Kundan Lal Saigal
Encyclopedia
Kundan Lal Saigal (Dogri
: कुन्दन लाल सहगल) (11 April 1904 – 18 January 1947) was an India
n singer and actor who is considered the first superstar of the Hindi
film industry, which was centered in Calcutta during Saigal's time, but is currently centered in Mumbai
.
where his father Amar Chand was a tehsildar
at the court of the Raja
of Jammu & Kashmir
. His mother Kesar Bai was a deeply religious lady who was very fond of music. She used to take her young son to religious functions where bhajan
, kirtan
and shabad were sung in traditional styles based on classical Indian music. Saigal was the fourth-born child of five and his formal schooling was brief and uneventful. As a child he occasionally played Sita
in the Ramlila
of Jammu. Saigal dropped out of school and started earning money by working as a railway timekeeper. Later, he worked as a typewriter salesman for the Remington Typewriter Company, which allowed him to tour several parts of India. His travels brought him to Lahore
where he befriended Meharchand Jain (who later went on to start the Assam Soap Factory in Shillong
) at the Anarkali Bazaar
. Meharchand and Kundan remained friends when they both moved to Calcutta and had many a mehfil
-e-mushaira
. In those days Saigal was a budding singer and Meharchand encouraged him to pursue his talent. Saigal often remarked that he was what he was because of Meharchand's encouragement and early support. He also briefly worked as a hotel manager. Meanwhile, his passion for singing continued and became more intense with the passage of time.
. R.C. Boral took an instant liking to his talents. Saigal was hired by B. N. Sircar
's Calcutta-based film studio New Theatres on a contract of Rs. 200 per month. There he came into contact with contemporaries like Pankaj Mullick
, K. C. Dey
and Pahari Sanyal
.
Meanwhile, Indian Gramophone Company had released Saigal's record containing a couple of Punjabi
songs composed by Harishchandra Bali. In this way, Bali became Saigal's first music director. The first film in which Saigal had a role was the Urdu
film Mohabbat Ke Ansoo, followed by Subah Ka Sitara and Zinda Laash, all released in 1932. However, these films did not do very well. It was in 1933 that his four bhajans for the film Puran Bhagat created a sensation throughout India. Other films that followed were Yahudi Ki Ladki, Chandidas, Rooplekha and Karwan-e-Hayaat. As a youngster, Lata Mangeshkar
is alleged to have said that she wanted to marry K.L. Saigal after seeing his performance in Chandidas. In 1935, Saigal played the role that would come to define his acting career: that of the drunken title character in Devdas
, based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel of the same name and directed by P.C. Barua. His songs in the film, Balam Aaye Baso Moray Man Mein and Dukh Ke Ab Din Beetat Naahi, became popular throughout the country.
Saigal picked up Bengali
very well and acted in seven Bengali films, produced by New Theatres. Rabindranath Tagore
first heard Saigal before giving consent for the first time to a non-Bengali singing his songs. Saigal endeared himself to the whole of Bengal through his 30 Bengali songs.
Saigal's association with New Theatres continued to bear fruit in the successful films Didi (Bengali)/President (Hindi) in 1937, Saathi (Bengali)/Street Singer (Hindi) in 1938, and Zindagi in 1940, with Saigal in the lead. There are a number of songs of this era which form the rich heritage of film music in India. Also, in Street Singer, Saigal rendered the song Babul Mora live in front of the camera, even though playback was becoming the preferred method of singing songs in films.
By this time, alcohol
had become a predominant factor in Saigal's life. His dependence on alcohol had begun affecting his work and his health. It was said that he could only record a song after being fortified with liquor. He survived ten years of drinking; however, his alcoholism
was too advanced for even a single attempt at abstinence, and Saigal died in his ancestral city of Jalandhar
on 18 January 1947, at the age of 42. However, before his death, he was able to churn out three more hits under the baton of Naushad
for the film Shahjehan (1946). These are Mere Sapnon Ki Rani, Ae Dil-e-Beqaraar Jhoom and Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya. Parwana (1947) was his last film, released after his death, in which he sang under the baton of Khawaja Khurshid Anwar
.The four songs which Saigal sang in Parwana are: Toot gaye sab sapne mere, Mohabbat mein kabhi aisi bhi haalat, Jeene ka dhang sikhaae ja, and Kahin ulajh na jaana. Saigal was survived by his wife Asha Rani (whom he married in 1935); three children, a son and two daughters: Madan Mohan, Nina (born 1937) and Bina (born 1941); and an adopted child, his elder brother's daughter, Durgesh Nandani, whom he adopted when he was still single.
In a career of fifteen years, Saigal acted in 36 feature films - 28 in Hindi/Urdu, 7 in Bengali, and 1 in Tamil. In addition, he acted in a short comedy Hindi/Urdu film, Dulari Bibi (3 reels), released in 1933. In 1955 B.N. Sircar released a documentary film based on the life of K.L. Saigal, Amar Saigal. In the film, G. Mungheri performed the title role of Saigal. The film contained 19 songs lifted from Saigal's films. In all, Saigal rendered 185 songs which includes 142 film songs and 43 non-film songs. Of the film songs, there are 110 in Hindi/Urdu, 30 in Bengali and 2 in Tamil. There are 37 non-film songs in Hindi/Urdu, and 2 each in Bengali, Pashto, Punjabi and Persian
. His non-film songs comprise bhajans, ghazal
s and hori. He has rendered the creations of poets such as Ghalib, Zauq, and Seemab.
Saigal's distinctive singing voice was idolized by the first generation of post-independence Bollywood playback singers, including Lata Mangeshkar
, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, and Kishore Kumar
.
movie Delhi Belly (2011) pays tribute to him.
Dogri language
Dogri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about five million people in Pakistan and India, chiefly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, but also in northern Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, other parts of Jammu and Kashmir, and elsewhere. Dogri speakers are called Dogras, and the Dogri-speaking...
: कुन्दन लाल सहगल) (11 April 1904 – 18 January 1947) was an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n singer and actor who is considered the first superstar of the Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
film industry, which was centered in Calcutta during Saigal's time, but is currently centered in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
.
Early life
Saigal was born at JammuJammu
Jammu , also known as Duggar, is one of the three administrative divisions within Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state in India.Jammu city is the largest city in Jammu and the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir...
where his father Amar Chand was a tehsildar
Tehsildar
A tehsildar is a revenue administrative officer in Pakistan and India in charge of obtaining taxation from a tehsil. The term is of imperial Mughal origin made of "tahsil", an Islamic administrative derived from Arabic, meaning "revenue generating; collection" and "dar", Persian for "holder of a...
at the court of the Raja
Raja
Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...
of Jammu & Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
. His mother Kesar Bai was a deeply religious lady who was very fond of music. She used to take her young son to religious functions where bhajan
Bhajan
A Bhajan is any type of Indian devotional song. It has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a mantra or kirtan or as sophisticated as the dhrupad or kriti with music based on classical ragas and talas. It is normally lyrical, expressing love for the Divine...
, kirtan
Kirtan
Kirtan or Kirtana is call-and-response chanting or "responsory" performed in India's devotional traditions. A person performing kirtan is known as a kirtankar. Kirtan practice involves chanting hymns or mantras to the accompaniment of instruments such as the harmonium, tablas, the two-headed...
and shabad were sung in traditional styles based on classical Indian music. Saigal was the fourth-born child of five and his formal schooling was brief and uneventful. As a child he occasionally played Sita
SITA
SITA is a multinational information technology company specialising in providing IT and telecommunication services to the air transport industry...
in the Ramlila
Ramlila
Ramlila is a dramatic folk re-enactment of the life of Lord Ram, ending up in ten day battle between Lord Ram and Ravan, as described in the Hindu religious epic, the Ramayana...
of Jammu. Saigal dropped out of school and started earning money by working as a railway timekeeper. Later, he worked as a typewriter salesman for the Remington Typewriter Company, which allowed him to tour several parts of India. His travels brought him to Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
where he befriended Meharchand Jain (who later went on to start the Assam Soap Factory in Shillong
Shillong
-Connectivity:Although well connected by road, Shillong has no rail connection and a proper air connection. Umroi Airport exists but has only limited flights.-Roadways:Shillong is well connected by roads with all major north eastern states...
) at the Anarkali Bazaar
Anarkali bazaar
Anarkali bazaar is a famous bazār in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It is one of the oldest surviving markets in South Asia, dating back at least 200 years...
. Meharchand and Kundan remained friends when they both moved to Calcutta and had many a mehfil
Mehfil
A mehfil is a gathering or evening of courtly entertainment of poetry or concert of Indian classical music and dance, performed for a small audience in an intimate setting....
-e-mushaira
Mushaira
Mushaira is a poetic symposium. Its a term in Urdu used to describe an event where poets gather to perform their works. A mushaira is a beloved part of the culture of Pakistan and North India, and it is greatly admired by participants as a forum for free self-expression.-Forms:A mushaira can take...
. In those days Saigal was a budding singer and Meharchand encouraged him to pursue his talent. Saigal often remarked that he was what he was because of Meharchand's encouragement and early support. He also briefly worked as a hotel manager. Meanwhile, his passion for singing continued and became more intense with the passage of time.
Career at New Theatres
In the early 1930s, classical musician and music director Harishchandra Bali brought K.L. Saigal to Calcutta and introduced him to R. C. BoralR C Boral
Rai Chand Boral is often credited to be the pioneer of Indian film music.He and Pankaj Mullick were in charge of New Theatres' music department. New Theatres set standards in film music which have rarely been approached since. They also shaped film music in its early days and their format was...
. R.C. Boral took an instant liking to his talents. Saigal was hired by B. N. Sircar
B. N. Sircar
B. N. Sircar was an Indian film producer and the Founder of New Theatres Calcutta. He made Bengali films that were noted for introducing many Famous Film Directors. He was awarded the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1970....
's Calcutta-based film studio New Theatres on a contract of Rs. 200 per month. There he came into contact with contemporaries like Pankaj Mullick
Pankaj Mullick
Pankaj Mullick, also known as Pankaj Kumar Mullick was a Bengali Indian music director, who was a pioneer of film music in Bengali cinema and Hindi cinema at the advent of playback singing, as well as an early exponent of Rabindra Sangeet.He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1970, followed by the...
, K. C. Dey
K. C. Dey
Krishna Chandra De better known as K.C. Dey, was a Bengali actor, singer and music composer and teacher born in Calcutta . He was S.D. Burman's first musical teacher and mentor. He worked for New Theatres in Kolkata until 1940. He is best remembered for his Kirtan songs.Dey sang and composed...
and Pahari Sanyal
Pahari Sanyal
Pahari Sanyal, born Nagendranath Sanyal, was a stalwart Bengali character actor whose status was as towering as that of others such as Chhabi Biswas and Kamal Mitra....
.
Meanwhile, Indian Gramophone Company had released Saigal's record containing a couple of Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
songs composed by Harishchandra Bali. In this way, Bali became Saigal's first music director. The first film in which Saigal had a role was the Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
film Mohabbat Ke Ansoo, followed by Subah Ka Sitara and Zinda Laash, all released in 1932. However, these films did not do very well. It was in 1933 that his four bhajans for the film Puran Bhagat created a sensation throughout India. Other films that followed were Yahudi Ki Ladki, Chandidas, Rooplekha and Karwan-e-Hayaat. As a youngster, Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional...
is alleged to have said that she wanted to marry K.L. Saigal after seeing his performance in Chandidas. In 1935, Saigal played the role that would come to define his acting career: that of the drunken title character in Devdas
Devdas (1936 film)
Devdas is a 1935 film based on the Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay novella, Devdas. Directed by P.C. Barua, it stars K.L. Saigal as Devdas and Jamuna Barua as Parvati . Of Barua's two versions, this was the popular one throughout India.-Plot:Devdas Devdas (Hindi: देवदास, Urdu: دیوداس) is a 1935 film...
, based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel of the same name and directed by P.C. Barua. His songs in the film, Balam Aaye Baso Moray Man Mein and Dukh Ke Ab Din Beetat Naahi, became popular throughout the country.
Saigal picked up Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
very well and acted in seven Bengali films, produced by New Theatres. Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
first heard Saigal before giving consent for the first time to a non-Bengali singing his songs. Saigal endeared himself to the whole of Bengal through his 30 Bengali songs.
Saigal's association with New Theatres continued to bear fruit in the successful films Didi (Bengali)/President (Hindi) in 1937, Saathi (Bengali)/Street Singer (Hindi) in 1938, and Zindagi in 1940, with Saigal in the lead. There are a number of songs of this era which form the rich heritage of film music in India. Also, in Street Singer, Saigal rendered the song Babul Mora live in front of the camera, even though playback was becoming the preferred method of singing songs in films.
Move to Bombay and death
In December 1941, Saigal moved to Bombay to work with Ranjit Movietone. Here he acted and sang in a number of successful films. Bhakt Surdas (1942) and Tansen (1943) were hits during this period. The latter film is still remembered for Saigal's performance of the song Diya Jalao in Raga Shuddha Kalyan; in the same movie, he also sang "Sapta Suran,Tin .. Gaa-o Saba Guni Jan". In 1944, he returned to New Theatres to complete Meri Behen. This film contained the songs Do Naina Matware and Ae Qatib-e-Taqdeer Mujhe Itna Bata De.By this time, alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
had become a predominant factor in Saigal's life. His dependence on alcohol had begun affecting his work and his health. It was said that he could only record a song after being fortified with liquor. He survived ten years of drinking; however, his alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
was too advanced for even a single attempt at abstinence, and Saigal died in his ancestral city of Jalandhar
Jalandhar
Jalandhar is a city in Jalandhar District in the state of Punjab, India. It is located 144 km northwest of the state capital, Chandigarh...
on 18 January 1947, at the age of 42. However, before his death, he was able to churn out three more hits under the baton of Naushad
Naushad
Naushad Ali was an Indian musician. He was one of the foremost music directors for Bollywood films, and is particularly known for popularizing the use of classical music in films.His first film as an independent music director was Prem Nagar in 1940...
for the film Shahjehan (1946). These are Mere Sapnon Ki Rani, Ae Dil-e-Beqaraar Jhoom and Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya. Parwana (1947) was his last film, released after his death, in which he sang under the baton of Khawaja Khurshid Anwar
Khawaja Khurshid Anwar
Khwaja Khurshid Anwar was a filmmaker, writer, director and music composer who gained extreme popularity both in India and Pakistan...
.The four songs which Saigal sang in Parwana are: Toot gaye sab sapne mere, Mohabbat mein kabhi aisi bhi haalat, Jeene ka dhang sikhaae ja, and Kahin ulajh na jaana. Saigal was survived by his wife Asha Rani (whom he married in 1935); three children, a son and two daughters: Madan Mohan, Nina (born 1937) and Bina (born 1941); and an adopted child, his elder brother's daughter, Durgesh Nandani, whom he adopted when he was still single.
In a career of fifteen years, Saigal acted in 36 feature films - 28 in Hindi/Urdu, 7 in Bengali, and 1 in Tamil. In addition, he acted in a short comedy Hindi/Urdu film, Dulari Bibi (3 reels), released in 1933. In 1955 B.N. Sircar released a documentary film based on the life of K.L. Saigal, Amar Saigal. In the film, G. Mungheri performed the title role of Saigal. The film contained 19 songs lifted from Saigal's films. In all, Saigal rendered 185 songs which includes 142 film songs and 43 non-film songs. Of the film songs, there are 110 in Hindi/Urdu, 30 in Bengali and 2 in Tamil. There are 37 non-film songs in Hindi/Urdu, and 2 each in Bengali, Pashto, Punjabi and Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
. His non-film songs comprise bhajans, ghazal
Ghazal
The ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
s and hori. He has rendered the creations of poets such as Ghalib, Zauq, and Seemab.
Saigal's distinctive singing voice was idolized by the first generation of post-independence Bollywood playback singers, including Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional...
, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, and Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar , born Abhas Kumar Ganguly, was an Indian film playback singer and an actor who also worked as lyricist, composer, producer, director, screenwriter and scriptwriter.Kishore Kumar was one of India's greatest performers of the late 20th century...
.
In popular culture
Ths song "Saigal Blues" from the BollywoodBollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
movie Delhi Belly (2011) pays tribute to him.