Love, Money, Madness and Fame: The Enduring Philosophy of Kishore Kumar

India Today

4 days ago

Kishore Kumar married four remarkable women, each union distinct: his first for love, the second out of duty, the third a 'joke', and the fourth, perhaps, for companionship.All his marriages highlighted a key trait, or a character flaw. Kishore, director HS Rawail once remarked, was absolutely careless. 'He never seemed to fight with life. He either found a simple alternative or simply backed out.'advertisementThe arc of Kishore's life mirrors Rawail's observations. Kishore never spoke of love as a concept, but his actions and comments suggest a pattern of impulsiveness and idealism tempered by disappointment, from which he kept running in his quest for love, and a stable domestic life.Kishore, Ruma (and a Car): 1950–1958
A true genius, Kishore was gloriously unpredictable; his eccentricities seeped equally into his music and personal life, most notably his impulsive first marriage to Ruma Guha.Ruma, a talented actor—she starred alongside Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand— and singer related to the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray, met Kishore in Bombay after he abandoned his college studies in Indore in search of adventure and singing opportunities.On the evening of their wedding, Kishore was in Madras recording a song for SD Burman. When he landed at Bombay airport, according to some accounts, a stranger approached Kishore and whispered, 'Go to Bandra, all preparations made.'Kishore took a cab toward his family's home in Worli but, on a whim, redirected it to Bandra to see Ruma. Within hours, they were married, without the approval of their families.Kishore believed this marriage transformed his life. His distinctive yodeling—once criticised—gained popularity, and his acting career blossomed as his films started succeeding at the box office.One day, acting on impulse, Kishore spent his meagre savings of Rs 4,000 on a car.Misreading an advertisement, he believed the car was being offered for just Rs 1,000. On reaching the showroom with Ruma, he was told the discount on the car was Rs 1,000—not the actual price. Embarrassed by his mistake and too proud to walk away, he paid Rs 4,000 as an advance and promised to pay the remainder in instalments.The car, a green Morris Minor, was believed by Kishore to bring him luck. Fittingly, the car lasted as long as his first marriage, which ended in 1958.'I wanted her to make my home, she wanted to make a career,' Kishore later said, explaining the breakdown.After his divorce from Ruma, Kishore reportedly buried the car beneath his bungalow, Gauri Kunj, in Mumbai's Juhu area. The car reminded him of Ruma, and he didn't want to retain anything that held sentimental value following the breakup.Kishore, Madhubala (and Dilip Kumar): 1960–1969advertisementKishore Kumar and Madhubala first met during the filming of Dhake Ki Malmal (1956), where their professional collaboration blossomed into friendship.At the time, Madhubala had recently ended her nine-year-long and highly publicised romance with Dilip Kumar following the Naya Daur court case in 1957.In 1960, as Madhubala prepared to travel to London for heart treatment (for a ventricular septal defect), she married Kishore Kumar. The marriage was solemnised with Madhubala lying in a bed, exhausted by illness.According to her sister, Madhur Bhushan, this decision was partly driven by 'stubbornness and anger' toward Dilip Kumar, suggesting the marriage may have been a form of emotional retaliation.There were persistent rumours that Kishore converted to Islam and took the name Karim Abdul for the marriage. However, both Kishore and, later, Madhubala's sister clarified that he remained Hindu.Shortly after the wedding, Kishore accompanied Madhubala to London, where doctors confirmed her heart defect was inoperable and predicted she had just two years to live. On hearing of the prognosis, Madhubala reportedly tried to jump from the balcony of their hotel in London, but Kishore persuaded her to not give up on life.advertisementThis grave diagnosis deeply impacted their relationship. Madhubala was unable to bear children or maintain a conventional marital life, which tested their bond.After returning to India, Kishore reportedly began distancing himself. According to Madhur Bhushan, he left Madhubala at her family's home on Carter Road along with a nurse and a driver, citing work pressure as his reason for not providing personal care.He visited infrequently—sometimes only once every few months—and often wouldn't take her calls, leading to feelings of abandonment and jealousy in Madhubala. According to her sister, this isolation contributed to Madhubala's depression and worsened her physical suffering.But the truth was more complex. In their 2022 biography of Kishore Kumar, authors Aniruddha Bhattacharjee and Parthiv Dhar, debunk the myth of Kishore's neglect of Madhubala. They emphasise Kishore's enduring love and commitment, setting aside his own career and finances. Quoting several sources, the authors argue that Kishore had shifted Madhubala to an apartment because her sleep was disturbed by low-flying aircraft near his home. During her illness, Kishore left shooting early every evening to have dinner with Madhubala, and arranged his life around her.advertisementKishore himself contributed to the confusion. In an interview with The Illustrated Weekly of India, Kishore stated he married Madhubala knowing she was seriously ill. 'She was quite another matter. I knew she was very sick even before I married her. But a promise is a promise. So I kept my word and brought her home as my wife, even though I knew she was dying from a congenital heart problem. For nine long years, I nursed her. I watched her die before my own eyes. You can never understand what this means until you live through this yourself.'But, in a Filmfare interview, Kishore said he was 'never in love' with her, describing himself as a messenger between Madhubala and Dilip Kumar during their romance, and that she insisted on the marriage.Was this, as Rawail noticed prophetically, Kishore's way of distancing himself from the pain, the death of a loved one? Knowing Kishore's reluctance to mask his feelings with humour, sarcasm and red-herrings, the answer would be layered.Despite personal challenges, Madhubala and Kishore collaborated on successful films like Jhumroo (1961) and Half Ticket (1962), which showcased their fond on-screen chemistry.Madhubala's health, however, declined rapidly. In 1966, while attempting a comeback with the film Chalaak, she fainted on set and was hospitalised. This marked the end of her acting career.advertisementMadhubala passed away on February 23, 1969, at the age of 36, with Kishore by her side. He conducted her funeral, and her passing left a lasting impact on him.Their marriage is often remembered as one of Bollywood's quirkiest and most tragic love stories.Kishore, Yogeeta (and Mithun Chakraborty): 1976–1978Yogeeta Bali, born on August 13, 1952, to actors Syed Irshad Hussain (later Jaswant) and Hardarshan Kaur, was the niece of celebrated actress Geeta Bali.Though the exact circumstances of how she met Kishore are unclear, the two got married in 1976, marking Kishore's third marriage.Yogeeta, then 24, was two decades younger than the 46-year-old Kishore—a generational gap that reportedly led to friction.In an interview with The Illustrated Weekly of India, Kishore later described their union as a 'joke,' stating, 'I don't think she was serious about marriage. She was only obsessed with her mother. She never wanted to live here.'He attributed their discord to Yogeeta's strong attachment to her mother, Hardarshan Kaur, and lack of interest in their marital life.In contrast, Yogeeta later claimed she 'never loved' Kishore and revealed their marriage was 'never consummated.'Their union ended in just two years, with the couple divorcing in 1978.One of the key reasons behind the split was Yogeeta's growing relationship with actor Mithun Chakraborty.Soon after her divorce from Kishore in 1978, she married Mithun in 1979.This deeply hurt Kishore, who reportedly felt betrayed.Reflecting on the experience, he said, 'Well, it's good we separated quickly,' a remark that conveyed both relief and lingering resentment.For years afterward, Kishore refused to sing playback for Mithun's films.Ironically, Kishore's final recorded song, Guru Guru from Waqt Ki Awaaz (1988), featured in a Mithun Chakraborty-starrer, recorded alongside Asha Bhosle just before his death on October 13, 1987.Kishore, Leena (and Death): 1980–1987Leena Chandavarkar, born on August 29, 1950, in Dharwad, Karnataka, was a rising Bollywood actress in the early 1970s, known for films like Humjoli (1970), Mehboob Ki Mehndi (1971), and Manchali (1973).Her first husband, Siddharth Bandodkar—whom she married in 1975—tragically died in 1976, reportedly due to an accidental gunshot injury. Leena later recalled Kishore would call her during her days of mourning, making her laugh, gradually help her get on with life. Kishore, she recalled, would often say he was there in case she decided to get married again.Despite concerns about their age difference and Kishore's history of failed marriages, they finally got married in a quiet ceremony in 1980, when Leena was 30 and Kishore was 51.They settled into a relatively private life together. Leena withdrew from acting to focus on their marriage and family.In interviews, she has described Kishore as a loving, humorous husband who lifted her spirits despite his quirks. She fondly recalled him singing lullabies to their son Sumeet and being an involved and affectionate father, showing a softer, nurturing side of the eccentric star.On October 13, 1987, Kishore Kumar suffered a fatal heart attack at age 58, leaving Leena a widow at 37. Following his death, Leena stepped away from the public eye, focusing on raising Sumeet and overseeing Kishore's unfinished projects.Leena's reflections on Kishore paint him as both a genius and a deeply human figure, whose quirks were an inseparable part of his identity and legacy. Compared to his earlier marriages—marred by Ruma's focus on career and his objections, Madhubala's illness, and Yogeeta's brief commitment—Kishore's marriage to Leena was his longest and most harmonious, though tragically short-lived.Next: Madness that masked Kishore's pain- EndsMust Watch