Kishore Kumar, who was one of the most celebrated singers in the 1970s, didn’t have a great record when it came to his married life. Kishore first got married in 1950 at the age of 21 to Ruma Ghosh, his second marriage was with actor Madhubala in 1960. After Madhubala’s death, he got married to actor Yogeeta Bali and the marriage lasted for only two years. He then married actor Leena Chandavarkar in 1980 and stayed with her until his passing in 1989.
Kishore, in an earlier interview with The Illustrated Weekly of India, spoke about his marriages and explained why each one of them fell apart.
Kishore Kumar’s first wife Ruma Ghosh
Kishore Kumar with first wife Ruma and son Amit. (Photo: Express Archives)
Kishore was only 21 when he got married to Ruma, who was a Bengali actor and singer, but he did not approve of her aspirations. Years after their divorce, he called her ” a very talented person” but said that they didn’t get along because they “looked at life differently.”
“She wanted to build a choir and a career. I wanted someone to build me a home. How can the two reconcile? You see, I’m a simple-minded villager type. I don’t understand this business about women making careers. Wives should first learn how to make a home. And how can you fit the two together? A career and a home are quite separate things. That’s why we went our separate ways,” he said. The marriage lasted from 1950-1958.
Kishore Kumar’s second wife Madhubala
Kishore Kumar with second wife Madhubala. (Photo: Express Archives)
Madhubala was in a relationship with actor Dilip Kumar but soon after that relationship ended, she married Kishore Kumar. Madhubala had a congenital heart disease, and Kishore said that he always knew about her condition but married her because he had promised her already. He also said that he never loved her. “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,” he said.
Kishore said that he nursed her for nine years until her death and “watched her die before my own eyes.” “She was such a beautiful woman and she died so painfully. She would rave and rant and scream in frustration. How can such an active person spend nine long years bed-ridden? And I had to humour her all the time. That’s what the doctor asked me to. That’s what I did till her very last breath. I would laugh with her. I would cry with her,” he said. Madhubala’s family members claimed that Kishore left her at her father’s house and abandoned her shortly after the wedding.
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Kishore’s third wife Yogeeta Bali
Kishore Kumar with third wife Yogeeta Bali. (Photo: Express Archives)
Kishore’s third marriage, with Yogeeta Bali, lasted for only two years, from 1976-1978, and Kishore later described it as a joke. “That was a joke. I don’t think she was serious about marriage. She was only obsessed with her mother. She never wanted to live here,” he said. Yogeeta later married actor Mithun Chakraborty, which apparently caused a rift between the actor and the singer, and it was said that Kishore refused to sing for Mithun.
Kishore’s last marriage with Leena Chandavarkar
Kishore Kumar with wife Leena Chandavarkar. (Photo: Express Archives)
Kishore married Leena in 1980, and the two were married until the end of his life in 1989. He described her as a “very different kind of person” and said, “She too is an actress like all of them but she’s very different. She’s seen tragedy. She’s faced grief. When your husband is shot dead, you change. You understand life. You realise the ephemeral quality of all things. I am happy now,” he said. Leena had previously been married to Siddharth Bandodkar, who came from a Goan political family. He died a few days after the wedding from an accidental gunshot.
Kishore passed away in 1989 after a heart attack.
