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Amit
Kumar By Kavita
Chhibber |
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He is a handsomer version of his father, but Amit, the son of
legendary singer Kishore Kumar, has inherited his father’s stage
presence, his acting capabilities and his sense of rhythm. On
10th December the stellar singer rocked Center stage in a
concert presented by Mark Premji and Klub Klassic. Accompanying
him were baby brother, 24 year old Sumeet, Kishore Kumar’s son
from actress Leena Chandravarkar, songstress par excellence
Sadhana Sargam, and an unbelievably talented comedic actor who
goes by the name of VIP. The show began with a heart warming video clip on the multi-talented Kishore Kumar retracing moments from his long and memorable acting and music career. Amit not only sang his father’s songs but also shared stories about his father. Kishore Kumar belonged to Khandwa, a village he didn’t want to leave, but his older brother the legendary actor Ashok Kumar insisted he come to Bombay and try to make it as an actor. A reluctant Kishore arrived and did some roles till he hit bull’s eye with the song Jeevan ke safar mein rahi. It was S.D Burman who totally believed in Kishore’s musical talent while Ashok Kumar would admonish him and say he wasn’t singing well. ” But then when my father became a success and would do stage shows, my uncle would be in the front row each time. He said, if I hadn’t criticized you, you wouldn’t have reached such heights, and perhaps he was right,” said Amit. Amit went on to sing a diverse mix of his father’s songs from Hum hai rahi pyaar ke, to Jeevan ke safar mein rahi, to yeh jo mohabbat hai, after sharing a story about how a security guard with a rifle landed on stage at a concert in East Africa during Idi Amin’s time and insisted Kishore Kumar sing his favorite going on to croon yeh jo mohabbat hai in east African style! Amit brought the house down by doing a perfect impersonation of the man and his accent. He paid tribute to musician par excellence Ravindra Jain who was the only one among many musicians, who so moved Kishore Kumar with the quality of his music that he agreed to a rehearsal. Other wise the music directors would leave a cassette and meet only at a final recording. The song that moved Kishore Kumar enough to make the exception was the lilting-Gungroo ki Tarah bajta hi raha hoon main and Amit Kuamr sang it to perfection, capturing the essence and nuances that made his father’s voice so unique. Amit also shared an interesting story about a song R.D. Burman was composing and he went and told Kishore Kumar that there would be two versions of that semi classical song-Lata would sing the female version and he wanted Kishore to sing the male version. Kishore Kumar looked at him and said-are you kidding me-okay go get Lata to sing the song. The version Kishore did after that completely blew everything else out of the water. The song was Mere naina sawan bhadon from the film Mehbooba. Amit Kumar has a beautiful voice with amazing range. He sang the song to perfection and then went on to sing the beautiful number from Amar Prem-Chingari Koi Bhadke. The audience was left speechless when Amit Kumar decided to do the rather difficult duet Ek chatur naar from Padosan solo. It meant singing in 3 different voices-Manna Dey’s, Kishore Kumar’s, and Mehmood. The song is so fast paced and very difficult but the jaw dropping performance rendered by Amit would have made Kishore proud. Amit’s younger brother Sumeet is now in his early twenties. He is a trained classical pianist, and has already sung songs for films. He has a sweet, velvety voice with a great range and while he was a bit nervous as he made his debut on the stage in Atlanta his rendition of Chala jata hoon kisi ki Dhun me and koi lauta de mere beetey huey din was absolutely marvelous. Later Sumeet teamed up with Sadhana Sargam(Jaane jaan dhoondhta phir raha from Jawani Diwani) and then Amit Kumar for some duets, (hawa ke saath saath was especially good as was babu samjho ishahrey and eena meena deeka).
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