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News Digest
THE GOLDEN VOICE OF KUNDANLAL SAIGAL… IT INFLUENCED MANY
THE GOLDEN VOICE OF KUNDANLAL SAIGAL… IT INFLUENCED MANY
Dr K Prabhakar Rao
Kundan lal Saigal ( Sehgal) popularly known as KL Saigal is an house hold name in
artiste with gifted voice from the gods made the entire nation swoon to his
songs and even after more than 66 years after his passing away his memories
haunt the music lovers in India. He was
gifted with golden voice and he rendered songs from his heart. He enthralled
millions of people in this country who were fortunate to see him in flesh and
blood. Without any doubt he was the father
of Indian film music. He had the greatest ability to render any type of song
with utmost ease . He renderedGhazals, Geets,Bhajans, Duets, Solos,
Thumris, Khayals, Nursery rhymes, story
telling, love songs and classical numbers.
Particularly his sad numbers took the people by storm and have struck the hearts
of music lovers very deeply. He was
a gifted actor. With his acting and singing
abilities he could easily identify himself with the characters he was enacting.
And it was this reason that resulted in his greatest success. He was born at Julundhar of
Punjabi 1906 and from childhood days was interested in music His father put a
tutor in music for his brother. However Saigal could effortlessly learn Music without
any coaching while his brother probably
struggled. He was greatly gifted and without guidance he could master everything
without guide.
He had no formal
coaching in classical music , Yet he was
a expert in identifying all Raagas. When he grew up he took to selling type writers.
He worked in railways as a clerk.The
artist inside craved for something different. He moved to Calcuta where he got a break in movies. The cinema passed
into talkies from silent era. The directors were in search for talented actor
singers. Play back singing still did not arrive. Saigal was tall, handsome and was
dignified. Late BNSircar spotted
him at a function and immediately grabbed
him. It is said he was introduced to great RC Boralby music director Bali There was no looking back for him although few films initailly did not succeed. His songs from Pooran Bhagat got him great popularity. Film after film roled out with great
success. Street singer, Bhagat surdas, Chandidas, Dhop chaon,Mysister, e Hayat, Zindagi, Lagan,Kurikshetra, Dev das, were made that brought great
glory to Saigal. He then moved to
and the filmdom welcomed him with open hands.
Some of the great movies such as Shah jahan, Dushman, Tansen Bhanwara, were made. Saigal enjoyed popularity more
than a Prime minister.
Saigal rendered songs under distinguished music directors, such
as,Naushad Ali, Pankaj Mullick, .He
rendered great Ghazals of immortal poet
Mirza Ghalib with utmost ability and in his in his memorable style. Saigal with
greatest emotions sang the immortal song Jab dil hee toot
karenge stirring souls of every one. The
great songs from Shah jahan film were,
Aye dile bekaraar jhoom, Jab dil he toot gaya, Chaah Barbad
kare gee hame maalum na tha., Karleejie jannatke nazaare, Roohi Roohi
were great hits and people were swept under feet. The song Diya jalo from Tansen,
was based on obscure raga Deepak and became great hit. His songs from Bhagat surdas were soul
stirring. His songs Kaheko radd
machhayee…Hath gai zo. Kaali ghata.. Koyee manushy kitna hi buraho….my sothey bhag
jaga doonga.. were great hits. .Bhajan bhajamato gaawat siri Giridhaari ,,
naina heen koraaha dikhaprabhu, from Bhagat soordas made people shed tears. His light song chupo
na chupo naa,and Do naina matwale. from Mysister .are much enjoyable. His song Haye
kis buth ki mohabbat mey giraftaar hue.. from
was a haunting melody from my sister and Toot gaye sab sapne mere,…milneka din aagaya ( with surayya)….
preet mien…usee mast nazar ( with suraiah).. from film Parwana his last film (
1946) were great songs. Songs ek bangle bane nyara ( From President) and Babul
mora ( street singer)Aye katbe Takdeer( from Mysister) Jeevan been madhura naa baaje.. ( Street singer) of course had no
parallels.
Saigal dominated
filmdom for nearly 16 years and passed away in 1946 at Julundhar after illness.
With this
the greatest contributor. He died young at 40 yeras and his premature death is
attributed to excessive consumption of alcohol.. Reasons for this are best
known to him. Great actor singer Surendrantah BALLB ( Surenra) and Pahadi
Sanyal were his contemporaries and Surendranath ( surendra) although joined filmdom in 1936 with Deccan queen (
Three years after Saigal joined) carved a unflinchable place for himself inspite of stiff competition from Saigal. He
was called
1954 ( film Gawaiah) with great success. He shifted to character roles in a changed atmosphere subseqently. Surendra
gave many immortal solo songs and duets .His immortal songs . Kyo yad aarahe hai.. (1946 Anmol
Ghadi) , Tera jahan aabad hai. from Elaan ( 1948), Ek
baar phirse aaja.. From Elan (1948), Jalena
kyo parwana from Anokhi ada ( 1948), kyo man doondhe premanadee ka kinara ( From Lal Haveli 1944) and the great immortal song Teri yaad
ka deepak jalta hai from film Gawaiah ( 1954) are mistaken for Saigals songs.
Many confuse Surendra with Saigal. Such were the influences. Pahari sanyal mostly confined to Bengali
cinema and passed away later on.CH Atma who copied KL Sagal continued to sing
for some films and he sang many geeths, bhajans, Ghazals and private songs in his own style copying Saigal. CH Atma gave immortal
songs … Rowu main saagarke kinare,…Ek sitaara,
Tumko apni.zindageeka, from Nagina ( 1951) that are mistaken for Saigal. He had a place for himself. He kept
saigal tradition up till he died Mukesh who initially imitated Saigaland with his famous song.. Dil Jalat hai. Tho jaln
de.. from Pehli nazar became successful. Most of his earlier songs had great influene of Saigal sahib. Later he found his own style. Mukesh’s duet songs.
Jaa parwane jaa ( Rajputani with Hamida bano)..
Badariya barsai gayee,, ( From Moorthi along with Khurshid nad Hamida bano) and song Dil hi bijha hua…(
From Nirdosh) reflect saigal influence on Mukesh. Even Mohammed rafi had great admiration for him and he was very greatly happy when he sang one line with
KL saigal in the song..Roohee…roohi… mere sapno
kee rani….. from Film Shahjehan. Thus
all earlier singers had Saigal
influence. Some of the songs of GM Durrani the famous singer also have Saigal
influence. Cat call and shriek Singers like
Kishore kumar and much glorified Lata
mangeshkar too claim saigal influence on them although there
is hardly any song to that effect. Thus we see that KL Saigal had great influence on many singers in the
past and many built careers over his style.
It is a shame that such a great son of
bestowed with any national honor while useless nuts and clots are
being awarded various honors one after the other. These are mostly
politically based awards to please some one. Many do not deserve any thing. KL Saigal
needs no award from the cockeyed rulers. He along with great Surendra, CH Atma,
Pahadi sanyal, GM Durrani always stays in the hearts of music lovers eternally.
It is most unlikely that such great singers will again tread this earth. The
downfall of Hindi film music is compete.
- Dr K Prabhakar Rao's blog
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Comments
Dear readers, The hilarious
Dear readers,
The hilarious song by Saigal.. Man darpan hai ja saara.. is from Dushman ( 1938). It displayes that Saiga was a jolly person although many saw him as a sad person from the songs of Shahjehan and parwana, some from bhagat soordas
Dr K Prabhakar Rao
Dear friends, Kundan lal
Dear friends,
Kundan lal saigal was a very versatile singer and he could sing classical numbers, love songs, thumris, and many more types and ghazals . he rendered many Ghlaib verses. Compared to him Surendranath was much more handsome and had better and attractive persobnality. At some stage saigal said he could not sing without his Kaali panch,. surendra had no such effects. surendra joined filmdom after Saigal and had great respect for the senior. Surendra although was called Saigal of Bomabay , he had his own style of singing. Probably he he did not have the range that Saigal had. God gives every one some thing more than others. Some of the Surendranath songs were very glorious and no one can counter it. Saigal had his field and Surendra had his own. The movies Anmol Ghadi was a block buster and Surendra and Noorjehan were immortalised with song Awaaz de..Saigal had excelent duets with Khurshid. Why Noor Jehan was not paired with Saigal is a mystery. She was already at her best when saigal lived. Probably Surendra and Noorjehan were in the opposite camp of saigal. One should not comapre one singer with another singer. It may be possible with present shriek singers who are mere cat callers,neighers, tweeters,bleaters,barkers and brayers who have no clue of singing. but singers such as surendra, Saigal and Pahari Sanyal can not be compared to each other.Each is a class by himself. Luck also plays great role in careers. One should be there in right time at right place with right people. There were many talented actors and singers who could not succeed due to these reasons. Sulakshana Pandit is among them and many thought she would one day replace suriah in modern era. But she was hounded out by a well known play back singermuch unnesessarily glorified due to jealousy. Similarly the popular and successful singer of past GM Durrani at a later stage of his career was in fact put to great inconvenience by the same singer in her earlier career adversely affectig his career. Luckily Saigal passed away at peak of his career.The jealous singer had a tiff with senior Burman too.Some called Surendra was very much underrated singer and a poor mans Saigal. Such comments are unwarranted and are biased. Surendra had his quota of success and glory in Bollywood for a very long time till he departed in 1987. Can any one replace his song Kyo yaad aarahe hain.. and teriyaad ka deepak Jalta hai Jalena kyo parwana.. Bade Bhole bhale hai.? Can any one replace Saigals Jabdil hee tootha gaya.?Each one is very great in own style. the trio Saigal, surendra and Sanyal ( All s.s..s) are immortal.
Dr k Prabhakar Rao
Dear readers, Usually Saigal
Dear readers,
Usually Saigal sahab is associated with sad and haunting songs particularly after film Devdas. But he has also donelight roles in some of the scenes.The song scene... Man darpan hai sab saara...haa..ha.haa..in which he forces a singer to keep quiet and sings himself along with another musician playing Fiddle is very hilarious. There is another story telling song... Ek raaje ka beta .lekar udne waaala ghoda...Yet another one from President...aaa..ek bagla bane nyara. The scene preceding this song is very interesting.Saigal walks in singing Rahe bina badariyaa saari. Honge ekdin soryake darshan..Wahi ghadi ab aayee..The scene in very interesting and after this scene sings ek bangabane nyara..His song Chupo naa chupo naaa.. chupona and Do naina..aaa.matware..... from film My sister were light songs. Similarly his portrayal in karleejiye jannat ke nazaare and Aai dil e bekaraar jhoom... from Shahjehan werelight songs devoid of any sadness.
Saigal was capable of producing all efects with his magic voice.
Dr K Prabhakar Rao
Dear reders, Naushad Ali was
Dear reders,
Naushad Ali was the director for greatest hit film Shah jehan in which saigal gave all hit songs.There was no classical number in that film.saigal's film Tansen had some classical numbers such as diya Jalao jag maga.. jag mag. ... Sapt sur... Like in film Baiju Bawara, there was no competition scene between Tansen and Baiju or any one, except a scene in which Saigal sang and the instruments played by themselves. Saigal was supreme as Tansen as the movie was Tnasen oriented. In film Baiju Bawara ( 1952) Tansen's role was played by none other than the most respected and accomplished great actor of the times and former contemporary of Saigal Sahab, singer Surendranath BALLB ( surendra) who was an accomplished actor and singer better known as Bomaby's Saigal. Saigal already passed away in 1946. The last scene of singing duel between Tansen and Baiju were sung by Pandir VD Paluskar ( Baiju) and Ustad Amin Khan ( as Tansen) .Surendranath was not given a chance to sing in this movie citing he was not a classical singer. I am sure it was great shock to Surendra although he did not express being a thorough gentleman to the core.He decided to call it a day soon after this film. We have also seen him withdrawing after Baiju Bawara. Gawiah ( 1954) was his last film in which he rendered excellent songs under Ramganguly.
One question arises. If saigal was alive when Baiju Bawara was made would he have accepted the Tansens role and the story and the episodes. Probably NO. The film is completely Baiju oriented and saigals age would not have allowed him to play Baiju. Saigal was also not a cLassical singer of the order of Paluskar or Ustad Amin Khan or Bade Gulam Ali Khan or pandit Bhimsen Joshi. If Saigal had to act as Tansen, he would have been forced to accept play back that would have been insulting to him and his personality. Saigal also would have faded away. Luckily Saigal was not alive to see such treatment that was meted out to great Surendranath at the hands of Naushad Ali and probably he took sportively.Destiny is so cruel.
Music directors could make mar the careers of great men .Saigal was lucky that he did not see degradation in Bollywood.
Dr K Prabhakar Rao
Dear readers, Film Devadas
Dear readers,
Film Devadas was the gretest turning point in Saigals career. there was no looking back, He immortalised Devdas , Sharat chandra's creation. Saigal received the stamp as a tragedy hero for eternity. In subsequent years devadas was made with Dilip kumar. In Telugu films it was made first with Thespian A Nageswra Rao/ savitri and then with Krishna and Vijay nirmala. Nageswar Rao's Devdas was a very great success and Dilip kumar saw this film to learn lessons.But Dilips film did not gain that much success, ANRs Telugu film has become a master piece for eternity.Krishnas Devadas was a big flop and probably Devdas cried beating his chest.In recent years Shahrukh khan made a Devadas film and it was the joke of the century. Saigal remains at top mocking at the other Hindi characters who wanted to outbeat him. Saigal shines brilliantly while other hindi film guys appear as moon without moon light.None could beat Saigal. Saigal still is the greatest hero even today.
Dr K Prabhakar Rao
Dear readers, It is said
Dear readers,
It is said that the leading lady singer Lata Mangeshkar of Bollywood much impressed with Saigals ability in music wanted to marry Saigal sahab. But this did mot materialise. Rest is history.
Dr K Prabhakar Rao
Dear readers, We all know
Dear readers,
We all know that Mukesh became very famous with his song.... Dil Jalta hai tho jalne de...in film Pehali Nazar that was picturised on famous actor of the times Motilal ( He introduced mukesh to hindi filmdom) and Munawwar Sultana another talented lady actor.Many are confused and think that it was sung by saigal sahab. In fact once Saigal sahab heard this song and expressed surprise stating that he did not remember when he recorded the song. This itself was the great recognition for Mukesh. Mukesh however over a period of time came out of the Saigal influence and found his own style. But still he had Saigal aura everywhere.long live Saigal memories
Dr K Prabhakar Rao
Dear readers, There an
Dear readers,
There an interesting episode about Saigal Sahab that I read long ago somewhere.
Once Saigal sahab in the eveing hours went for a walk and that area was lonely full of trees and isolated.In those distant times, cities had not developed as on today and even Calcutta and Bombay were not as we see them today. He sat on a large stone relaxing.after some time an elderly man approached him and he recognized Saigal Sahab. he also sat on a stone near by and requested him to sing some song for him. Saigal sahib was much impressed with his request and in his typical saigal style rendered a song and the guest was much happy.Suddenly Saigalsahab found that the elderly man vanished without a trace.SaigalSahab was much worried and was sure that he sang for a ghost and with quick steps walked back home. He never went to the spot again . very interesting indeed.
Dr K Prabhakar Rao
Dear readers, Saigal
Dear readers,
Saigal although was Punjabi, rendered only two songs in Punjabi language.. These are , Oh sone sakia.... and another one that are very popular.It is said that he gave a promise to Punjabi singers that he would not engulf their area that would spell doom to them.He kept his promisetil last.
Dr k Prabhakar Rao
Dear readers, Discussion on
Dear readers,
Discussion on KL saigal is not complete without refering to KC Dey the great blind singer and uncle of famous play back singer Mannadey. His song with Saigal...Dunia rang rangeli baba..duniya rang rangeli... from Dharthi maata ( 1938) was a great hit.In this song uma , KC dey take the lead while saigal enters in the end and outbeats every one. He leans against a tree and dressed in Kurta sings so effortlessly and is atreat to watch. compare todays shriek singers who hide behing din of instruments and noise and dishout all nonsense that si taken for a song while perverted listeners with minimal taste nod heads like cattle. What a down fall! in hindi music in all respects. There isno music direction. It is more misdirection.Music directors shoudl be called Music killers and spoilers.
Dr K Prabhakar Rao
Dear readers, KLSaigal was
Dear readers,
KLSaigal was born in Jammu province and Julundhar was his ancestral place where he breathed his last.He believed that he could sing better after taking few pegs of drink. But his friends and Music directors tried to convince that he sang better without the influence of liquor. Alas, the alcohol did great damage to him and realsation came very late. it did great damge to the liverand there was no reversal. Saigal left us the milions of Music lovers to grievehis loss.It was gods wish and most of the great achievers die young. It happened with Swami Vivekananda and shankaracharya.saigal wished thatthe song Jab dil hee toot gaya should be played at his funeral. How sad it was?But Saigal was lucky that he was nota witness to the down fall in Hindi film music that took place rapidly when music directors copied western music and cat callers, shriek singers, shouters, Yellers took over the field, there was no poetry in the songs. Degradation was complete soon. Saigal must have had last laugh.
Dr K Prabhakar Rao