Excerpts of an Interview with The One and Only Kishore Kumar

These are excerpts of a tete-a tete with Kishore Kumar and the then editor of the Illustrated Weekly, Pritish Nandy.  

This piece appeared in a cover story entitled "GENIUS" in the April 28, 1985 issue of the Illustrated Weekly.

In the same story, Kishore Kumar ranked HIS favourite 10 songs. They are: 

   SONG                                         MUSIC                             FILM

Dukhi man mere	S.D. Burman	Funtoosh
Jag mag jag mag karta nikla	Khemchand Prakash	Rim Jhim
Husn bhi hai udas udas	Anil Biswas	Fareb
Chingari koi Bhadke	R.D. Burman	Amar Prem
Mere naina saawan bhaadon	R.D. Burman	Mehbooba
Koi hum dum na raha	Kishore Kumar	Jhumroo
Mere mehboob kayamat hogi	Laxmikant-Pyarelal	Mr X in Bombay
Koi hota jisko apna	Salil Chowdhury	Mere Apne
Woh Shaam kuch ajeeb thi	Hemant Kumar	Khamoshi
Badi sooni sooni hai	S.D. Burman	Mili

 

PN=Pritish Nandy

KK=Kishore Kumar



-----------------------

PN: I understand you are quitting Bombay and going away to Khandwa...

KK: Who can live in this stupid, friendless city where everyone seeks to exploit you every moment of the day? Can you trust anyone out here?

    Is anyone trustworthy? Is anyone a friend you can count on? I am determined to get out of this futile rat race and live as I've

    always wanted to. In my native Khandwa, the land of my forefathers. Who wants to die in this ugly city?

PN: Why did you come here in the first place?

KK: I would come to visit my brother Ashok Kumar. He was such a big  star in those days. I thought he could introduce me to KL Saigal

    who was my greatest idol. People say he used to sing through his  nose. But so what? He was a great singer. Greater than anyone else.

PN: I believe you are planning to record an album of famous Saigal songs....

KK: They asked me to. I refused. Why should I try to outsing him?  Let him remain enshrined in our memory. Let his songs remain

    just HIS songs. Let not even one person say that Kishore Kumar sang them better.

PN: If you didn't like Bombay, why did you stay back? For fame? For money?

KK: I was conned into it. I only wanted to sing. Never to act. But  somehow, thanks to peculiar circumstances, I was persuaded to

    act in the movies. I hated every moment of it and tried virtually  every trick to get out of it. I muffed my lines, pretended to be

    crazy, shaved my head off, played difficult, began yodelling in  the midst of tragic scenes, told Meena Kumari what I was supposed

    to tell Bina Rai in some other film - but they still wouldn't let  me go. I screamed, ranted, went cuckoo. But who cared? They were

    just determined to make me a star.

PN: Why?

KK: Because I was Dadamoni's brother. And he was a great hero.

PN: But you succeeded, after your fashion....

KK: Of course I did. I was the biggest draw after Dilip Kumar. There  were so many films I was doing in those days that I had to run

    from one set to the other, changing on the way. Imagine me. My shirts flying off, my trousers falling off, my wig coming off

    while I'm running from one set to the other. Very often I would  mix up my lines and look angry in a romantic scene or romantic

    in the midst of a fierce battle. It was terrible and I hated it. It evoked nightmares of school. Directors were like schoolteachers.

    Do this. Do that. Don't do this. Don't do that. I dreaded it. That's why I would often escape.

PN: Well, you are notorious for the trouble you give your directors and producers. Why is that?

KK: Nonsense. They give me trouble. You think they give a damn for me? I matter to them only because I sell. Who cared for me during

    my bad days? Who cares for anyone in this profession?

PN: Is that why you prefer to be a loner?

KK: Look, I don't smoke, drink or socialise. I never go to parties. If that makes me a loner, fine. I am happy this way. I go to work

    and I come back straight home. To watch my horror movies, play with my spooks, talk to my trees, sing. In this avaricious

    world, every creative person is bound to be lonely. How can you deny me that right?

PN: You don't have many friends?

KK: None.

PN: That's rather sweeping.

KK: People bore me. Film people particularly bore me. I prefer talking to my trees.

PN: So you like nature?

KK: That's why I want to get away to Khandwa. I have lost all touch  with nature out here. I tried to did a canal all around my

    bungalow out here, so that we could sail gondolas there. The  municipality chap would sit and watch and nod his head

    disapprovingly, while my men would dig and dig. But it didn't work. One day someone found a hand - a skeletal hand- and some toes.

    After that no one wanted to dig anymore. Anoop, my second brother, came charging with Ganga water and started chanting mantras. He

    thought this house was built on a graveyard. Perhaps it is. But I lost the chance of making my home like Venice.

PN: People would have thought you crazy. In fact they already do.

KK: Who said I'm crazy. The world is crazy; not me.

PN: Why do you have this reputation for doing strange things?

KK: It all began with this girl who came to interview me. In those days I used to live alone. So she said: You must be very lonely.

    I said: No, let me introduce you to some of my friends. So I took her to the garden and introduced her to some of the friendlier

    trees. Janardhan; Raghunandan; Gangadhar; Jagannath; Buddhuram; Jhatpatajhatpatpat. I said they were my closest friends in this

    cruel world. She went and wrote this bizarre piece, saying that  I spent long evenings with my arms entwined around them. What's

    wrong with that, you tell me? What's wrong making friends with  trees?

PN: Nothing.

KK: Then, there was this interior decorator-a suited, booted fellow  who came to see me in a three-piece woollen, Saville Row suit

    in the thick of summer- and began to lecture me about aesthetics, design, visual sense and all that. After listening to him for about

    half an hour and trying to figure out what he was saying through his peculiar American accent, I told him that I wanted something

    very simple for my living room. Just water-several feet deep- and little boats floating around, instead of large sofas. I told him

    that the centre-piece should be anchored down so that the tea service could be placed on it and all of us could row up to it

    in our boats and take sips from our cups. But the boats should  be properly balanced, I said, otherwise we might whizz past each

    other and conversation would be difficult. He looked a bit alarmed but that alarm gave way to sheer horror

    when I began to describe the wall decor. I told him that I wanted  live crows hanging from the walls instead of paintings-since I

    liked nature so much. And, instead of fans, we could have monkeys farting from the ceiling. That's when he slowly backed out from

    the room with a strange look in his eyes. The last I saw of him was him running out of the front gate, at a pace that would have

    put an electric train to shame. What's crazy about having a living room like that, you tell me? If he can wear a woollen, three-piece

    suit in the height of summer, why can't I hang live crows on my walls?

PN: Your ideas are quite original, but why do your films fare so badly?

KK: Because I tell my distributors to avoid them. I warn them at the very outset that the film might run for a week at the most.

    Naturally, they go away and never come back. Where will you find  a producer-director who warns you not to touch his film because

    even he can't understand what he has made?

PN: Then why do you make films?

KK: Because the spirit moves me. I feel I have something to say and the films eventually do well at times. I remember this film of mine, Door Gagan ki Chhaon mein,

    which started to an audience of 10 people in Alankar. I know because I  was in the hall myself. There were only ten people who had come to

    watch the first show! Even its release was peculiar. Subhodh Mukherjee, the brother of my brother-in-law, had booked Alankar(the hall) for 8 weeks for

    his film April Fool- which everyone knew was going to be a block-buster. My film, everyone was sure, was going to be a thundering

    flop. So he offered to give me a week of his booking. Take the first week, he said flamboyantly, and I'll manage within seven. After

    all, the movie can't run beyond a week. It can't run beyond two days, I reassured him. When 10 people came for the first show, he tried to console me.

    Don't worry, he said, it happens at times. But who was worried? Then, the word spread. Like wildfire. And within a few days the

    hall began to fill. It ran for all 8 weeks at Alankar, house full! Subodh Mukherjee kept screaming at me but how could I let go the

    hall? After 8 weeks when the booking ran out, the movie shifted to Super, where it ran for another 21 weeks! That's the anatomy

    of a hit of mine. How does one explain it? Can anyone explain it? Can Subodh Mukherjee, whose April Fool went on to become a  thundering flop?

PN: But you, as the director should have known?

KK: Directors know nothing. I never had the privilege of working with  any good director. Except Satyen Bose and Bimal Roy, no one even

    knew the ABC of film making. How can you expect me to give good  performances under such directors? Directors like S.D. Narang didn't even know where to

    place the camera. He would take long, pensive drags from his cigarette,  mumble 'Quiet, quiet, quiet' to everyone, walk a couple of furlongs

    absentmindedly, mutter to himself and then tell the camera man to place the camera wherever he wanted. His standard line to me was:

    Do something. What something? Come on, some thing! So I would go off on my antics. Is this the way to act? Is this the way to direct

    a movie? And yet Narangsaab made so many hits!

PN: Why didn't you ever offer to work with a good director?

KK: Offer! I was far too scared. Satyajit Ray came to me and wanted me  to act in Parash Pathar - his famous comedy - and I was so scared

    that I ran away. Later, Tulsi Chakravarti did the role. It was a  great role and I ran away from it, so scared I was of these  great directors.

PN: But you knew Ray.

KK: Of course I did. I loaned him five thousand rupees at the time of  Pather Panchali-when he was in great financial difficulty- and even

    though he paid back the entire loan, I never gave him an opportunity  to forget the fact that I had contributed to the making of the

    classic. I still rib him about it. I never forget the money I loan out!

PN: Well, some people think you are crazy about money. Others describe  you as a clown, pretending to be kinky but sane as hell. Still

    others find you cunning and manipulative. Which is the real you?

KK: I play different roles at different times. For different people. In this crazy world, only the truly sane man appears to be mad.

    Look at me. Do you think I'm mad? Do you think I can be manipulative?

PN: How would I know?

KK: Of course you would know. It's so easy to judge a man by just  looking at him. You look at these film people and you instantly know they're rogues.

PN: I believe so.

KK: I don't believe so. I know so. You can't trust them an inch. I have been in this rat race for so long that I can smell trouble

    from miles afar. I smelt trouble the day I came to Bombay in the hope of becoming a playback singer and got conned into acting. I

    should have just turned my back and run.

PN: Why didn't you?

KK: Well, I've regretted it ever since. Boom Boom. Boompitty boom boom. Chikachikachik chik chik. Yadlehe eeee yadlehe ooooo (Goes on

    yodelling till the tea comes. Someone emerges from behind the  upturned sofa in the living room, looking rather mournful  with

    a bunch of rat-eaten files and holds them up for KK to see)

PN: What are those files?

KK: My income tax records.

PN: Rat-eaten?

KK: We use them as pesticides. They are very effective. The rats die quite easily after biting into them.

PN: What do you show the tax people when they ask for the papers?

KK: The dead rats.

PN: I see.

KK: You like dead rats?

PN: Not particularly.

KK: Lots of people eat them in other parts of the world.

PN: I guess so.

KK: Haute cuisine. Expensive too. Costs a lot of money.

PN: Yes?

KK: Good business, rats. One can make money from them if one is enterprising.

PN: I believe you are very fussy about money. Once, I'm told. a producer paid you only half your dues and you came to the sets

    with half your head and half your moustache shaved off. And you told him that when he paid the rest, you would shoot with your face intact...

KK: Why should they take me for granted? These people never pay unless  you teach them a lesson. I was shooting in the South once. I think

    the film was Miss Mary and these chaps kept me waiting in the hotel room for five days without shooting. So I got fed up and started

    cutting my hair. First I chopped off some hair from the right side of my head and then, to balance it, I chopped off some from the

    left. By mistake I overdid it. So I cut off some more from the  right. Again I overdid it. So I had to cut from the left again.

    This went on till I had virtually no hair left- and that's when the call came from the sets. When I turned up the way I was, they

    all collapsed. That's how rumours reached Bombay. They said I had gone cuckoo. I didn't know. I returned and found everyone wishing

    me from long distance and keeping a safe distance of 10 feet while talking. Even those chaps who would come and embrace me waved out

    from a distance and said Hi. Then, someone asked me a little hesitantly how I was feeling. I said: Fine. I spoke a little

    abruptly perhaps. Suddenly I found him turning around and running. Far, far away from me.

PN: But are you actually so stingy about money?

KK: I have to pay my taxes.

PN: You have income tax problems I am told....

KK: Who doesn't? My actual dues are not much but the interest has  piled up. I'm planning to sell off a lot of things before I go

    to Khandwa and settle this entire business once and for all.

PN: You refused to sing for Sanjay Gandhi during the emergency and, it is said, that's why the tax hounds were set on you. Is this true?

KK: Who knows why they come. But no one can make me do what I don't want to do. I don't sing at anyone's will or command. But I sing

    for charities, causes all the time.



[Note: Sanjay Gandhi wanted KK to sing at some Congress rally in Bombay. KK refused. Sanjay Gandhi ordered All India Radio to stop playing

       Kishore songs. This went on for quite a while. KK refused to apologize. Finally, it took scores of prominent producers and

       directors to convince those in power to rescind the ban- Rajan]

PN: What about your home life? Why has that been so turbulent?

KK: Because I like being left alone.

PN: What went wrong with Ruma Devi, your first wife?

KK: She was a very talented person but we could not get along because we looked at life differently. She wanted to build a choir and a

    career. I wanted someone to build me a home. How can the two reconcile? You see, I'm a simple minded villager type. I don't

    understand this business about women making careers. Wives should first learn how to make a home. And how can you fit the two

    together? A career and a home are quite separate things. That's why we went our separate ways.

PN: Madhubala, your second wife?

KK: She was quite another matter. I knew she was very sick even before  I married her. But a promise is a promise. So I kept my word and

    brought her home as my wife, even though I knew she was dying from  a congenital heart problem. For 9 long years I nursed her. I watched

    her die before my own eyes. You can never understand what this means until you live through this yourself. She was such a beautiful woman

    and she died so painfully. She would rave and rant and scream in frustration. How can such an  active person spend 9 long years bed-ridden?

    And I had to humour her all the time. That's what the doctor asked me to. That's what I did  till her very last breath. I would laugh with her. I would cry with her.

PN: What about your third marriage? To Yogeeta Bali?

KK: That was a joke. I don't think she was serious about marriage. She was only obsessed with her mother. She never wanted to live here.

PN: But that's because she says you would stay up all night and count money..

KK: Do you think I can do that? Do you think I'm mad? Well, it's  good we separated quickly.

PN: What about your present marriage?

KK: Leena is a very different kind of person. She too is an actress like all of them but she's very different. She's seen tragedy. She's

    faced grief. When your husband is shot dead, you change. You understand life. You realise the ephemeral quality of all things..I am happy now.

PN: What about your new film? Are you going to play hero in this one too?

KK: No no no. I'm just the producer-director. I'm going to be behind the camera. Remember I told you how much I hate acting? All I might

    do is make a split second appearance on screen as an old man or something.

PN: Like Hitchcock?

KK: Yes, my favourite director.

    I'm mad, true. But only about one thing. Horror movies. I love spooks. They are a friendly fearsome lot. Very nice people,

    actually, if you get to know them. Not like these industry chaps out here. Do you know any spooks?

PN: Not very friendly ones.

KK: But nice, frightening ones?

PN: Not really.

KK: But that's precisely what we're all going to become one day. Like this chap out here (points to a skull, which he uses as part of his

    decor, with red light emerging from its eyes)- you don't even know whether it's a man or a woman. Eh? But it's a nice sort. Friendly

    too. Look, doesn't it look nice with my specs on its non-existent nose?