Kishore Kumar, one of the most popular singers in India, dominated Hindi film music in the 1970s and 1980s. While Kishore’s voice was known for a certain joie de vivre, the actor-singer struggled with health issues as he entered his 50s. In 1981, Kishore Kumar had his first heart attack and in a recent interview, his son Amit Kumar recalled the circumstances that led to Kishore’s ailing health. Amit shared his wedding was called off in 1981 and it impacted Kishore in a big way.
In a chat with Radio Nasha Official, Amit shared that Kishore was extremely thrilled as his son was going to get married to a girl from Kolkata. “I was going to get married in 1981, it was an arranged marriage. Naturally, my father was extremely happy. He had planned that everyone from Mumbai, everyone from the industry, would travel to Kolkata for the wedding. My would-be wife was from Kolkata,” he recalled.
Amit shared that Kishore wanted to move to Khandwa after getting his son married. “Dad said, ‘Do whatever you want to do, after that you are getting married. You will get settled. I will move to Khandwa and you guys come and visit me’,” he recalled. Amit said that Kishore couldn’t handle what happened and shared, “He couldn’t take what happened. The thing was, that this woman was already married. We got to know about this just ten days before the wedding, the cards were already printed.”
Amit said that Kishore decided to find another match for him so he flew to Kolkata on the day that the wedding was supposed to take place. “I was supposed to get married on January 24, 1981. My father was very stubborn. He said, ‘I will go to Kolkata on January 24 and find a girl for you’. I told him, ‘Why are you doing all this?’ He took a flight, it landed and he had a heart attack. He was taken to the hospital straight away,” he said.
Kishore Kumar passed away in 1987 at 58 after a heart attack.
