Chhaayaageet #77 - "This song is my bread and butter."
Calcutta is a completely different city during Durga puja. You can feel the celebration and music in the air. Uttam Babu always threw one of the best celebrations during this festive occasion. A temporary stage is erected for holding the family’s annual ritual, Jatra Pala (folk theatre). Rehearsals begin days before for a night-long theatre performance during puja.
It is also a good time for our young singer to make some quick money by singing a few songs. He arrives with his music troupe at Uttam Babu’s make-shift auditorium. He has practiced 4-5 songs but ends up singing over 10 songs. The crowd is crazy about him and there is a constant request for encores.
He comes back home late at night. His mother has been watching his behavior over the last few weeks. Just singing all day and night with his good-for-nothing friends. No studies. What is going on?
Enough is enough. Even though she is separated from her first husband, he is still his father. She makes a phone call to him.
“Your son is not interested in studies. He spends all his time singing. Can you make him understand?”
His father is curious. “Which songs is he singing?”
His mother replies “He likes singing only your songs.” At this point, the father is really impressed. He himself is a good singer and this is one of the reasons why he moved to Bombay. “Very good, very good. I will come to Calcutta soon.” The mother hangs up the phone in disappointment.
The young man's father flies into Calcutta and goes straight to where the son’s next performance is scheduled. “Don’t make me sit in the front seats. Give me a spot backstage", he tells his son. The son is puzzled. “Why don’t you want to watch me from the front seats? I am not scared of you and you don’t make me nervous.” The father tries to explain it differently, “Look, I am a famous person and if I sit there, everybody will look at me and ignore your performance.” He has a point. They find him a spot in the corner of the gallery upstairs near the lights. He watches his son’s performance and is thoroughly impressed. “That’s it. You are coming with me to Bombay.”
So, the son moves to Bombay and starts doing shows with his father. He gets to sing in movies made by his father’s production house. But he is not excited about the state of his singing career. He has to make his mark by singing for another composer.
One day, as the father is getting ready to go for a rehearsal with one of the well-known composers, he asks if the son wants to go along. “I know you worship this composer. Do you want to come with me to the rehearsal?” The son readily agrees.
At the rehearsal, there is a large group of musicians and everyone is busy doing their thing. The composer is on the harmonium and notices the young man. “Hey young man. I heard a lot about your singing from your father. Come sing something.” The young singer is shocked. He did not expect to be called out to sing in front of all these veteran musicians. He gathers courage and sings one of his father’s hits. The nervousness, unfortunately, takes its toll and impacts his delivery of the song. He knows he messed it up. And everyone else knows too.
While driving back home father and son are both silent. Finally, his father breaks the ice. “It was not your best performance. You could have done it better. This was such a good opportunity to impress the composer.” The son is already fuming in his mind for squandering the opportunity. “I am done with this. I am going back to Calcutta. I will keep doing my shows and don't want to become a star playback singer like you.”
He is serious about his decision. This earns him another reprimand from the father.
It’s evening time and the atmosphere in the house is solemn. His father gets a call. It's the composer on the other side. “Send your son tomorrow to the recording studio.”
“But what is this for? Based on what happened today, even now you want him to come?”, asks the father with a puzzled expression. The composer calmly explains. “He has a good voice. After his performance, I called the director for this other movie I am composing for. The hero and heroine are very young. He wants a new voice and preferably from the same age group. Send him tomorrow.”
The son gets up and goes the next morning to Film Center in Tardeo to record the song. At the recording, the composer is there along with the director of the movie. This song and the singer become inseparable from each other after this day.
Amit Kumar, son of Kishore Kumar sang his first hit song on RD Burman's composition and Anand Bakshi's lyrics for Balika Badhu. The film was produced by Shakti Samanta and directed by Tarun Majumdar. The film is based on a Bengali novel by the same name by Bimal Kar, about a young girl who is married before she is old enough to understand what marriage is all about, against the backdrop of Indian freedom struggle.
RD Burman was looking for a new voice that would fit the mold of a young male character played by Sachin. When Amit Kumar reached with his father for his rehearsal, Pancham Da asked him to sing his favorite song. He sang the song Mein Hoon Jhoom Jhoom Jhumroo along with the entire orchestra. At that time Manna Dey was there for rehearsal and it also included all the veteran musicians from Pancham Da's team such as Bhanu Gupta, Manohari Singh, Bhupinder Singh, etc. Amit Kumar felt really nervous and could not provide his best performance. Kishore Kumar agreed and thought he had lost his chance to impress a great composer. But Pancham Da had other plans. He could pick a diamond in the rough. He quickly called Shakti Samanta to inform he had found the voice for Sachin and asked the producer to come to the recording studio the next day.
Amit Kumar also played childhood roles in Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein and Door Ka Rahi since both of them were directed and produced by his father, Kishore Kumar. He played the role of a dumb child along with Kishore Kumar in Door Gagan Ki Chaon Mein. There was the famous song Aa Chal Ke Tujhe which was the only song in the movie written by Kishore Kumar and the rest were written by Shailendra. There were rumors that Kishore Da came up with the lyrics of this song to remove the guilt of what he felt not being close to Amit Kumar during his childhood after his divorce from his first wife. The words Jahan Gam Bhi Na Ho Aansoon Bhi Na Ho Bas Pyaar Hi Pyaar Pale signify a perfect world where a parent would love to raise their child.
Amit Kumar gave several hits along with Pancham Da for movies such as Love Story, Teri Kasam, and Rama O Rama. For the movie Love Story, Amit Kumar won the Filmfare Best Male Playback Award for the song Yaad Aa Rahi Hai.
There was also a Hindi series made called Bade Acche Lagte Hain starring Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Tanwar who became household names after the series became wildly popular. This song keeps playing through the different episodes of the series.
This song is still the most requested song in Amit Kumar's shows and he loves singing it back to his fans. He claims "This song is my bread and butter."
Singer: Amit Kumar, RD Burman
Music: RD Burman
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
*ing: Sachin, Rajni Sharma
Director: Tarun Majumdar
Producer: Shakti Samanta
Film: Balika Badhu (1976)