From going “completely bald” in order that he can keep away from taking part in the titular hero in Anand, to a “secret staircase” at the back of his closet to harassing hapless producers, “mad genius” Kishore Kumar recounts his There have been a number of methods up the sleeve, reveals poet-lyricist Gulzar in his new e book, Actually… I Met Them: A Memoir.
According to Gulzar, Kishore Kumar, and never actor Rajesh Khanna, was initially set to star within the 1971 cult basic Anand. But a couple of days earlier than the taking pictures, Kishore Kumar stunned everybody by going utterly bald in a gathering to debate his look within the movie.
“We were all shocked! On top of that, Kishorada went around the office dancing and singing, ‘What will you do now, Rishi?’ (The director of the film, Hrishikesh Mukherjee),” writes Gulzar.
“As a result, Rajesh Khanna was finalized for the role in a very short span of time. Perhaps Kishorada never wanted to play this character. Yet, I have never seen anyone cut their nose to cut their face like this,” recollects Gulzar, who wrote the dialogues of the superhit movie. The movie received a number of awards, together with the Filmfare Award for Best Film in 1972.
Not solely the director but additionally many producers have been the victims of this mischief of Kishore Kumar. In truth, one in all Kishore Kumar’s favourite issues was to “get his producers in trouble”, Gulzar writes within the memoir revealed by Penguin Random House India.
Once a producer went to a singer-actor’s home for a gathering, however Kishore Kumar, in no temper to speak to him, “just opened his cupboard, stepped inside and disappeared!”
“He used to have this amazing cupboard that hid a secret staircase inside. Kishorada simply opened the cupboard, stepped inside and disappeared! The producer was left waiting for him outside the open doors of the contraption. If nothing else, it underscores the immense effort and planning required to live a life of the absurd,” writes the veteran lyricist.
In one other occasion, Kishore Kumar stopped the recording of songs from the film Bharosa for Chai Maang Ki Maang. And after an limitless wait, when the tea lastly arrived, he went forward with the recording with out even taking a sip.
“Every time we tried to influence Kishorada, ‘Come on, Dada, let’s get the recording accomplished, Abdul – his driver who went out to fetch tea – will probably be right here quickly’, he would reply, ‘Let Abdul come. I’ll have tea and solely then’. Finally, when Abdul returned, Kishorada instantly introduced, ‘Okay, let’s file.’ ‘Why do not you need tea?’ We requested. Ignoring us, he went to get the recording accomplished,” he writes.
Gulzar clarified that tea was not necessary to the singer. All the play was accomplished “to spend the producer’s money and bring tea to all the musicians and staff”. Describing the legendary singer as his “friend” with whom he had labored on a number of events, the 87-year-old creator admitted that Kishore Kumar was somebody with whom you “couldn’t be angry or upset for too long”.
“If I did, all of the loss was mine. It meant being disadvantaged of the essence of the world—a youngster. It had its personal superiority, narcissism and spirit – it’s all distinctive.. One would discover it arduous to consider that one may conduct their actual life with such humour if one had by no means met Kishorada,” They stated.
Indeed… I Met Them: A Memoir, launched on Monday, offers readers a glimpse into the minds of stalwarts like Bimal Roy, Ritwik Ghatak, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Mahasweta Devi by way of Gulzar’s relatable lens.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
