Kundan Lal Saigal

Kundan Lal Saigal ( K. L. Saigal ) was a famous actor and a pioneer in singing in hindi films and was so talented that first generation singers Muhamud Rafi , lata mangeshkar , kishor kumar and Mukesh regarded him as their teacher, master and guide . Saigal’s unique voice quality had become the benchmark for most of the singers who followed him. In fact his style of singing remains the gold standard even today .
Saigal was born on 11 April 1904 at Jammu in a punjabi hindu dogra family. His father Amarchand Saigal was a tehsildar while his mother, Kesarbai Saigal, was a deeply religious Hindu lady fond of music and Bhajans . She used to take young kundan to religious functions where bhajan, kirtan and shabads were sung in traditional styles based on classical Indian music and thus since childhood, saigal took great likings for music and singing .
Saigal’s first cousins were famous character actors Chaman Puri, Madan Puri, and Amrish Puri. He was not inclined to education and was a school drop out . He first worked in railways and then as a travelling salesman for the Remington Typewriter Company that brought him to Lahore, where he became a friend of Mehrchand Jain and eventually both of them moved to Calcutta and had many a mehfil-e-mushairas .
In those days Saigal was a budding singer and his friend Mehrchand encouraged him to pursue his talent .
In the early 1930s, he was introduced to R. C. Boral who immediately liked his talents and then Saigal was hired by B. N. Sircar’s Calcutta-based film studio -New Theatres where he came into contact with his contemporaries like Pankaj Mullick, K. C. Dey and Pahari Sanyal.
Meanwhile, Indian Gramophone Company released Saigal’s record containing a couple of Punjabi songs, composed by Harishchandra Bali who thus became Saigal’s first music director.
The first films of Saigal were Mohabbat Ke Ansu, Subah Ka Sitara , Zinda Lash ( all in 1932) and Yahudi Ki Ladki (1933).
In 1933, four bhajans sung by Saigal for the film Puran Bhagat created a sensation throughout the country .
In 1935, Saigal played the lead role in famous film Devdas based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel and directed by P.C. Barua . His songs in this film “ Balam Aaye Baso Moray Man Mein बालम आये बसो मोरे मन में and “Dukh Ke Ab Din Beetat Naahi दुख के दिन अब बीतत नाही became instant hits and hugely popular throughout the country.
While in calcutta , Saigal picked up Bengali very well and acted in seven Bengali films, produced by New Theatres.
Saigal’s association with New Theatres continued to bear fruits in the form of successful films like Didi (Bengali), President (Hindi) in 1937, Desher Mati (Bengali), Dharti Mata (Hindi) in 1938, Saathi (Bengali), Street Singer (Hindi) in 1938, Dushman (1939), Jiban Maran (1939) and Zindagi in 1940, with Saigal in the lead Role .There are a number of songs of this era which form the rich heritage of film music in India. Furtherd in film ‘ Street Singer ‘ Saigal sang the very famous song “Babul Mora Naihar Chhooto Jaye” बाबुल मोरा नैहर छूटा जाये live in front of the camera . This song was a evergreen hit .
In December 1941, Saigal moved to Bombay to work with Ranjit Movietone. Here he acted and sang in a number of successful films. His films Bhakta Surdas (1942) and Tansen (1943) were hits during this period . 

In 1944, he returned to New Theatres , calcutta , to complete the film ‘My Sister ‘which contained the then famous songs of “Do Naina Matware दो नैना मतवारे “ and “Ae Katib-e-Taqdeer Mujhe Itna Bata De ऐ कातिब ए तक़दीर इतना बता दे “ .

His other hit films were Shahjehan शाहजहाँ, Mere Sapnon Ki Rani मेरे सपनों की रानी , Ae Dil-e-Beqaraar Jhoom ऐ दिले बेकरार झूम Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya जब दिल ही टूट गया and Parwana परवाना (1947) .
In the last decade of his career; Saigal saheb became an alcholic and could not live without it and used to sing when fully drunk . Alcohol took his life and he died at jullandhar, his then home town, on 18.1.1947 at a very young age of 42 . He was survived by his wife – Asha Rani , one son and two daughters.
In his short career of fifteen years, Saigal saheb acted in 36 feature films – 28 in Hindi, seven in Bengali and one in Tamil and also sang 185 songs which includes 142 filmy songs and 43 non-filmy songs. Of the film songs, there are 110 in Hindi, 30 in Bengali and two in Tamil .
Saigal’s distinctive singing was revered and idolised by the first generation playback singers, including Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh who all called him as their “ GURU” .
The song “Saigal Blues” from the film Delhi Belly (2011) paid tribute to kundan lal saigal .
On 11 April 2018, on the occasion of his 114th birthday, Google paid homage to Saigal with it’s new doodle dedicated to him .
Saigal was an introvert, he shunned publicity. Fame left him unaffected. When praised for his music, he would say, “I have not killed a lion, just sung a song, forget it”.
Saigal Saheb was a nice human being , caring and generous for instance : –
A Bombay based business family in the year 1937 wanted the best and most prestigious singer to perform at a family event. Kundan Lal Saigal was offered ₹25,000 for a few hours. But he preferred to keep his promise to a poor lighting assistant, whose daughter was getting married. Saigal sang all night there, ignoring the ₹25,000 offer.
Kundan lal Saigal and his music , singing style , voice and remarkable songs in the formative years of Indian/ hindi cinema will ever remain in the memory of the people .

Note : Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google’s homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements and historical and famous figures .

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Seven stars

Special Comment

This king of singers had the voice of an angel and a heart of gold,” commented the famous music director Naushad about kLSaigal .
Saigal was “the voice of the century”, a voice so powerful that it could break recording needles! He was the first great singer-actor and the first superstar of Bollywood music.
His god-like status as a singer is remarkable for many reasons.
He was active for only 15 years (1933 to 1947) and sang just 185 songs in rudimentary sound recording facilities with little music training but he held a whole nation in thrall. Classical music Masters were stunned by the elemental force of his music.
In 1932 his song Jhula na jhulao ri झूला ना झुलाओ sold five lacs records at a time when few people had record-players.
His song “ Balam aye baso more man mein बालम आये बसो मेरे मन में “ was a romantic gem that charmed one and all.
His song “ Dukh ke din bitat nahin दुख के दिन बीतत नाहीं “ was the cry of a person sunk in the ocean of despair. Millions wept with Saigal, commented Baburao Patel .
In his spectacular stage shows, Singer actor – Kishore kumar mimicked everyone — but never ever Saigal. That would be a sacrilege he commented.
The singer Talat Mehmood commented on Saigal — “What pronunciation, what throw of voice, what depth of feeling, what voice control — I couldn’t touch him!
During the 1930s and 1940s, Bollywood believed that a singer had to sound like Saigal to be effective: he was the sole barometer of quality and impact.
Singer C.H.Atma adopted the Saigal style for his immortal song Preetam aan milo प्रीतम आन मिलो sung for a private album in 1945 and so was done by singer -Surendar in the iconic song “ Awaaz de kaha hei आवाज़ दे कहां है (film Anmol Ghadi, 1946).
It is said that he was the only singer who appealed to both mind and hear and had 20 ways of singing a word .
Kanan Devi remarked that Saigal had a perfect pitch sense. He didn’t need the help of a veena or tanpura to set the right pitch. In fact, at recording sessions he would single out a note and musicians would set their instruments accordingly. An amazing phenomenon
During a 1937 visit to Lahore for a stage performance, Saigal was cheered by adoring crowds of thousands. Cries of Kundan Lal Saigal zindabad rented the air.
In 1938, he attended a large musical conference in Allahabad with presence of Giants of then classical music but Saigal stole the limelight as the audience clamoured for him to sing and asked for more and more. His mother in attendance was in tears to see his son as a public hero and the one who used to get bashing from his father in childhood and in his adolescent age for being a useless and callous son wasting time on music and singing .
The film historian-Manek premchand wrote about saigal as under :-
“From 1950s to about 1990s ; the most important time of the day for thousands of film music lovers used to be 7.57am, when Radio Ceylon would play a song of K L Saigal, and this had an incredible nationwide appeal. People woke up not to the twittering of birds but to the sound of Saigal’s voice “.
Undoubtedly from 1934 to 1947, Saigal saheb was the only male master singer not only for films but also for private albums and his golden voice would perhaps never be forgotten.

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