'He Was Our Inspiration'

Ah, his singing! He could sing everything. I am particularly partial toghazals , so I can say that Saigal's ghazals were unsurpassed, each one a beautyin itself. Offhand I can recall Laakh sahi hum or har ek baat pe (Ghalib, whom heloved). They are beautiful masterpieces. Whatever he sangremains etched in memory individually. His songs don't merge into one another.They are individual masterpieces. He rendered the ghazal so simply that itdidn't seem a complicated genre at all when touched by his voice. Thissimplicity was seen in his acting too. He made everything seem so simple.

What can one say about dukh ke ab din beetat nahin or balam aaye baso moreman mein? Or, indeed, the lovely do naina matwale tihaare hum par zulmkarein?Take his bhajans: avsar beeto jaat praani tero avsar beeto jaye. Or Suno sunohey Krishan kala. The way he calls out to the Lord, as if from a personalrelationship with him-- that was his trademark. He took a song and made it hisown and then nobody could could take it away. You'd hear KL Saigal's voicesinging it even in your mind! So effective was he as a singer.

I came into the film industry in 1947 which was almost his last year. Hedied soon after. I had gone to Calcutta but he had already left Calcutta andcome to Bombay. 

We'd hear hundreds of stories about him. His generosity was really legendary.You'd hear stories of how he helped people and never spoke about it himself. Hewanted so little for himself, that was the feeling one got. He was a saintlyman, a giver. Doesn't the purity of his voice prove it?

I was merely a struggler when I came in and it was my misfortune that I couldnot meet him but I don't think I'd have had the nerve to go and meet him, He waseveryone's idol. Everyone's inspiration. Everyone went to religiously see hisevery film. So melodious was he that his can truly be called a Golden voice -- infact, if there was a better word I'd use that too.

It is so difficult to pick out his songs because everything he sang became afavourite with listeners who'd wait with expectancy for a new Saigal release.And it was difficult to say which was more attractive--the singer or the actor.The kind of love and adulation he got from everyone, remains unsurpassed to thisday though the younger generation may not believe how crazy we were about K LSaigal and his voice.

For us, he is unforgettable and we are proud of having had him in our midst.Though I was so junior and Chisti baba [Khayyam's mentor] used to tell me a lotof stories about him. Specifically, about his generosity. K L Saigal was noordinary man. It was his greatness that he never flaunted himself or his deeds.I enjoyed all his films. Devdas particularly comes to mind. His utter simplicityis something I still remember.

Saigal saab sang in Punjabi too and other languages as well. It was his voice wecraved to hear, the language didn't matter. We treated every song of his as acollector's item..

We'd hear how RC Boral and Pankaj Mullick who were the doyens of playbacksinging in Calcutta, once they heard what Saigal could do, just snatched him upfor all their compositions. So much so that Pankaj Mullick who was himself arespected singer in those days stopped singing his own compositions for theprivilege of having Kundan Lal Saigal sing them.

In Saigal's voice was the power to command the listener to sit down andlisten. When he sings bhajoon main to bhav se sri girdhari, you want to sit onbended knees and pray. His voice had that compulsive quality which no one but noone since has come even close to. The younger generation may not have theunderstanding to 'get' the greatness of this singer but his greatness remainsunaffected. Several singers tried to emulate him but there was and there willremain only one K L Saigal.

One can take random examples like Soja rajkumari, soja -- a lullaby whichone often thinks would sound better in female voice, but this one by Saigal is sosoft so soothing and so utterly beautiful that you listen with eyes closed eachtime it plays. What can one say of a man whose singing style was such that itrequired neither training nor orchestration? He sang with a freedom that no onehas emulated. since. As I said, he was our inspiration and that is putting itmildly for want of words.