Kishore Kumar in the 80s.

Kishore Kumar in the 80s.

Kishore Kumar had made huge contribution to bollywood music by singing successful songs for a lot of actors during the 60s, 70s and 80s. But in the 80s, he became unparallel because he matured as a singer and used all his acting skills to bring the different emotions of the heroes.

His songs in the film Sharabi, sung for Big B, became everlasting hit. The songs were composed by Bappi Lahiri. Notable songs include “ki pag ghungru”, “thodi si jo peeli hai”. KK brought the intoxicating appeal of Big B in the songs.

KK was sublime in the film Sagar, where Rishi Kapoor, Kamal Hasan and Dimple Kapadia all played important roles. The songs “sagar kinare”, “chehera hai”, composed by RD Burman became landmark hit. Also KK’s song for Rishi Kapoor in the film Sitamgar, titled “mausam pyar ka” became very successful.

KK also sang the successful song “jane kaise kab kahan”, composed by RD Burman, in the film Shakti, for Big B. Dilip Kumar and Rakhee played very important roles in the film and KK’s song had complimented the action sequences in the film.

KK’s songs in the film Shaan, composed by RD Burman also became very successful. The songs were picturised on Big B, including “janu meri jaan”, which was also sung by Rafi for Shashi Kapoor.

KK emerged as the single dominating playback singer as the new singers in the 80s like Shabbir Kumar, Mohammad Aziz and others had just started their careers and producers relied a lot on KK for the success of the music and the films.

KK’s songs even became hits in the late 80s, like “andheri raaton me” sung for Big B in the film Shahenshah. He single-handedly dominated bollywood music in that era when Rafi, Mukesh died, Talat Mehmood, Manna Dey did not make significant contribution in bollywood music and the new singers just shaped their careers in the 80s.

The songs and the films should be restored.