Gulzar reveals how Kishore Kumar went bald before a film shoot in his new memoir
New Delhi Oct 18 PTI From turning completely bald avoiding playing the titular hero in Anand to troubling hapless producers by disappearing through a secret staircase behind his cupboard mad genious Kishore Kumar had a number of tricks up his sleeves reveals poet-lyricist Gulzar in his new book Actually I Met Them A MemoirAccording to Gulzar Kishore Kumar and not actor Rajesh Khanna was initially set to star in the 1971 cult classic Anand But just a few days before the shoot Kishore Kumar in a meeting to discuss his look in the film shocked everyone by turning up completely baldWe were all shocked On top of that Kishoreda went around the office dancing and singing What will you do now Hrishi the films director Hrishikesh MukherjeeConsequently Rajesh Khanna was finalized for the role in a very short time Perhaps Kishoreda never wanted to play the character Nevertheless I have never seen someone cutting off their nose to spite their face in such a manner recalls Gulzar who wrote the dialogues of the superhit movieThe film ended up winning several awards including the Filmfare Award for Best Film in 1972Not only directors many producers were also at the receiving end of Kishore Kumars mischief In fact one of Kishore Kumars favourite things to do was to land his producers in trouble Gulzar writes in the memoir published by Penguin Random House IndiaOnce a producer went to the singer-actors house to seek a meeting but as Kishore Kumar was not in a mood to talk to him he simply opened his cupboard stepped in and disappeared He used to have this astounding cupboard that hid a secret staircase within Kishoreda simply opened the cupboard stepped in and disappeared Leaving the producer waiting for him outside the open doors of the contraption If nothing else this underscores the immense effort and planning required to live a life of absurdities writes the veteran lyricistIn another instance Kishore Kumar halted the recording of songs for a film called Bharosa to demand tea And after an endless wait when the tea finally arrived he went ahead with the recording without even having a sip of itEvery time we tried coaxing Kishoreda Lets go Dada lets get the recording done Abdul — his driver who had gone out to fetch the tea — will be here soon he would counter with Let Abdul come Ill have tea and only then Finally when Abdul returned Kishoreda immediately declared Okay lets record Why dont you want tea we asked Paying us no heed he went to get the recording done he writesGulzar clarified that the tea was not important for the singer The whole charade was done for the producer to spend money and get tea for all the musicians and the staffCalling the legendary singer his friend with whom he had worked on several occasions the 87-year-old writer admitted that Kishore Kumar was the kind of person with whom you couldnt be angry or upset for too longIf I did the loss was all mine It meant being deprived of an essence of world — the essence of Kishore It had its own eminence intoxication and feeling — all of it unique One would be hard-pressed to believe that anyone could conduct their real life with such sense of humour if one had never met Kishoreda he notedActually I Met Them A Memoir released on Monday gives readers a peek into the minds of legends including the likes of Bimal Roy Ritwik Ghatak Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Mahasweta Devi through the trusted lens of Gulzar PTI MG BK RDS RDS
New Delhi Oct 18 PTI From turning completely bald avoiding playing the titular hero in Anand to troubling hapless producers by disappearing through a secret staircase behind his cupboard mad genious Kishore Kumar had a number of tricks up his sleeves reveals poet-lyricist Gulzar in his new book Actually I Met Them A MemoirAccording to Gulzar Kishore Kumar and not actor Rajesh Khanna was initially set to star in the 1971 cult classic Anand But just a few days before the shoot Kishore Kumar in a meeting to discuss his look in the film shocked everyone by turning up completely baldWe were all shocked On top of that Kishoreda went around the office dancing and singing What will you do now Hrishi the films director Hrishikesh MukherjeeConsequently Rajesh Khanna was finalized for the role in a very short time Perhaps Kishoreda never wanted to play the character Nevertheless I have never seen someone cutting off their nose to spite their face in such a manner recalls Gulzar who wrote the dialogues of the superhit movieThe film ended up winning several awards including the Filmfare Award for Best Film in 1972Not only directors many producers were also at the receiving end of Kishore Kumars mischief In fact one of Kishore Kumars favourite things to do was to land his producers in trouble Gulzar writes in the memoir published by Penguin Random House IndiaOnce a producer went to the singer-actors house to seek a meeting but as Kishore Kumar was not in a mood to talk to him he simply opened his cupboard stepped in and disappeared He used to have this astounding cupboard that hid a secret staircase within Kishoreda simply opened the cupboard stepped in and disappeared Leaving the producer waiting for him outside the open doors of the contraption If nothing else this underscores the immense effort and planning required to live a life of absurdities writes the veteran lyricistIn another instance Kishore Kumar halted the recording of songs for a film called Bharosa to demand tea And after an endless wait when the tea finally arrived he went ahead with the recording without even having a sip of itEvery time we tried coaxing Kishoreda Lets go Dada lets get the recording done Abdul — his driver who had gone out to fetch the tea — will be here soon he would counter with Let Abdul come Ill have tea and only then Finally when Abdul returned Kishoreda immediately declared Okay lets record Why dont you want tea we asked Paying us no heed he went to get the recording done he writesGulzar clarified that the tea was not important for the singer The whole charade was done for the producer to spend money and get tea for all the musicians and the staffCalling the legendary singer his friend with whom he had worked on several occasions the 87-year-old writer admitted that Kishore Kumar was the kind of person with whom you couldnt be angry or upset for too longIf I did the loss was all mine It meant being deprived of an essence of world — the essence of Kishore It had its own eminence intoxication and feeling — all of it unique One would be hard-pressed to believe that anyone could conduct their real life with such sense of humour if one had never met Kishoreda he notedActually I Met Them A Memoir released on Monday gives readers a peek into the minds of legends including the likes of Bimal Roy Ritwik Ghatak Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Mahasweta Devi through the trusted lens of Gulzar PTI MG BK RDS RDS
