Mumbai: Kishore Kumar is truly one of the unforgettable legends of Indian Cinema. To mark his 89th birth anniversary, radio stations have curated best collection of the legendary singer.
On this special occasion of his birth anniversary, here are seven lesser known facts about him…
#In an interview in 1985, he told Pritish Nandy, how he loathed acting and was only interested in singing, he said “I only wanted to sing, never to act. But somehow, thanks to peculiar circumstances, I was persuaded to act in the movies. I hated every moment of it and tried virtually every trick to get out of it. I muffed my lines, pretended to be crazy, shaved my head off etc. but who cared?”
#In the same interview, he mentioned he was planning to quit Bombay and was going away to his hometown. He said, “Who can live in this stupid, friendless city where everyone seeks to exploit you every moment of the day? Can you trust anyone out here? Is anyone trustworthy? Is anyone a friend you can count on? I am determined to get out of this futile rat race and live as I’ve always wanted to in my native Khandwa, the land of my forefathers. Who wants to die in this ugly city?” And yet he stayed here and became one singer everyone aspires to be till today.
#Though he admitted of hating acting, his films worked at the box office and once even confessed to being next only to Dilip Kumar in popularity.
#It’s being said that he had a board outside his house stating “Beware of Kishore”.
#He used to talk to trees, would crack jokes with them and preferred them over humans.
#He married four times, first with singer Ruma Ghosh, then actress Madhubala, then he was briefly married to actress Yogita Bali and finally married actress Leena Chandavarkar.
#For a brief while, the mercurial singer even stopped singing for Amitabh Bachchan, apparently because the superstar refused to act under Kishore’s direction in Mamta Ki Chaon Mein. He later signed Rajesh Khanna for that role. Sadly, the movie was released after his death.
Agencies