E-Paper
Kishore the prankster
Kishore Kumar's latest biography reinforces the images of this multi-faceted personality who still enjoys mass adulation.
KishoreKumar
Method in Madness
Derek Bose
Rupa & Co
2004
Biography
Pages: 129
Price: Rs. 395
Hardcover
Derek Bose, the author of Kishore Kumar's biography 'Method in Madness', needn't have bothered with christening the chapters - the Actor, the Romantic, the Singer, the Composer, the Entertainer and such like - illustrating various facets of the man. A better idea might have been to bring them all under the umbrella of "The Prankster". For it is this facet of Kumar's personality that overrides all others.
It is reflective in the ingenious tricks that he played on co-stars, it is inherent in the manner in which he dealt with his directors and colleagues - both, whom he liked and those he didn't and most of all, the intrinsic trait is evident and all pervasive in his popular films, music and personal life. The genius (and there is not another word that will encompass the man) was only too aware of his weaknesses and his strengths to be guided or toned down by another spirit.
It found itself manifested in virtually everything he did - whether it was to register his protest with a director over a musical score (he once sat down and began practicing in a studio during recording time, after learning that BR Chopra - the director, and not RD Burman - the composer, had thought of the tune for a song!) or whether he wanted to drive home a point about security during a live show in Canada. (He reportedly squatted on stage in mock protest after being informed that he should contain himself on stage and sing only soulful numbers so that the audience did not get unruly. And didn't get up until the audience wasn't allowed on stage with him to participate in his numbers!)
But it wasn't so much a persona of an eccentric man as has been made out to be. It was Kishore Kumar's only defence vis avis a world that refused to understand the man. The pranks ensured that he could keep his private self out of the public eye. The act was on continuously.
