Yes, the man was a genius who died before his time. He was a comic par excellence and if you have not seen films like Chalti Ka Naam Gadi, Padosan, New Delhi then do yourself a favor and watch them immediately. Of course he sang romantic melodies, sad songs, and rod songs and children’s songs and sung them all with unmatched talent. BUT today I need to laugh and will focus on his uproariously funny songs. To start with I want to include songs in which we saw Kishore both on screen and off screen as the voice. But of course many a comic song was done by him in playback mode.
Let us start with the gem of a number from Chalti Ka Naam Gadi:
Kishore is woken up by a rain drenched Madhubala who has car troubles (this one is mildly funny and full on melody – do not worry, the comedy will only ramp up in a bit):
Our friend spends too much time girl-gazing and forgets to ask her for the repair money – and big brother (Asho Kumar) is a tartar, so off he is sent to get the money back. Now the comedy gets hilarious as the girl will not let go of her black purse with the cash!
Now the fun really begins! Boy meets girl, there is romance, and the middle brother wants to know the whole story – this is a priceless comedic moment, and it is hard to pick which of the Ganguly brothers does a better act!
Next up is a trio of songs from Padosan. Kishore now is mentoring a rather “simple” Sunil Dutt in the art of love, and being his voice! This song created an insane buzz when it fiorst played on Al India Radio, but to see it on screen is a special delight!
Of Course the girl is not so easily won, especially since her music teacher is a tenacious fellow who will not let her give up the fight!
But the boy must not lose heart, so he has to be told he is this close to winning her over, and here Kishore has us in splits!
This one where Kishore sings in both voices in Half-Ticket is a classic song!
Let me end this post with Kishore in top form in Suniye suniye aaj Kal ki ladkiyon ka program!
Please feel free to add your favorites to this post! And laugh!
And ponder on one thing – this man, who could ham it up in fine fettle and act out many a comic part was married to 4 wonderfully talented and beautiful ladies – he started with Ruma Guha Thakurta who led the Youth Choir of Calcutta, then it was Madhubala, then Yogeeta Bali, and then Leena Chandavarkar! Rumor has it that Yogeeta Bali fell in Love with Mithun while filming with him and left Kishore. But then he married Leena!! He was supposed to be a miser, borderline insane/quirky depending on how much you were a fan. All genius is a bit crazy, is it not?
Filed under: Music | Tagged: comic genius, Kishore Kumar |
Stranger in a strange land 
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Long back (a couple of decades) i heard a Kishore Kumar song on All India Radio sung in his usual zany way, which went “Tharra Rum Tharra Rum, duniya ke aise kaise gum, ho piyala ki kasam…”. (Well, it SOUNDED like that) It was on the radio cum cassette player and i luckily hit the Record button and could hear it ad infinitum till somebody erased that cassette. The really maddening thing is that i still don’t know which film it was (sounded like fifties music) and i never never heard it again on radio or tv or the net. That song’s gone into limbo, but it doesn’t deserve to!
That song sounds like an old one and I can’t say I have heard it. Maybe from his comedy films with Bhagwan phase? Have you seen this documentary? It might be of interest to you.
Kishore Kumar had a great voice. Lata, Rafi, Lata, Kishore, and Aasha are our greatest singers.
Hi Pakhipakhi – where are you?
Still here, very much so. Just got a bit busy
I am not sure if I got the chance to talk to you after I got back from Switzerland in 2009. You had given me suggestions. I had a great time and loved it. I had some business in Basel but took some time off and went to Zurich and Lucerne as well. I also took a tour of the alps. What a trip it was. Thank you.
I just got back from a trip to Switzerland, so glad you had fun. It is an amazing country, so beautiful, BUT SO EXPENSIVE
Yes and would love to go there again, specially Geneva as I could not go there last time. How often do you travel to Switzerland? Is it for your job or do you have relatives? Regards.
Trip was purely work related but I had a little fun. Do not get there as often as I would like.