While the world knows him as a singer, he is also an actor and has appeared in a few films.
Bollywood’s legendary singer Kishore Kumar is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian music. The late singer sang in several genres from soft numbers to peppy tracks to romantic moods. Poet-lyricist Gulzar claims Kumar had a number of tricks up his sleeves.
While the world knows him as a singer, he is also an actor and has appeared in a few films. He acted in films like Ladki, Naukari, Miss Malaysia, Char Paise and Baap Re Baap. He was an ardent admirer of Hollywood actor-singer Danny Kaye.
Gulzar in his book Actually… I Met Them: A Memoir mentioned an incident where Kishore Kumar was not in a mood to talk to a producer who came to his residence seeking a meeting with him. But the legendary singer “simply opened his cupboard, stepped in and disappeared!”
Talking about the incident, as reported by Hindustan Times, the veteran lyricist wrote, “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.”
Gulzar also cited another incident in his book. He recalled how Kishore Kumar halted the recording of songs for a film called Bharosa to demand tea. After an endless wait, when the tea finally arrived, the legendary singer went ahead with the recording without even having a sip of it.
“Every time we tried coaxing Kishoreda, ‘Let’s go, Dada, let’s 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. I’ll have tea and only then’. Finally, when Abdul returned, Kishoreda immediately declared, ‘Okay, let’s record.’ ‘Why, don’t you want tea?’ we asked. Paying us no heed, he went to get the recording done,” wrote the poet lyrcist.