Daily Times

When I was a child, I heard my elders always humming or listening to Kundanlal Saigal’s songs.

Not particularly keen to follow this school of thought as I was more relaxed in listening to Talat Mahmud’s soft tones followed by high tonal qualities of Muhammad Rafi. KL Saigol was dead when I was a baby. He was born in Jammu on April 11, 1894 and he died on January 17, 1947 just before Pakistan came into being. What was so mesmerizing in his voice made me listen to his songs after many years and I found his voice deep and resonant though his pronunciation had problems but who cared in those times as far as film songs were concerned!

Singer and composer Anil Biswas wrote the song “Dil Jalta Hai Tou Jalne De” to Mukesh for the film ‘Pehli Nazar’. It was Mukesh’s first break as a playback singer for actor Motilal in 1945. Lyrics were written by Aah Sitapuri. He sounded like KL, so deep was KL’s school of thought imbedded in his psyche. It has been quoted somewhere that Mukesh was so nervous that Anil Biswas had to play harmonium while he was on the microphone. Even KL got a surprise when he heard this song not remembering that he had sung this song. It was with great hard work for many years that Anil Biswas got rid of KL’s ersatz from Mukesh’s voice to establish his own identity. KL had become a benchmark for most of the singers that followed him. It was a surprise that KL established himself as a singer despite the primitive recording facilities available in Calcutta in those days.

About KL’s earlier life Wikipedia reports, “KL’s father Amarchand Saigal was a tehsildar at the court of the Raja of Jammu & Kashmir. His mother Kesarbai Saigal was a deeply religious Hindu lady who was very fond of music. She used to take her young son to religious functions where bhajan, kirtan and shabad were sung in traditional styles based on classical Indian music. Saigol was the fourth-born child of five and his formal schooling was brief and uneventful. As a child he occasionally played Sitar in the Ramlila of Jammu. Saigol was a dropout from school and started earning money by working as railway timekeeper. Later, he worked as a typewriter salesman for the Remington Typewriter Company, which allowed him to tour several parts of India. His travels brought him to Lahore, where he became friends with Mehrchand Jain at the Anarkali Bazaar. Mehrchand and Kundan remained friends when they both moved to Calcutta and had many a mehfil-e-mushaira. In those days Saigol was a budding singer and Mehrchand encouraged him to pursue”.

Saigol befriended his contemporaries KC Dey, Punkaj Mullick and Pahari Sanyal in Calcutta where he had got a job for Rs. 200 per month in Calcutta New Theaters owned by BN Sircar. He was taken there by RC Boral with reference to Harishchandra Bali who had brought him to Calcutta. The latter had recorded his two Punjabi numbers for Indian Gramophone Company.

Saigol was an actor also. His three films Muhabbat Kei Aansoo, Zinda Lash and Subha Ka Sitara were released in 1932 but they flopped. He had used the name Saigol Kashmiri for these films but then he shifted to the name KL from the films Yahudi Ki Ladki, Chandidas, Rooplekha and Karwan-e-Hayat onwards. The film Pooran Bhagat had three bhajans in Saigol’s voice which were liked by music lovers. In 1935 Saigol played the main lead in Devdas, based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel of the same name and directed by PC Barua. His drunkan portrayal of the hero of this film won him kudos. His songs ‘Balam Aaye Baso Moray Man Mein” and “Dukh Ke Ab Din Beetat Naahi”, became popular throughout the country.

Saigol knew Bengali language very well. He acted in seven Bengali films, produced by New Theatres. Rabindranath Tagore first heard Saigol before giving consent for the first time to a non-Bengali singing his songs. Saigol endeared himself to the whole of Bengal through his 30 Bengali songs. His association with New Theaters gave him success in the Bengali films Didi, Desher Mati and Saathi.

Side by side KL worked as lead actor for Hindi films like President in 1937, Dharti Mata in 1938, Street Singer in 1938, Dushman, Jiban Maran and Zindagi in 1940. He also rendered some popular songs especially the song “Babul Mora Naihar Chhooto Jaye” ‘live’ in front of the camera, even though playback was becoming the preferred method of singing songs in films.

The song ‘Babul Mora Naihar Chooto Hi Jaye’ was penned by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the King of Awadh. The movie ‘Street Singer’ had support cast as Kanan Devi, Boken Chatto, Rekha, Jagdish Sethi, Vikram Kapoor, Shabbir, AH Shore Chamanlal, Vaid, Shyam Laha, Abdul Rehman, Vrij Paul, Ramkumari, Rani. In RC Boral’s music, the film was New Theater’s presentation in the direction of Phani Maujumdaar in 1937. This movie had 13 songs penned by Arzoo Lukhnawi. Based in Calcutta, the story is all about two childhood friends Bhulwa and Manju becoming street singers. The duo is noticed by a theatre owner, and they get a chance to play on the stage. As luck would have it, it is Manju who gets the limelight and the attention. Bhulwa slowly fades from the scene. In the end, in an obviously symbolic landscape the two are united. Written by Sujit R Varma “Street Singer” is one of the earliest Hindi movies. The song “Baabul Moraa Naihar Chhooto Hi Jaaye” is a duet sung by Saigol and Kaanan Devi.

Most of the movie, one can sees Bhulwaa with the harmonium, an association that he nurtures with lot of emotion and love and does not want to part with it. Bhulwaa leaves with his broken harmonium. But the separation and distance brings out the actual feelings the two have always had for each other, as an undercurrent to the childhood friendship.

It was now time to move to Bombay. He started working for Ranjit Movie tone. Films Bhakta Surdas and ‘Tansen’ were his successful movies in 1942 and 1943 respectively. The song ‘Diya Jalao Jug Mug Jug Mag’ played havoc as far as its popularity is concerned. It was composed in Raag Deepak. Music was composed by Khemchand Parkash. He was the same composer who composed music for Kamal Amrohvi’s film ‘Mehel’ in 1949 with Lata’s ‘Aaye Ga Aane Waala’. The film Tansen was directed by Jayant Desai and produced by Chabdulal Shah. Saigol’s support cast was Kamla Chaterjee, Jesari and Khurshid. Playing Tansen singing Diya Jalao in Jallauddin’s court the candles starts burning at the climax. Tansen is in love with a village girl namely Tani. Hearing of Tansen’s fame that even animals get mesmerized by his talent, Jallauddin invites him to sing in his courts. Tansen sings and the musical instruments start accompanying him on their own. Akbar, impressed with this, appoints Tansen as his Sangeet Samrat. When it is Akbar’s birthday, Tansen has a visitor – none other than Tani, and he refuses to attend Akbar’s birthday celebration. Akbar himself comes to Tansen’s house, and meets with Tani. He tells Tani that Tansen is already married, and that she should leave immediately. Broken hearted Tani leaves and seeks some answers from life and a crunch that might as well destroys Tansen for life. This film had two other popular songs by Saigol namely “Sapta Suran” and “Tin Gaa-o Saba Guni Jan”.

Had Saigol not returned to Calcutta in 1944, then the movie ‘My sister’ would not have been completed and songs such as Naina Matware” and “Ae Kaatib-e-Taqdeer Mujhe Itna Bata De” would not have been born. The latter song is set for Saigol to sing on Stage with simple Kurta and Dhoti and two beautiful dames sitting in the Boxes along with appreciative crowd in the Hall.

By this time Saigol had started taking alcohol in abundance. It is rumoured that he had to be drunk before he recorded any song. Despite this addiction, some of his best work came out during this time. By now he was back in Bombay.

According to Wikipedia, he was able to churn out three more hits under the baton of Naushad Ali for the film Shahjehan. These are “Mere Sapnon Ki Rani”, “Ae Dil-e-Beqaraar Jhoom” and “Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya”. Saigal’s main emphasis remained on singing. He was least bothered about pronunciation. In the last mentioned song he kept on pronouncing Jab as Jabbe, Dil as Dile, Toot as Toote etc.

Naushad Ali’s treatment of Saigol’s voice with his rich violins support in the song ‘Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya’ made all the difference. Saigol is seen wearing a ‘Tirchi’ cap, very funny to look at now but this attire was in vogue then. This film was directed by Abdul Rashid Kardar. Ragini, Kanwar, Nasreen and P Jairaj were in the support cast. The lyrics were penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri. I always have a great time listening to this melody despite my reservations as mentioned above.

The film Parwana was Saigol’s last film, released after his death, in which he sang under the music of Khawaja Khurshid Anwar. His four songs from this movie are: “Toot Gaye Sab Sapne Mere”, “Mohabbat Mein Kabhi Aisi Bhi Haalat”, “Jeene Ka Dhang Sikhaae Ja”, and “Kahin Ulajh Na Jaana”.

In a career of 15 years, Saigal acted in 36 feature films; 28 in Hindi, seven in Bengali, and one in Tamil. In addition, he acted in a short comedy Hindi film, Dulari Bibi, released in 1933. In 1955, BN Sircar released a documentary film based on the life of KL, Amar Saigol. In the film, G Mungheri performed the title role of Saigol. The film contained 19 songs lifted from Saigol’s films. In all, Saigol rendered 185 songs which include 142 film songs and 43 non-film songs. Of the film songs, there are 110 in Hindi, 30 in Bengali and two in Tamil. There are 37 non-film songs in Hindi and two each in Bengali, Pashto, Punjabi and Persian. His non-film songs comprise bhajans, ghazals and hori. He has rendered the creations of poets such as Ghalib, Zauq, and Seemab.

Saigal’s distinctive singing was revered and idolized by the first generation of post-independence Hindi Film playback singers. His craze was seen among Pakistani amateur singers such as Javed Rahim. He used to sing Saigol’s songs and his own songs in Saigol’s style. He was nicknamed as Javed Saigol in UET, Lahore.

Our singers A. Nayyar who used to emulate Kishore Kumar’s style, Nayyara Noor, Shaheryar Zaidi and many other remained under Saigol’s shadow for some time.

Saigol started working in 1932. His films that year were Muhabbat Kei Aansoo, Zinda Lash, Subha Ka Tara and Yehudi Ki Larki. Saigol tasted success in the last mentioned film. The other films were Rajrani Meera, Puran Bhagat, Dulari Bibi and Daku Mansoor. In 1934 Saigol appeared and sang for the films Rooplekha, Chandidas, Carvan-e-Hayat and Devdas. The latter film’s Hindi version was the first super hit film of Saigol in 1936. He also did other films such as Pujaran and Crorepati. Didi, Bari Behen, Street Singer, Saathi, Jivan Maran, Dharti Maata, Deshat Mati in 1938. Hindi version of Dushman came in 1939. Only one film Zindigi came in 1940 followed by films Parichey and Lagan in 1941. Movies Bhakta Surdas and Tansen came in 1942 and 1943 respectively. Movies My Sister and Bhanwara were 1944 releases. Movies Tadbir and Kurukshetra were 1946 films. Blockbuster film Shahjehan and film Omar Khayyam were 1946 releases and Parwana was released in 1947.

1940 film Zindigi had a lullaby ‘So Ja Rajkumari So Ja’ in the music of Punkaj Mullick for this film. Lata is on record to state that in her childhood she used to listen to her father or to Saigol. She sang this lullaby to pay tribute to Saigol in her album ‘Shardhanjali’. This song was penned by Kidar Nath Sharma. Cast of this film was Saigal, Jamuna,Pahari Sanyal and Ashalata Wabgaonkar,Ratan Pahari Sanyal, Ashalata Wabgaonkar, Jamuna Shrimata Shyam Laha Nemo,Sitara Devi,Vikram Kapoor,Rajani Rani Manorama. Produced by New Theatres, this film was directed by PV Barua with writer Javed Hussain. On a happy note this movie had another semi-classical number ‘Main Kaya Janu Kaya Janu Jaadu Hei’. The instrumental support has interludes in a combination of standing notes; no Meends.

Another song ‘Jo Beet Chuki So Beet Chuki’ is a medium fast rhythm song as rendered on a tonga ride in the music of RC Boral. Saigol sounds mellow in this geet.

The minimalist musical adornment translates into maximum aural experience. It lyrics are reproduced below.

‘Jo beet chuki so beet chuki Jo beet chuki so beet chuki, Ab us ki yaad sataaye, kyun Ab us ki yaad sataaye kyun Jo beet chuki so beet chuki, Jo beet chuki so beet chuki’,

‘Khush rehne waali soorat pe chinta ki badli chhaaye kyun, Khush rehne waali soorat pe chinta ki badli chhaaye kyun, Jo beet chuki so beet chuki, Jo beet chuki so beet chuki’,

‘Samaan kar dil behlaane ka Pyaale mein dabo de sab chinta, Samaan kar dil behlaane ka Pyaale mein dabo de sab chinta, Wo dil jo piye jaa kehtaa thhaa, Wo dil jo piye jaa kehtaa thhaa, Ab jaam wohi thhukraaye kyun, Ab jaam wohi thhukraaye kyun, Phoolon se jisko nafrat ho Unki khushboo se vehshat ho, Phoolon se jisko nafrat ho, Unki khushboo se vehshat ho Jis dil ki machalnaa aadat ho Jis dil ki machalnaa aadat ho, Phir koi usey behlaaye kyun Phir koi usey behlaaye kyun’.

Song ‘Ghum Diye Mataqil Kitna Nazuk Hei Dil’ is another Saigol’s popular song from the film Shahjehan. Song ‘Balam Aaye Baso More Mun Main’ is a popular song of 1935 film Devdas. Another song ‘Ik Bangala Bane Nayaara’ is among Saigol’s hit list. The other songs in this category are ‘Dukh Kei Din’, ‘Hum Apna Unhain Bana Na Sake’, ‘Do Naina Matwale Tihare’, ‘Aei Dil-e Beqaraar Jhoom’, ‘Kahe Ko Raad Machai’, ‘Hat Gai Lo Kaali Ghata’, ‘Duniya Rang Rangeeli Baba’ and alike.

Saigal was survived by his wife Asha Rani, whom he married in 1935. He had three children, a son and two daughters: Madan Mohan, Nina and Bina; and an adopted child, his late elder brother’s daughter, Durgesh Nandani, whom he adopted when he was still single. KL died in his ancestral city of Jalandhar on January 18, 1947, at the age of 53 as per my calculation.

The writer is the recipient of the prestigious Pride of Performance award. He can be reached at doc_amjad@hotmail.com