He refused scripts that bored him — “Not today. Not with him,” he said and moved on to whatever caught his fancy. He could bicker and charm at the same time — and somehow win without trying. He walked into studios as if rules were polite suggestions, winking at anyone who tried to stop him. Kishore Kumar was a grin that made melodies blush, a mood that made chaos charming and a presence so magnetic that the world paused… just to see what he would do next.

Before the world knew him as Kishore Kumar, he was Abhas Kumar Ganguly, born on August 4, 1929, in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh. The youngest in a Bengali family, he arrived in Bombay with curiosity, energy and a voice that refused to be ordinary. To match the fame of his elder brother Ashok Kumar, he adopted the stage name Kishore — but the

See Full Page