Early days…1
Early days…1
Jun 30
There are so many new things to be unearthed about Kishoreda….many things which are not yet in the media or in totality…some are simply fun, some frolic, some prophetic and a whole gamut of emotions – for Kishore has experienced them all !!
To start exploring Kishore it is essential to start from his childhood. I would put forward a few anecdotes/info ( that are handy/typed already ), before he joined the film world. Shared by his childhood friend/s, first hand. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do :
In his childhood Kishore’s cheeks were really very soft and smooth. Personality was stunning. So much so that his senior school mates were “fidaa” on his personality. In fact their 6th standard English teacher , cartoonist, Harishankar Parsaai, who was always in a half-pant like the police wore those days, used to keep a close eye on such naughty students of the school, who used to trouble Kishore. In fact he even warned Kishore’s father once, about such happenings in school !
Coming back to his aims in life , he used to write in the essay competitions, that he wanted to become a doctor or a lawyer ( his father was one ). He used to sit always on the front bench, in the class and used to carry a big school-bag ! Had thick books in them : Chakravorty mumerical-maths, Rens Grammar, etc. From his own side, he used to try with all the might to come as a topper in the class. But he was not able to solve the problems in mathematics and used to take great pains to write the English spellings correctly. Thus he was neither a hero of the exam-hall, nor a champion on the sports gound. He was famous in school only because he was a brother of Ashok Kumar ! The locals were devotees of Ashok Kumar, the actor. They used to try and make friends with Kishore, give him chocolates, etc, only to know from him, when would Ashok come to Khandwa !
All this surely made a deep impact on Kishore ( so his mental-struggle started much earlier and not only when he struggled for 6 long years after he entered in the industry @ 1946 ). So much so that Ashok actually was a hero in his eyes. Kishore had every song record that Ashok sang in fims. All his childhood friends ( especially of 6th, 7th & 8th standard ) used to find him , most of the times, doing the ‘riyaaz’ of Ashok Kumar’s songs ! Every song of Ashok was by-heart to him, even Ashok would not have remembered them ! In fact a little known fact is that he did more riyaaz on Ashok Kumar’s songs, than he did pf Saigal, those days. This riyaaz , actually made him aware of his own strengths and improve on them. As his stage fear ( in school ) diminished , he started singing Ashok Kumar’s songs there and also in other social gatherings. Used to gather quite an appreciation those days.
Once in a send-off party to a teacher, Kishore hummed :
“ruk na sako to jaao, tum jaao
par hum sabki sun lo ye fariyaad -
kabhi hamaari bhi kar lena yaad.
hum to tumhein na bhool sakenge,
tum chaahe bisraao
ruk na sako to jaao….”
The auditorium was resounding with unlimited clappings that day !
Even then, many did not recognize his actual singing talent.
One strange incident happened in school one day – The high class ( caste those days ) girls, once caught Kishore and pushed him in a girls common room. Closed the windows and the doors ! All his friends stood in front of the doors listening whats going inside, with baited breath.
Kishore, bhai (भई) , sunaao na vo..vo geet, Piya milan ko jaana…”
“Vo…vo to mujhe theek yaad nahin”
“Jitna yaad ho utna sunaao”
“Mujhe to kuchh bhi yaad nahin”
Hahahahehehehuhuhu…..girls laughing like ringing bells.
“Dekho bhai, Kishore, ab zyaada bano mat”
“Lekin, sachmuch mujhe…”
Kishore was not telling lies, because those days he could not tell lies – a pure mind and heart. It was nothing but shyness. In the end the girls did not give up and it was Kishore’s turn to shed his shyness and sing for them. He sang one song, then the second, second one once again, twice, thrice, and…one hour passed ! Second one too ! But girls wont allow him to get up. Kishore being a cent-percent-Kishore, a 14 year old boy , medium height, impressive but innocent face…Friends were thinking what are the huge girls doing for so long, with this naive simpleton ? When Kishore came out, he promised never to get into the grasp of these girls ! But he was never spared. Everytime girls caught him and took him into the room to force him sing ! Many were jealous of Kishore, especially the senior students, who were never allowed to even come near, by those very girls !
Songs progresed but Kishore could not imitate the acting of Ashok Kumar. He was interested in acting though and according to his age, he used to imitate the stunt-movie heroes of those days like Jaankavas, Baaburao, Bhagwaan, etc. As soon as school got over , he used to catch hold of 5/10 boys and stunt-movies shooting used to start, albeit without a camera ! This continued for many years and the whole ‘mohalla’ was used to this “shoot” cum uchhal-kood ! But people did not know that this same uchhal-kood would one day give birth to the greatest comedy star of all times, who would entertain India for a decade and many decades lateron, through his work !
wow……………….