KUNDANLAL SAIGAL

BORN ON APRIL 11, 1904 IN JALANDHAR, KUNDANLAL SAIGAL WAS INDIAʼS FIRST SUPERSTAR WHO TOOK THE SILVER SCREEN BY STORM WITH HIS SINGING AND PERFORMANCES. HE IS BEST KNOWN FOR HIS WORK IN DEVDAS (1936), SHAHJEHAN (1946) AND PARWANA (1947)

The very name K.L. Saigal, as he was more popularly known, conjures up an image of a matinee idol who ruled over cinema long before likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna were even thought of! He was undoubtedly Indiaʼs first megastar whose charisma and magic continue to shape several budding talents. He inspired legends like Kishore Kumar and Mukesh to copy his style.

Saigal started singing at a very early age; his mother used to take him to the darga of the Sufi Pir and Salman Yousuf. His father, Amarchand Saigal, was employed at the court of Maharaja Pratap Singh. At the age of twelve, young Saigal sang a Meera bhajan at the court. The Maharaja was impressed and blessed him, saying he had a bright future. His father, however, was disappointed when he learnt his son only wanted to sing and had dropped out of school.

When Saigal realised that his voice was cracking at the age of 13, he was so shocked that he remained silent for months. His worried family took him to a saint who told Saigal to refine his voice and not leave practicing. For three years thereafter, he practiced with determination and also received help from Faiyaaz Khan, Pankaj Mullick and Pahari Sanyal, who were the greatest singers of that era. Saigal also learnt to sing in Punjabi when he was in Jalandhar. The most astonishing fact is that he never really received any formal training and cultivated his own style, which was accepted and appreciated by all. Saigal worked as a time keeper with Punjab Railways and also a salesman before he chose music as a vocation.

In 1935, Devdas was released, in which Saigal portrayed the character of the love-struck and heartbroken hero with flawless perfection. His solo performances Balam Aaye Baso and Dukh Ke Ab Din havebeen tagged as immortal. From 1932 to 1946, Saigal was at the height of his career with New Theatres in Calcutta. He shifted to Bombay in 1940 and did a number of films that were box office hits. However, much like his character in Devdas, his addiction to alcohol was unfortunate and he reached a stage where he was not able to quit.

On January 18th, 1947, at the age of just 42, this inimitable artist passed away. In a career spanning 15 years, Saigal acted in 36 feature films – 28 Hindi, 7 Bengali, and 1 Tamil – and sang 185 songs,  142 of which were from his films. All these years later, his songs continue to bring nostalgic moments alive and remind people of the golden era of music.