RMIM Archives..

Here are excerpts of a tete-a tete with Kishore Kumar and the

editor of the Illustrated Weekly, Pritish Nandy. This piece

appeared in a cover story entitled "GENIUS" in the April 28, 1985

issue of the Illustrated Weekly.

PN=Pritish Nandy

KK=Kishore Kumar

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PN: I understand you are quitting Bombay and going away to Khandwa...

KK: Who can live in this stupid, friendless city where everyone seeks to

exploit you every moment of the day? Can you trust anyone out here?

Is anyone trustworthy? Is anyone a friend you can count on?

I am determined to get out of this futile rat race and live as I've

always wanted to. In my native Khandwa, the land of my forefathers.

Who wants to die in this ugly city?

PN: Why did you come here in the first place?

KK: I would come to visit my brother Ashok Kumar. He was such a big

star in those days. I thought he could introduce me to KL Saigal

who was my greatest idol. People say he used to sing through his

nose. But so what? He was a great singer. Greater than anyone else.

PN: I believe you are planning to record an album of famous Saigal

songs....

KK: They asked me to. I refused. Why should I try to outsing him?

Let him remain enshrined in our memory. Let his songs remain

just HIS songs. Let not even one person say that Kishore Kumar

sang them better.

PN: If you didn't like Bombay, why did you stay back? For fame?

For money?

KK: I was conned into it. I only wanted to sing. Never to act. But

somehow, thanks to peculiar circumstances, I was persuaded to

act in the movies. I hated every moment of it and tried virtually

every trick to get out of it. I muffed my lines, pretended to be

crazy, shaved my head off, played difficult, began yodelling in

the midst of tragic scenes, told Meena Kumari what I was supposed

to tell Bina Rai in some other film - but they still wouldn't let

me go. I screamed, ranted, went cuckoo. But who cared? They were

just determined to make me a star.

PN: Why?

KK: Because I was Dadamoni's brother. And he was a great hero.

PN: But you succeeded, after your fashion....

KK: Of course I did. I was the biggest draw after Dilip Kumar. There

were so many films I was doing in those days that I had to run

from one set to the other, changing on the way. Imagine me. My

shirts flying off, my trousers falling off, my wig coming off

while I'm running from one set to the other. Very often I would

mix up my lines and look angry in a romantic scene or romantic

in the midst of a fierce battle. It was terrible and I hated it.

It evoked nightmares of school. Directors were like schoolteachers.

Do this. Do that. Don't do this. Don't do that. I dreaded it. That's

why I would often escape.

PN: Well, you are notorious for the trouble you give your directors

and producers. Why is that?

KK: Nonsense. They give me trouble. You think they give a damn for

me? I matter to them only because I sell. Who cared for me during

my bad days? Who cares for anyone in this profession?

PN: Is that why you prefer to be a loner?

KK: Look, I don't smoke, drink or socialise. I never go to parties.

If that makes me a loner, fine. I am happy this way. I go to work

and I come back straight home. To watch my horror movies, play

with my spooks, talk to my trees, sing. In this avaricious

world, every creative person is bound to be lonely. How can you

deny me that right?

PN: You don't have many friends?

KK: None.

PN: That's rather sweeping.

KK: People bore me. Film people particularly bore me. I prefer talking

to my trees.

PN: So you like nature?

KK: That's why I want to get away to Khandwa. I have lost all touch

with nature out here. I tried to did a canal all around my

bungalow out here, so that we could sail gondolas there. The

municipality chap would sit and watch and nod his head

disapprovingly, while my men would dig and dig. But it didn't work.

One day someone found a hand - a skeletal hand- and some toes.

After that no one wanted to dig anymore. Anoop, my second brother,

came charging with Ganga water and started chanting mantras. He

thought this house was built on a graveyard. Perhaps it is. But

I lost the chance of making my home like Venice.

PN: People would have thought you crazy. In fact they already do.

KK: Who said I'm crazy. The world is crazy; not me.

PN: Why do you have this reputation for doing strange things?

KK: It all began with this girl who came to interview me. In those

days I used to live alone. So she said: You must be very lonely.

I said: No, let me introduce you to some of my friends. So I

took her to the garden and introduced her to some of the friendlier

trees. Janardhan; Raghunandan; Gangadhar; Jagannath; Buddhuram;

Jhatpatajhatpatpat. I said they were my closest friends in this

cruel world. She went and wrote this bizarre piece, saying that

I spent long evenings with my arms entwined around them. What's

wrong with that, you tell me? What's wrong making friends with

trees?

PN: Nothing.

KK: Then, there was this interior decorator-a suited, booted fellow

who came to see me in a three-piece woollen, Saville Row suit

in the thick of summer- and began to lecture me about aesthetics,

design, visual sense and all that. After listening to him for about

half an hour and trying to figure out what he was saying through

his peculiar American accent, I told him that I wanted something

very simple for my living room. Just water-several feet deep- and

little boats floating around, instead of large sofas. I told him

that the centre-piece should be anchored down so that the tea

service could be placed on it and all of us could row up to it

in our boats and take sips from our cups. But the boats should

be properly balanced, I said, otherwise we might whizz past each

other and conversation would be difficult.

He looked a bit alarmed but that alarm gave way to sheer horror

when I began to describe the wall decor. I told him that I wanted

live crows hanging from the walls instead of paintings-since I

liked nature so much. And, instead of fans, we could have monkeys

farting from the ceiling. That's when he slowly backed out from

the room with a strange look in his eyes. The last I saw of him

was him running out of the front gate, at a pace that would have

put an electric train to shame. What's crazy about having a living

room like that, you tell me? If he can wear a woollen, three-piece

suit in the height of summer, why can't I hang live crows on my

walls?

PN: Your ideas are quite original, but why do your films fare so badly?

KK: Because I tell my distributors to avoid them. I warn them at the

very outset that the film might run for a week at the most.

Naturally, they go away and never come back. Where will you find

a producer-director who warns you not to touch his film because

even he can't understand what he has made?

PN: Then why do you make films?

KK: Because the spirit moves me. I feel I have something to say and

the films eventually do well at times.

I remember this film of mine - Door Gagan ki Chhaon mein - which

started to an audience of 10 people in Alankar. I know because I

was in the hall myself. There were only ten people who had come to

watch the first show!

Even its release was peculiar. Subhodh Mukherjee, the brother of

my brother-in-law, had booked Alankar(the hall) for 8 weeks for

his film April Fool- which everyone knew was going to be a block-

buster. My film, everyone was sure, was going to be a thundering

flop. So he offered to give me a week of his booking. Take the

first week, he said flamboyantly, and I'll manage within seven. After

all, the movie can't run beyond a week. It can't run beyond two

days, I reassured him.

When 10 people came for the first show, he tried to console me.

Don't worry, he said, it happens at times. But who was worried?

Then, the word spread. Like wildfire. And within a few days the

hall began to fill. It ran for all 8 weeks at Alankar, house full!

Subodh Mukherjee kept screaming at me but how could I let go the

hall? After 8 weeks when the booking ran out, the movie shifted

to Super, where it ran for another 21 weeks! That's the anatomy

of a hit of mine. How does one explain it? Can anyone explain

it? Can Subodh Mukherjee, whose April Fool went on to become a

thundering flop?

PN: But you, as the director should have known?

KK: Directors know nothing. I never had the privilege of working with

any good director. Except Satyen Bose and Bimal Roy, no one even

knew the ABC of film making. How can you expect me to give good

performances under such directors?

Directors like S.D. Narang didn't even know where to place the

camera. He would take long, pensive drags from his cigarette,

mumble 'Quiet, quiet, quiet' to everyone, walk a couple of furlongs

absentmindedly, mutter to himself and then tell the camera man to

place the camera wherever he wanted. His standard line to me was:

Do something. What something? Come on, some thing! So I would go

off on my antics. Is this the way to act? Is this the way to direct

a movie? And yet Narangsaab made so many hits!

PN: Why didn't you ever offer to work with a good director?

KK: Offer! I was far too scared. Satyajit Ray came to me and wanted me

to act in Parash Pathar - his famous comedy - and I was so scared

that I ran away. Later, Tulsi Chakravarti did the role. It was a

great role and I ran away from it, so scared I was of these great

directors.

PN: But you knew Ray.

KK: Of course I did. I loaned him five thousand rupees at the time of

Pather Panchali-when he was in great financial difficulty- and even

though he paid back the entire loan, I never gave him an opportunity

to forget the fact that I had contributed to the making of the

classic. I still rib him about it. I never forget the money I

loan out!

PN: Well, some people think you are crazy about money. Others describe

you as a clown, pretending to be kinky but sane as hell. Still

others find you cunning and manipulative. Which is the real you?

KK: I play different roles at different times. For different people.

In this crazy world, only the truly sane man appears to be mad.

Look at me. Do you think I'm mad? Do you think I can be mani-

pulative?

PN: How would I know?

KK: Of course you would know. It's so easy to judge a man by just

looking at him. You look at these film people and you instantly

know they're rogues.

PN: I believe so.

KK: I don't believe so. I know so. You can't trust them an inch.

I have been in this rat race for so long that I can smell trouble

from miles afar. I smelt trouble the day I came to Bombay in the

hope of becoming a playback singer and got conned into acting. I

should have just turned my back and run.

PN: Why didn't you?

KK: Well, I've regretted it ever since. Boom Boom. Boompitty boom boom.

Chikachikachik chik chik. Yadlehe eeee yadlehe ooooo (Goes on

yodelling till the tea comes. Someone emerges from behind the

upturned sofa in the living room, looking rather mournful with

a bunch of rat-eaten files and holds them up for KK to see)

PN: What are those files?

KK: My income tax records.

PN: Rat-eaten?

KK: We use them as pesticides. They are very effective. The rats die

quite easily after biting into them.

PN: What do you show the tax people when they ask for the papers?

KK: The dead rats.

PN: I see.

KK: You like dead rats?

PN: Not particularly.

KK: Lots of people eat them in other parts of the world.

PN: I guess so.

KK: Haute cuisine. Expensive too. Costs a lot of money.

PN: Yes?

KK: Good business, rats. One can make money from them if one is

enterprising.

PN: I believe you are very fussy about money. Once, I'm told. a

producer paid you only half your dues and you came to the sets

with half your head and half your moustache shaved off. And you

told him that when he paid the rest, you would shoot with your face

intact...

KK: Why should they take me for granted? These people never pay unless

you teach them a lesson. I was shooting in the South once. I think

the film was Miss Mary and these chaps kept me waiting in the hotel

room for five days without shooting. So I got fed up and started

cutting my hair. First I chopped off some hair from the right side

of my head and then, to balance it, I chopped off some from the

left. By mistake I overdid it. So I cut off some more from the

right. Again I overdid it. So I had to cut from the left again.

This went on till I had virtually no hair left- and that's when

the call came from the sets. When I turned up the way I was, they

all collapsed. That's how rumours reached Bombay. They said I had

gone cuckoo. I didn't know. I returned and found everyone wishing

me from long distance and keeping a safe distance of 10 feet while

talking. Even those chaps who would come and embrace me waved out

from a distance and said Hi. Then, someone asked me a little

hesitantly how I was feeling. I said: Fine. I spoke a little

abruptly perhaps. Suddenly I found him turning around and running.

Far, far away from me.

PN: But are you actually so stingy about money?

KK: I have to pay my taxes.

PN: You have income tax problems I am told....

KK: Who doesn't? My actual dues are not much but the interest has

piled up. I'm planning to sell off a lot of things before I go

to Khandwa and settle this entire business once and for all.

PN: You refused to sing for Sanjay Gandhi during the emergency and,

it is said, that's why the tax hounds were set on you. Is this true?

KK: Who knows why they come. But no one can make me do what I don't

want to do. I don't sing at anyone's will or command. But I sing

for charities, causes all the time.

[Note: Sanjay Gandhi wanted KK to sing at some Congress rally in Bombay.

KK refused. Sanjay Gandhi ordered All India Radio to stop playing

Kishore songs. This went on for quite a while. KK refused to

apologize. Finally, it took scores of prominant producers and

directors to convince those in power to rescind the ban- Rajan]

PN: What about your home life? Why has that been so turbulent?

KK: Because I like being left alone.

PN: What went wrong with Ruma Devi, your first wife?

KK: She was a very talented person but we could not get along because

we looked at life differently. She wanted to build a choir and a

career. I wanted someone to build me a home. How can the two

reconcile? You see, I'm a simple minded villager type. I don't

understand this business about women making careers. Wives should

first learn how to make a home. And how can you fit the two

together? A career and a home are quite seperate things. That's why

we went our seperate ways.

PN: Madhubala, your second wife?

KK: She was quite another matter. I knew she was very sick even before

I married her. But a promise is a promise. So I kept my word and

brought her home as my wife, even though I knew she was dying from

a congenital heart problem. For 9 long years I nursed her. I watched

her die before my own eyes. You can never understand what this means

until you live through this yourself. She was such a beautiful woman

and she died so painfully.

She would rave and rant and scream in frustration. How can such an

active person spend 9 long years bed-ridden? And I had to humour her

all the time. That's what the doctor asked me to. That's what I did

till her very last breath. I would laugh with her. I would cry with

her.

PN: What about your third marriage? To Yogeeta Bali?

KK: That was a joke. I don't think she was serious about marriage. She

was only obsessed with her mother. She never wanted to live here.

PN: But that's because she says you would stay up all night and

count money..

KK: Do you think I can do that? Do you think I'm mad? Well, it's

good we separated quickly.

PN: What about your present marriage?

KK: Leena is a very different kind of person. She too is an actress like

all of them but she's very different. She's seen tragedy. She's

faced grief. When your husband is shot dead, you change. You

understand life. You realise the ephemeral quality of all things..

I am happy now.

PN: What about your new film? Are you going to play hero in this one too?

KK: No no no. I'm just the producer-director. I'm going to be behind

the camera. Remember I told you how much I hate acting? All I might

do is make a split second appearance on screen as an old man or

something.

PN: Like Hitchcock?

KK: Yes, my favourite director.

I'm mad, true. But only about one thing. Horror movies. I love

spooks. They are a friendly fearsome lot. Very nice people,

actually, if you get to know them. Not like these industry chaps

out here. Do you know any spooks?

PN: Not very friendly ones.

KK: But nice, frightening ones?

PN: Not really.

KK: But that's precisely what we're all going to become one day. Like

this chap out here (points to a skull, which he uses as part of his

decor, with red light emerging from its eyes)- you don't even know

whether it's a man or a woman. Eh? But it's a nice sort. Friendly

too. Look, doesn't it look nice with my specs on its non-existent

nose?

PN: Very nice indeed.

KK: You are a good man. You understand the real things of life. You are

going to look like this one day.

KK's Page | My Home Page | Interviews

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