Forty years ago, legendary playback singer Kishore Kumar opened up about his personal life in a rare and now-iconic interview with journalist Pritish Nandy.
The piece, published in The Illustrated Weekly Of India (April 28-May 4, 1985), became famous not just for its content, but also for its setting: Kishore Kumar had a skull with glowing red eyes as part of his home decor.
At the end of the interview, he famously joked, "Look, doesn't it look nice with my specs on its non-existent nose?" before telling Nandy, "You are a good man. You understand the real things of life. You are going to look like this one day."
Pritish Nandy's (who died on January 8 at his Mumbai home following a cardiac arrest) interview with Kishore Kumar remains one of the most memorable insights into the singer's guarded personal life.
In the conversation, Kishore Kumar spoke candidly about his marriages, starting with his first wife, Ruma Devi.
"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 separate things. That's why we went our separate ways."
He then opened up about his second wife, actor Madhubala, who suffered from a congenital heart condition and died young.
"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 nine 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 nine long years bedridden? 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."
On his third marriage to Yogeeta Bali, he was blunt, "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."
He ended the interview on a calmer note, speaking about his then-wife, Leena Chandavarkar.
"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."
About Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar was one of the most prolific artistes of his time. He dabbled in various art forms like acting, music direction and singing.
He was awarded the Lata Mangeshkar Award by the Madhya Pradesh government in 1985. In 1997, the Madhya Pradesh Government initiated an award called the "Kishore Kumar Award" for contributions to Hindi cinema.
He started his cinema career as a chorus singer at Bombay Talkies, where his brother Ashok Kumar worked. Music director Khemchand Prakash gave Kumar a chance to sing Marne Ki Duayen Kyon Mangu for the film Ziddi.
He employed yodelling in many of his songs, including Yeh dil na hota bechara, Zindagi ek safar hai suhana, and Chala jata hoon. The style eventually became an essential feature of his singing and was inspired by Jimmie Rodgers and Tex Morton. Kishore Kumar died on October 13, 1987.
