Kishore Kumar : Self Portrait
iView Author: Kaustubh Pingle (Pune, India)
Email:kcpingle [at] gmail [dot]com
Kishore Kumar : Self Portrait
Source of material : Filmfare 1956, [material is reproduced here with comments to make readers familiar with the writings of Kishore Kumar]
First part of the series can be read here :> Kishore kumar : Leaves from my diary
My comments : Continuing with my series of articles published by Kishore Kumar, so that the world can understand him better. Getting into the era bygone and if possible live in that period. Afterall we have missed the great film personalities that lived “real” lives. Their stories could give inspirations to new film personalities and try and make them aware of the path that they are undertaking.
This is the time when Kishore was climbing to the peak of his career. One of the busiest actors of its times. This precise time he stopped taking assignments, even as Dev Anand’s playback voice. Just a few months later Ruma Ganguly left him and went to Calcutta, leaving behind a poor-rich man !! A man with shattered dreams. A man who wanted a home for his loved ones!! If only we had “Kishore Ganguly” spending more time with “Kishore Kumar” !!
Filmfare had for the 4th time, a full featured interview/discussion with Kishore Kumar. He wore his favourite chequered shirt and had a big photosession at this house. This shirt was on its cover-page, and was flashed in hundreds of magazines lateron and became a trade-mark Kishore-apparel. Kishore was never comfortable while giving interviews. He wanted to have his own method of talking with the magazine, and in turn with the public. He liked to create characters and then change voices, talk with each character in different voices and and make it a drama. This was quite evident years later, when Ameen bhai was taking his interview for radio. He did not let Ameen bhai speak a single word when the interview started ! If you guys have not heard that interview, then I will upload the same later.
But in the meantime read the mind of Kishore Kumar in the mid 50’s – a man who was already conquering the world, had enough of reasons to look down upon the film world and at the end , with great determination, sincerity and hard work, have the last laugh in the industry. They do not make men like him anymore !
Tags: Ameen Sayani, Ashok Kumar, Dev Anand, Kishore Kumar, Ruma Ganguli, SD Burman, Shaheed Latif(Quote)
“The only thing that matters in the world is money. Money! Money! Money!. And what brings it – Success“, says Kishore Kumar, one of filmland’s busiest stars who debates with his inner self in this revealing self portrait.The Time : Nearly one-thirty at night.
The Place : A suburban studio.
Night shooting has been scheduled but has not begun yet. They are busy lighting the set and attending to the innumerable details, which spring up for attention at the very last moment in the best-conducted studios. The atmosphere is dismal inside the studio. Outside, it is raining, which makes it worse. On a bench in the make-up room, a huddled figure can be discerned, to sing and turning in that state of semi-consciousness which hovers on the edge of sleep.
It is Kishore Kumar, one of the filmland’s busiest stars. Through the past fortnight, he has been shooting night and day, continuously, and filling recording schedules in between. It’s almost dark in the make-up room and in the deceptive gloom one seems to glimpse another figure beside the bench bending over the recumbent Kishore who turns over impatiently, unwillingly to be disturbed.”—————————————————————————————————————
Kishore Kumar ( irritably ) : For God’s sake, let me sleep. As it is I get so little time…Kishore Ganguly : So little time is correct. Just look at you. You’re nervous. You’re tired and jittery. You can’t sit still a moment. And why? To what purpose? Have you thought of it?
Kishore Kumar : What d’you mean, to what purpose? You ask me that? You, of all people, should know to what purpose ! Haven’t you been with me from the very beginning? Don’t you know what I’ve been through – the terrible frustrations, the haunting spectre of failure dogging my footsteps, the fruitless struggle, the constant misery, the never-ending hardship and privation, and that perpetual nightmare, the grinding, pressing need for money, the terror of every waking moment? Those were the bad days and you know the full horror of them because you went through them with me, every wretched hour of every single one of them. I promised myself then that if ever I got the chance for which I was struggling I would work and work and work and never want for money again. Well, that time has come.
Kishore Ganguly : ( Claps ) Hear, hear. That was a pretty speech. But tell me. Seriously now, how do you feel?
Kishore Kumar : Frightened. Terribly. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m caught in the middle of a vicious circle ( laughs bitterly ), a circle of my own making. ( Sits up ) It all started years ago, really. My brother Ashok was a famous star. I was struggling to make a mark as a playback singer. I never wanted to become an actor. Those were harrowing days, and I never want to think of them again. The’ve made me what I am today. I remember how I used to stand at bus-stops, and stars-friends of my brother – would fly past in their limousines without so much as a glance at me. I wanted to sing and people would say, “Your voice is no good. Us mein who cheez nahin hai” What they meant by “Woh Cheez“, God alone knows. The unbearable humiliation of it all. “ Give us a voice test”, they would say. And I swore to myself that the day would come when I’d make these very people eat humble pie, when the shoe would be on the other foot, when I would laugh at them.
Kishore Ganguly : ( Reflectively ) And you’ve done it all now, haven’t you? All, that is, except the laugh. I imagine. You don’t look much like laughing right now.
Kishore Kumar : What do you mean?
Kishore Ganguly : Never mind, I’ll tell you later. Go on now. I see you’re in the mood.
Kishore Kumar : ( all the suppressed bitterness coming out of his voice and expression ) The only thing that matters in the world is money. Money ! money ! money! And what brings it – Success ! Money and success ! The magic, inseparable twins. There is nothing else that counts. No sentiment, not decency, nothing. Just money and success. You have them and you belong, you’re somebody. You belong. You don’t and you’re nobody. People laugh at you, even spurn you. Oh, I’ve been through all that. And I kept telling myself, “You wait, the time is coming.” The hope, the conviction that it would come, were the only things that kept me going. I remember the time I was called to give a voice test at Filmistan. Filmistan, mind you, where my closest relatives, Mukherjee and Ashok, were demi-gods. They too said, Is mein who cheez hahin hai. Today Filmistan has offered me a fat contract. Mr Jalan tells me, “Arre, hum tum ko soldier pe bithaiega“. He meant shoulder ! He said, “Aur picture me tum stenotype lagta hai!” – he meant stereotyped ! “Hamare saath kaam karke dekho”. And I said, “On my terms, friend, on my terms. If they don’t suit you, why ( shrugs ) its just too bad !”
Kishore Ganguly : ( A shade of irony in his voice ) So you’re well on top. That’s good. You used to think that money and success were essential for security. You have them both now. Do you feel secure? Do you think it will last?
Kishore Kumar : No. But I have no illusions about it. Yesterday I was a nobody, today I am a star, tomorrow I may again not be one. I may become a featured artist, revert back to playback singing or even get right out. I’ll take my wife and son back home to Khandwa and work on our land there. I have been looking forward to going back for a long time. But while my sun shines, I’ll make my hay – and save it, all of it.
Kishore Ganguly : Aren’t you afraid people will call you a miser?
Kishore Kumar : Who cares? People revile you when you have no money and are jealous of you when you do. I’d rather have them jealous ! Do you know…( pause )…I’d always have been poor but for my wife. She brought me luck ( Reflectively ) My family was against my marrying her. I remember Sachin Sev Burman had got me a playback singing contract for Bahar in Madras. Before I went to keep it, all our wedding plans were ready. On my last day in Madras, Sachin-da insisted that I stay on for a retake. I finished that retake that very evening and rushed back to Bombay. At the airport I was worried. Should I go to Worli ( where my people lived ) or should I
go to Bandra ( where my bride lived with her people )? If I went home I knew there would be no wedding. I went to Bandra.Kishore Ganguly : And then?
Kishore Kumar : ( Reflectively ) And then my luck changed. I remember, long ago, they’d called me for a song in Kaneez. I vamped the song bum chick-a chick-a bum and yodeled it along. The style clicked and they asked me to picturise it. Then Ashok encouraged me. “There is no future in playback singing“, he said, “switch over to acting“. I was reluctant even then. Dadamoni (Ashok) put me to Shaheed Latif who was to direct Buzdil and wanted me for the younger brother’s part. I did’nt want to act. But how could I refuse Ashok? He threatened to check up on whether I’d gone to see him or not. So I went, dressed in tatters. The producer received me in his office. “So, you’re Ashok’s brother. Why, you look just like him.” Well? There was an awkward silence. Then I said brightly. I’ll sing. I began seriously enough, then suddenly switched to my bum-chicking. A lot of raised eyebrows, and I was out ! Later, I did begin to act. My pictures flopped like ninepins. Distributors looked askance at me,telling producers I was no good. “His pictures can’t sell“, they said.
Kishore Ganguly : But your marriage changed all that?
Kishore Kumar : Yes. For the early days of our marriage people would say, “What! Ashok Kumar’s brother and no car?” We had only five thousand rupees in the bank, saved up after a lot of labour. One morning I saw an ad in the paper: Morris Minor, one thousand rupees. I read no further. Taking my wife and a friend, I went to the sales room. There I got a nasty jolt. The ad had really said a thousand rupees less than the listed price! Not waiting to make a fool of myself, I forked over four thousand rupees for the first payment and contracted to pay the rest in instalments. I still have that car today. It’s my lucky car.
Kishore Ganguly : Yes, yes. Go on.
Kishore Kumar : Then my pictures began to click and soon I found myself a famous star. You know, when money first started rolling in, I’d develop such a complex about it that I’d sit for hours in a locked room and counting the notes. I’d count them, then count them again. I became an expert at flipping notes at top speed. Then to make sure the total was right, I’d count them again !
Kishore Ganguly : That’s your feeling of insecurity again.
Kishore Kumar : Don’t give me those high sounding words. I can tell you it gives me a wonderful feeling. Save! I told myself. Save! Save ! It’s the only sensible thing to do. Don’t you see? I’m caught in a vicious circle. The more money I make, the more money I have to make. Much of it goes – to perpetually borrowing from friends, for petrol, clothes, this, that. Then there is our friend, the income tax man. When I returned from Madras the other day I found the familiar long envelope waiting for me. It contained a beautiful letter which actually began with, “Dear Sir”. Then it politely said at the end that I’d have to pay some fantastic amount or go to jail. And it actually ended, yours sincerely – it probably was, too.
Kishore Ganguly : So you take on all the pictures you can. Don’t you realize the penalty you’re paying?
Kishore Kumar : ( Becomes moody ) I’m in a terrible condition. Day and night, night and day, from studio to studio with recording sessions thrown in between. “Speak your dialogue”, they say. And my head whirls with bits of dialogue from other sets, other pictures. They’re in my head, buzzing round, leaving no room for more dialogue to go in. ( Frantically ) Sometimes I feel I’m going crazy. All the time that never-ending whirl of shooting and more shooting. My wife and son have become strangers to me. I don’t see them for days on end. I’m asleep in the morning when my son leaves for school and he’s asleep when I come in at about 4 a.m. It’s all gone, our beautiful home life, that peace and happiness for which I’d worked, for which everyone works. My wife is angry with me. I’ve been promising to take her away for a month to Kashmir. As a matter of fact we were supposed to be in Kashmir this month. So I told my secretary, “Don’t give anyone dates”. Then they all moan saying, “Kishore-saab, dates do warna hum mar jayenge“. Invariably they all say they’ll die if you don’t give them dates. Not one of them dies, really. Someone’s shooting is extended – “Kishore saab, please, please“. And my wife is waiting,all dressed up and ready to keep a dinner engagement at 8 p.m. I roll home at 10 and she looks at me. What can I do? They couldn’t finish the work. And it goes on and on like that. Just the other day my wife told me, “Buy a trailer and attach it to your car like the Americans do. You can sleep in it. After all, why waste petrol to come all the way home from one studio just to rush off to another? ( Frowns ) You realize what’s happening, don’t you? I can’t get out. I can’t get out.
Kishore Ganguly (ironically): You’re making a lot of money. Perhaps you don’t want to get out.
Kishore Kumar : It was for the money, yes. But I know better now. Too much of it can be a curse too. I don’t know how it will all end. I know what I’ll have to do. I’ll have to pack up and run. Run with my family far away and leave everybody to awake one fine morning and find me gone. When my wife learnt that we wouldn’t be going to Kashmir, she said, “Very well, I’m going to my people in Calcutta. Join me when you’re free.”
Kishore Ganguly : You’ll just go on as usual. Don’t you know that stars come and go but the industry goes on like the brook in the poem? You’re not exactly indispensable, you know.
Kishore Kumar : ( Eagerly trying to convince the other ) That’s why! That’s why I keep on working. By the time I’m through I hope to have enough money to retire in comfort for life. You know, I’m going to make a 16 mm film reel, which I’ll show all the producers who come to sign me up. The moment they start saying. ” It’s a terrific role” and all that hokum, I’ll say, “just keep quiet about your role and see this“. Then I’ll show them the reel. Now this, I’ll say as it starts, is my ‘ten thousand’ rupee acting. This is my ‘fifteen’. This is ‘twenty’. This is ‘fifty’, and so on, until I reach a lakh ( during this time he begins by imitating himself and, as the price goes up, imitates other highly paid stars including his brother ). “Take your pick, pay the money and go. There will be no talk of roles here”
Kishore Ganguly : You must try and change the pattern of your thoughts. You must stop working in those stupid pictures…
Kishore Kumar : ( interrupts quickly, grimacing ) No, no, no, no, no. You’re absolutely wrong. No sensible pictures for me. The more fantastic a picture is, the more incoherent its plot, the better it runs. People like such pictures ! They don’t even bother to ask why one does this or that – so long as it makes them laugh. It’s better to work in stupid pictures, which click than in intelligent pictures which flop. Everything is in reverse, so why not we too?
Kishore Ganguly : ( regretfully ) I know you don’t like my advising you, But I think you’d better cry halt before things go out of hand. Go away somewhere, refashion your values, get back into contact with basic realities.
(A voice is heard offstage, crying, “Kishore saab! Shot ready! Kishore Kumar Jumps up )Kishore Kumar : ( Pats him patronisingly ) Now be off, old chap. There’s a good fellow. Call again sometime. Maybe we could spend a little more time together. But don’t sermonise. It’s boring. Heigh ho ! Time’s money. I’m off.
” //Exit// ”
——————————————————————— (unquote)
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@KCP,
Thanks a lot for providing this opportunity to have a glimpse of the INNER WORLD OF KISHORE KUMAR.
Great conversation with the self. Visual factor is there in a true filmi manner.
invaluable stuff, thanx man
kishore v/s kishore or shud i say kumar v/s ganguly :D
Amazing, amazing stuff! Thanks a lot kcp!
awesome…
Waah waah waah waah waah waah waah waah waah! (TBC offline)
KCP u sure are a treasure house of information, when it comes to the legends of Indian cinema. Fabulous as usual.
It was interesting but then it was not something that was not known! What makes Kishore Kumar into the phenomenon he became is still a mystery.
Thats the fun Manish, in solving the mystery. Will do maximum possible, on PFC. Wait for the next 2 posts of mine, which can show us the serious side sans the usual mischief that Kishore does in media. ONLY with these kind of posts we can understand his thought processes and reveal his tru nature ( by exploring each line from his own life-stories ).
‘If you guys have not heard that interview, then I will upload the same later.’
Kaustubh, please upload the interview!
Really looking forward to your next post, Kaustubh!
Thanks for presenting it here, Kaustubh. Made my day. Would you know in which exact issue Filmfare published it?
Thats why Kishoreda is a legend!!!
Thanks again kcp
This is what I suppose keeps us coming back to PFC, and such gems can probably help it survive, what we write (no offence intended) is more often than not just an expression of ourselves, our tastes, our choice, our associations, in which not many are going to be interested. But waiting for something like this, we’ll be here again and again and discover each other’s expressions
great insight kcp. upload the interview with Ameen Sayani. waiting for ur next post on KK.
yes bhai eagerly waiting for that Iview with Ameen Sayani.. heard a lot about that…
What was true for KK ain’t it true for SRK or Sallu today ? the same feeling that goes like :
“How does it feel/ when u r all alone/ with no direction home/ like a rolling stone ?”
grt, grt post man. hope someday we will have a biopic on him like Oliver Stone’s The Doors or better like Milos Forman’s Amadeus.
Wow…Wow..it was sooo amazing to read this…absolutely awesome..kcp bhai thanks a million for this…
This is just one of the moods that Kishore da was in..hopefully we can get you post some other moods as well
Thanks KCP for revealing this hidden side of Kishore. I realize that behind the veneer of that nutty, batty exterior was a very sensitive and intelligent man
KCP, wallah kya baat hai,aapki jai ho
kkg
@kcp- Outstandingly touching read. Please upload the interview with Ameen bhai.
Kaustabh ji,
Thank you so much for uploading these original interviews. I enjoyed them immensely. May I request to hear the Ameen Sayani interview? Would you by any chance also have an audio/video link of a famous Kishore/Lata interview talk that I watched on tv nearly two decades back.
Regards,
Gulab