(NB: This story is set up in the pre-internet era, in a remote
village that doesn't feature in the maps of modern India, where those days the
only source of information was All India Radio)
Coming from an extremely orthodox family where movies were at
best a festive-time affair, I was introduced to Hindi film music quite late. It
must have been one such occasion that we typically celebrated with
vibrant new clothes, delicious home-made cakes, and non-stop music on loud
speakers – when I came across this remarkable voice.
The song on the loud speaker was, “O yaara, tu pyaron se hai
pyaara…”- which at a much later date I would come to know, was sung by a legend
called Kishore Kumar. The moment I heard that deep baritone, it left an
indelible mark in my heart. A few days later I was allowed to watch a movie “Alag
Alag” and I heard that voice again. The song was “Dil mein aag lagaye sawan ka
mahina…”. Instantly, the flood gates were open – I took to Vividh Bharti with
full vigour and started listening to as many Kishore Kumar songs as were aired.
Within no time, I had turned into a full-fledged Kishore Kumar fan. I would listen to all his
songs for hours together - old, new, contemporary, master pieces, dance numbers, sad songs – over
and over again until I could remember them word-by-word. So captivated was I by Kishoreda's magic that no other voice, even that of legends like Mohd. Rafi, Mukesh, Manna
Day would appeal to me. In my mind I always found a huge factor
missing in all other voices – a factor without which a song was incomplete for me – style
and machismo. Kishoreda had these in abundance, besides all other qualities I
could think of. You felt suave, stylized and even invincible while humming a
Kishoreda song. It was amazing how I had been able to completely black out every
other voice from my mind, but I had managed just that. Bottom line was, one and only one
voice existed for me – that of dada. And I never felt the necessity to look beyond. (I could go on and on about Kishoreda but that’s another story for
another day)
Years passed by. One fine morning, I switched on the radio to hear a refreshing song “Main jis din bhoola doon tera pyar dilse…” from a movie
called Police Public. Lataji was in her elements as usual but what caught my attention was the male voice. At first I thought it was Kishoreda. yet there was something unusual about it. I came closer and listened very carefully, but despite my best efforts was unable to completely rule out Kishoreda from the track. At the end of the
song when the announcer (was it Amin Sayani?) declared the name of the singers, I was shocked to hear the name of a certain Amit Kumar, who had rendered the song alongside Lataji. Who on earth was this Amit
Kumar, who could sing so much like Kishoreda? How was it even possible? There was nobody who I could turn to for the answer. But I kept hearing
more and more of Amit Kumar in days that followed.
And it turned out, many songs like “Dushman na kare dost ne who kaam kiya hai….”,
“Jeena hai to Ji bhar hanslo…” were indeed sung by him, which hitherto I
believed were Kishoreda’s songs.
I undoubtedly loved Amit Kumar’s superhit songs from “Balika
Badhu”, “Love Story” and “Romance”, but out of curiosity started paying
more attention to other tracks as well that were not as popular. The more I heard Amit, the more convinced I got that Amit Kumar had to be related to Kishoreda in some way, else nobody
would be able to carry off the same accent, the same style and almost the same
voice quality with such elan. It didn’t take me long to fall in love with this
voice too. At a later date when a friend told me that Amit Kumar was indeed the
elder son of my favorite Kishoreda, I was not surprised. By then I was kind of
expecting it.
After my school days, I moved to a city and along came the
access to Cassettes then CDs and finally Internet. Today, when I have
all the sources, materials and information at my disposal at a click of a
button, I still have Kishore Kumar and Amit Kumar as my first two playlists in all
my music libraries.
Here are my favorite ten random Amit Kumar tracks in no
particular order, along with the reason why I love them so much:
1."Main Jis din bhoolan doon tera pyar dilse…
(Police Public)” – The first time I heard this as a young kid, I couldn’t make out
if this was Kishoreda, I still tend to feel the same way even after all these years.
2. "Soone saanjh savere…. (Khel)” – Just for the fantastic voice quality of Amitda.
3.“Dheere dheere, chori chori…. (Imtihan)” – The
sheer style of Amitda that reminds me of Kishoreda in “Kaate nahin katti yeh din
yeh raat...(Mr India). But I genuinely believe Amitda has outdone even the great Kishore
Kumar here!
4."Maang teri saja doon main…(Baaghi) – The sad
verson, I do not believe any other singer could have given the desired effect
here. Amitda just wrenches your heart with his soulful rendition.
4.“Kajal, Kajal…. (Sapoot)” – Just listen to the
other version that they kept in the movie. You will know why no other singer should
ever attempt a song that is also sung by Amit Kumar, unless of course, he just
wants to be chewed up – that’s what happened here.
5.“Naina O mere Naina… (Yaad Rakhegi Duniya) –
Again that dard in Amitda’s voice makes you cry along with him.
6.“Keh do ke tum ho meri… (Tezzab)” – Who doesn’t
love this song?
7.“Sanam mere sanam…. (Hum)” – Just listen to the
attitude in Amitda’s voice in this song. You'll know what I'm talking about.
8."Raat ko neend aati nahin…. (Judaai)” - Again, how does he bring so much style into his voice? I rate Amitda slightly ahead of Kishoreda in this department,
my personal opinion though.
9."Mujko yeh zindagi lagti hai ajnabee…(Sailaab)” –
That kashish in dada’s voice!
10."Filmon ke saare hero... (Swarg) - For the wholesome entertaining rendition with no inhibitions whatsoever.
Its great news for his fans that Amit Kumar has started KBM.
I already love “Baba Mere” and “ Haan main hoon badnaam”
What I wish though, is dada would eventually consider
singing for other music directors and lyricists as well just for variety sake.
For now though, we are not complaining.
