kishore da down by selecting a poor star cast or a story line leading to poor show at box office.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat