Tribute to a Musical Legend

Kishore Kumar was no ordinary human. There is no second opinion about that. He was an inspiring genius with the customary trappings of eccentricity and madness. Gifted with the most precious vocal talents, the synonym for versatility, Here comes a documentary made roughly 22 years ago and nowhere available to buy. Even its makers no longer produce it. Zindagi Ek Safar – A must watch for all who love Kishore Kumar and his multi-talented career of an immensely creative personality, it is a documentary and is the one and only video documentary made in 1989, on the happening life of the most versatile musical phenomenon called Kishore Kumar.

Directed by Sandip Ray (son of the renowned film-maker, Satyajit Ray), the movie talks about KishoreDa’s lesser known childhood, his energetic career as an actor and his incomparable contribution as a singer along with famous clips of his uncountable melodious songs which are still cherished by Hindi film music lovers living all over the world.

Intelligently compiled by Sandip, the movie not only showcases the brighter side of KishoreDa’s persona but also talks about the grey shades of his identity, which were sadly publicised in the media as an strange behaviour towards insanity. Ironically, Kishore da himself talks about it with Lata Mangeshkar in an interview featured in the documentary. Exploring different phases in the life and career of KishoreDa, as an actor, producer, director, singer, composer and lyricist, the movie smartly makes us familiar with the real truth behind many famous myths about him.

He was not interested in acting, but his elder brother Ashok Kumar wanted him to be an actor like himself. In Bimal Roy's Naukri (1954) and Hrishikesh Mukherjee's directorial debut Musafir (1957). Salil Chowdhary, the music director for Naukri was initially dismissive of him as a singer, when he came to know that Kishore Kumar didn't have any formal training in music.

Kishore Kumar (August 4, 1929 - October 13, 1987), born as Abhas Kumar Kanjilal Ganguly, was a legendary Bollywood film playback singer (Hindi, Bangla, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Oriya) actor of Bengali, Indian origin also lyricist, composer, producer, director, screenwriter and scriptwriter. He was the most popular playback singer of his time and his recordings are still best-sellers. 

Although known primarily for his successes as a singer, Kishore Kumar was a noted actor. His comedy work included Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Half Ticket, Padosan, Baap Re Baap, Pyar Diwana (1973), and Hungama (1971)). As a leading (non-comic) actor he had roles in films such as Naukri, Bandi, Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein, Door Ka Raahi. He holds the record for most number of Filmfare Awards won for Best Male Playback Singer. Today Kishoreda is no more, but he remains etched in our minds courtesy his scores of priceless songs. He is perhaps the everlasting voice of Indian Cinema and we may never see another one like him.

He is going to remain forever in the hearts of his fans as his songs are the one which would never be replaced by any other music to relieve you from stress.