Lata, Dev Anand recall Kishore on his birth anniversary

Aug 5, 2011 IANS

New Delhi, Aug 4 (IANS) Bollywood legends Lata Mangeshkar and Dev Anand paid tribute to singer, actor, musician and director Kishore Kumar on his 81st birth anniversary Thursday.

"Namaskar, aaj Kishore-da ka janam din hai. Meri Kishore-da ki mulaqat 1948 mein hui aur Kishore-da aur mera pehela duet 'Ziddi' film ke liye record hua (Today is Kishore-da's birthday. We met in 1948 and we recorded our first duet for film 'Ziddi')," Lata posted on her Twitter page.

"I think as a playback singer, it was his first movie and his solo 'Jagmag jagmag karta nikla chand' was a huge hit that time," she added.

Together, Lata and Kishore have given hits like "Aaj madhosh hua jaye re", "Aap ki aankhon mein kuchh", "Achha to hum chalte hain" and many more.

The 81-year-old Lata recollected that despite being so multi-talented, Kishore was a down-to-earth man.

"Kishore-da was an excellent singer but he was a good director, music director, actor, producer...he had all these talents but he had no ego and was a very polite and nice person. Whenever we used to meet for recordings, he used to make us laugh. Even today I miss him," she added.

Yesteryears' star Dev Anand too shared a beautiful bond with Kishore, and the two became good friends when Kishore sang for Dev Anand in the movie "Ziddi". And the 87-year-old feels that the singer's style had touches of legendary K.L. Saigal.

"Happy birthday Kishore, you are immortal. He sang his first song for me in 'Ziddi' -- 'Marne ki duayen kyun maangu'. His style had a Saigal touch. Early years of Kishore's singing had a touch of legendary K.L. Saigal and later he developed his own style and was great in all types of songs," Dev Anand posted on Twitter.

"His voice had great resonance. Though not a trained singer, he used to come for recordings only after proper rehearsal or he used to postpone. Though I like all his songs, but 'Dukhi mann mere' and 'Phoolon ke rang se' are close to my heart.

"Before recording, he used to ask me if I want him to sing in any particular way to match my mannerisms. So I used to tell him to keep me in mind while singing and I used to perform on his style, great synchronisation. I truly miss him," he added.