K. L. Saigal... The Legend

Hello Friends!! Welcome to my blog, related to the Black and White Classic Movies & Songs of Bollywood. This blog has been created mainly for those people who are interested and fascinated by the Golden Oldies of Hindi Cinema.






What better way to inaugrate this blog, than by remembering The First Male Superstar of Indian Hindi Cinema -(Late) KUNDAN LAL SAIGAL SAHAB.



K.L.Saigal belonged to the precious list of those rare people who did not need to live a long life to prove their worth among the billions of people on Earth. Even though he lived for just 42 years, he has left behind such a great contribution to the field of music that as long as there are music lovers on Earth, his songs will remain Immortal.


Such a great voice, such a crystal clear pronunciation of the words and so much of devotion and involvement to music is seldom seen. If one mainstream singer, through the sheer magic of his Golden Voice, could transcend the boundaries between the light & semi classical filmy singing and heavy classical singing, then it had to be Kundan Lal Saigal.


He had that capacity to take audiences along with his singing to such heights, which was possible only for a classical singer. Without taking resort of the long Alaaps, he was able to create a similar magic in his 3-minute songs, which a classical singer brings through his devoted singing.



Over a career spanning 15 years, Saigal had acted in 36 feature films, out of which 28 films were in Hindi/Urdu, seven were in Bengali and one film in Tamil. As an Actor-Singer, Saigal had attained unprecedented fame and popularity through New Theatres Productions, beginning with "Chandidas" in 1934, which was followed by a huge number of other box office hits.


However, by this time, he had already won acclaim from knowledgeable music lovers after the release of his first recording "Jhulanaa Jhulaao" by Hindustan Records of Calcutta in 1932. In the New Theatres Studio, Saigal sang the song "Jhulana Jhulaao Jhulaao Re" - Raag "Dev Gandhar" - in front of B.N.Sircar (Promoter of New Theatres, Calcutta). K.C.Dey (the blind singer & uncle of Manna Dey) was highly impressed by Saigal's voice and heaped praises and showered compliments on this Singing Legend of the future.


Saigal had recorded this same song for Hindustan Records Company. While working as a salesman in Calcutta (with Remington Typewriter Company @ Rs. 80/- per month), Saigal's singing was largely confined to his friend circle. One such private concert had among its audience a sales representative of Hindustan Records Company, who recognised Saigal's talent and persuaded him to make a "Lifetime Contract" with this company. It brought out Saigal's recording "Jhulana Jhulaao", which blazed a new trail in Indian Music and became an instant hit. Nearly half a million copies of this recording were sold at that time!!

Here's this Immortal Song for your listening pleasure :


Jhulana Jhulaao



Also, it was in 1933 that his four bhajans for the film "Puran Bhagat" created a sensation throughout the country. It also proved to be a Milestone for the following Legends : "Devaki Bose" as Director, "Nitin Bose" as Cameraman, "Rai Chand Boral" as Musician and "K.L.Saigal" as Singer-Actor made their respective debuts for a Talking Hindi Movie. Saigal and K.C.Dey played main roles and both sung songs, which went on to become some of the biggest hits of that year. Saigal had 4 songs and almost all of them were hits. These 4 hit songs were :

Avsar Beeto Jaat Praani

Bhaju Main Toh Bhanv

Radhe Rani Deya Dalo

Din Neeke Beete Jaate

"Pooran Bhakt" ran Full House for more than 14 weeks in the "Wellington" Theatre (opposite Metro) in Mumbai. Among the lakhs of film viewers throughout the country, there was a 23 year old Double Graduate Brahmin and also a teenager from an Orthodox Muslim Family in Punjab who need special mention. They were so impressed with K.L.Saigal and the film that they at once took the decision of making their careers in the film line itself. The former was to write lyrics for Saigal's "Devdas", just within two years under the name "KIDAR SHARMA" and the latter was to compose songs for Saigal's second last film, "Shah Jehan" under the name "NAUSHAD".

--- To Be Continued Soon......