Before there was Dilip Kumar, before there was Shah Rukh Khan, there was Kundanlal Saigal. Born in Jammu, Saigal achieved fame and success for his portrayal of the titular character in the 1935 adaptation of Devdas. Sadly, his own life was marked by a dependence on alcohol. He died in the year of India’s Independence, in January, after damaging his liver to the point of no recovery. He was only 42, and reportedly didn’t have much money to his name. He had returned to his hometown of Jalandhar, and was hoping to rebuild his singing and acting career.
Feeling unfulfilled as a youth in Jalandhar, he took up odd jobs across the country. He worked as a salesman, peddling sarees and typewriters. He worked at a hotel in Shimla. But his passion for singing drew him to Kolkata, then the hub of the film and entertainment industry. In Kolkata, he was signed by New Theatres, a production company that retained him for the sum of Rs 200 per month. His first few films didn’t work, but the year 1934 was pivotal for him. The song “Prem Nagar,” from the film Chandidas, was a hit. The very next year, he starred in Devdas, which catapulted his career to even greater heights.
“I am just an ordinary person with no acting experience. I used to be a salesman and singing is my hobby,” he told Kidar Sharma, who’d go on to write Devdas, and worked with pre-fame Geeta Bali, Madhubala, Bharat Bhusan and others. “Saigal had two passions,” Kidar Sharma wrote in his autobiography, “Music and alcohol; one made him and the other destroyed him.”
Film star KL Saigal. Express archive photo
Saigal remained skeptical about his skills, and grew certain that he could perform only when he was under the influence. In his book, Kidar Sharma narrated a story about the music composer Naushad asking Saigal to sing a song both sober and drunk, and then told him that he was going to pick the sober version. He once told a concerned music director ahead of a recording session, “Please forgive my staggering but I do not sing with my body but soul.” In an interview with Kirit Ghosh, editor of the film magazine Jayathi, Saigal said, “I have no clear understanding of the grammar of music. I manage to sing because of a strong feeling about how certain sounds should feel in a given raga. I do not use ten notes if I can manage to do the same with one. That’s because I know very little.”
Saigal was one of the first performers to insist that his songs be recorded live, instead of in a studio. In his book Bollywood Melodies, Ganesh Anantharaman wrote, “Saigal’s supreme effort at singing was, of course, RC Boral’s, Bhairavi Thumri ‘Babulmora Naihar Chooto Hi Jaaye’ in Street Singer (1938). In terms of authenticity and feeling, no other Bhairavi comes close to matching this Boral-Saigal masterpiece. While playing the protagonist, insisted that this song be recorded live as he is walking the street, though playback was well in vogue by then. Saigal knew that it was through his voice that he conveyed the truths of his character, and the truth of street singer needed a live recording. The director complied, and the song was recorded live with Saigal walking the streets, singing while a mike followed him in a truck just behind! No other singer would have dared a live recording. No other singer, therefore, has sung as intense a Bhairavi.”
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Singer-actor KL Saigal. Express archive photo
In his book, Kidar Sharma narrated a story to illustrate how sensitive Saigal was as a person. Back when Saigal was making a living selling sarees and typewriters, he’d cross the house of a poor girl who had her eye on a green saree in his case. But she couldn’t afford it. One day, she promised him she’d have the Rs 10 that it cost the next day, and told him to come by. When he did, he discovered that the girl had died. Saigal donated the green saree to his brother for her funeral, and was so deeply affected by the incident that he stopped selling sarees altogether.
Once, at a party, Saigal persuaded Kidar Sharma to step outside with him for some fresh air. Sharma realised that Saigal had heard someone singing in the distance, and wanted to investigate. The voice belonged to a blind beggar. Saigal was so moved by his song that he reached into his pocket and gave the beggar whatever he had. He later told Sharma that he’d given the beggar Rs 5000. When Sharma expressed shock, Saigal said, “You think the one who gives me ever counts?”
Actor-singer KL Saigal. Express archive photo
Saigal retreated to Jalandhar when he fell gravely ill. Doctors had reportedly given up on him, and his family had decided not to withhold his alcohol. They wanted him to do as he pleased. His sister-in-law told Punjabi writer Balwant Gargi several years after his death, “Kundan was a great soul, an unusual person. He was ill and in need of complete rest but would tell us jokes and make us laugh. A few days before his death, he got his head shaved and said that on his return to Bombay, he would play the roles of sadhus and bhakts. But suddenly, his condition became critical and he passed away on the morning of January 18, 1947, leaving behind only his eternal melodies for hordes of his mourners in the country.”
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In a 1973 interview with a film magazine, Saigal’s son reflected on his alcoholism. He said, “My father did drink like anybody else… While he enjoyed his drink, my sister and I used to take music lessons in his presence from our teacher Jagan Nath Prasad. He would then listen to our practice. I did not see him drinking in excess at home. Nor do I remember his ever coming home in a drunken state.”
