Kundanlal Saigal, the first superstar of Hindi Cinema celebrates his 114th birthday today.
The iconic actor-singer has been honoured with a doodle by Google on his birth anniversary.
Born in Kashmir, Kundanlal Saigal was the son of Amarchand Saigal, a tax officer at the court of the king of Jammu and and Kashmir, and Kesarbai, a Hindu lady who was fond of music. She would take her son along, for all the religious musical functions where Bhajans and Keertans based on Indian Classical music were sung. That could explain his inclination for singing.
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He was schooled for a brief amount of time. In fact he dropped out and became a railway timekeeper.
Soon after, he went on to become a typewriter salesman which involved travelling to various parts of the country. When he traveled to Lahore, he met Mehrchand Jain who is the person who encouraged him to pursue singing. KL Saigal would often credit him for what he was.
When KL Saigal was introduced to R. C. Boralin the 1930s, he found himself hired by Calcutta’s film studio New theatres for Rs 200 per month. While his acting pursuits were taking off on one side, his album of Punjabi songs was released by the Indian Gramophone Company. Kundalal Saigal made his debut with Mohabbat Ke Ansu. Subah Ka Sitara, Zinda Lash also followed in the same year.
But these films did not quite take off. It was in 1933 things started to look up for KL Saigal.
Four of his bhajans became a hit. His subsequent performances became a rage – Yahudi Ki Ladki, Chandidas, Rooplekha, Karwan-E-Hayat were some of his most known films. In fact, story goes that Lata Mangeshkar at one point wanted to marry him because of Chandidas! The role that catapulted him to unimaginable heights was that of a drunken guy in Devdas. He also sang two songs for this movie – Dukh Ke Ab Din Beetat Naahi, Balam Aaye Baso Moray Man Mein. He also became the first non-Bengali to gt Rabridranath Tagore’s approval to sing his songs. His association with New Theatres turned out successful as he went on to deliver several commercial hits like Dharti Mata, Street Singer, Dushman, President.
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He moved to Mumbai in the 1940s and continued to be a success.
However, he died an early due to severe alcohol addiction. But not without delivering three hits yet again. In fact, in 1955, a documentary on the life of Saigal was released. He was not only a talented actor bu a renowned singer. It is said that Lata Mangeshkar, Koshore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi considered him their Guru.