Shantanu Moitra: Kishore Kumar was a common man’s voice

Music patrons would know this...It’s Kishore Kumar’s birth anniversary today. The singer-actor-filmmaker would have turned 91 had he been alive.

Composer Shantanu Moitra

pays homage to the legend that India can never get enough of. Excerpts

How would you say Kishore Kumar inspired your sense of music? I think everything about him - the madness that he infused into his singing, the strange words, yoodleying, the way he would be jumping while singing certain songs - I mean, only he could do it. He inspired the song Zoobie Doobie in 3 Idiots. He knew the fine art of breaking all the rules of music, and making it seem all so musical.

Would you remember the first few occasions when you were exposed to his songs? Which songs were those and what sort of an impact did they have? We had a joint family in Lucknow. On weekends, we would all gather at home. It was a typical Bengali household. We did not have any instruments, so steel utensils often filled in. My uncles were huge Kishore Kumar fans. They would idolise him. They would sing Badi sooni sooni hai,

Mere sapno ki rani

kab aayegi tu, and

Meri pyari Bindu

. My grandfather would sit and watch all this unfold at home. We would all be laughing, doing nok-jhok and enjoying the music with each other. My grandfather used to get really upset if we skipped a session on the weekend.

In popular culture today, what do you think is the importance and relevance of an artiste like Kishore Kumar?Let me quote an anecdote here. Satyajit Ray had once made Kishoreda sing for him in Charulata. It was

Rabindra Sangeet

. With several stalwarts in the picture, Satyajit Ray decided to have Kishore Kumar sing it. When people asked him why so, Satyajit Ray had said, “The character in the film singing that song is a simple, common man. He is someone who could just use a song to communicate his feelings. What greater voice than Kishore Kumar for that?” He’s the common man’s voice which makes him relevant even today.

As an artiste, do you think Kishore Kumar got his due while he was still alive?I am not sure if he got his due when he was alive but he has definitely got it after his death, like most other greats, legends and maestros. There is no house in India today that does not know him and does not hum his songs. Kishore Kumar’s singing was so simple and casual and yet, so melodious.