KOLKATA: Legendary actor and singer Kundan Lal Saigal popularly known as K L Saigal is remembered to this day for evergreen songs like Ek bangla bane nyara and Diya jalao.
Famous search engine Google on Wednesday celebrated the 114th birth anniversary of Saigal with a doodle.
Today’s doodle, designed by Vidhya Nagarajan, shows KL Saigal singing with the background of Kolkata, where the Hindi film industry or Bollywood was based initially.
Born on April 11, 1904 in Jammu, Saigal is considered the first superstar of Bollywood, left an indelible mark on the early days of Indian cinema, establishing himself as one of the first true Bollywood superstars with 36 films spanning three languages over fifteen years.
Singing 185 songs over his career, Saigal’s distinct vocal style helped establish his legacy as an inspirational figure for many stars that came after him.
Due to his modest background, as a child Saigal earned his music education informally, singing along with people at a local shrine or at religious ceremonies with his mother. He dropped out of school and held odd jobs as a timekeeper, salesman, and manager, pursuing singing on the side.
Saigal started off his acting career during the talkie era (1930s). He joined the New Theatres in Calcutta, and started working at a salary of Rs 200 per month.
His big break came in 1932 when he was cast in three movies by the film studio New Theatres. The very next year, the songs he sang in the film Puran Bhagat (1933) grew wildly popular in India, breaking him to the mainstream.
New Theatres churned out Saigal-led hits through 1940, when he moved to Mumbai to work with Ranjit Movietone. After successful movies like Bhukt Surdas (1942) and Tansen (1943), Saigal returned to New Theatres for his final films. His final film Parwana (1947) was released posthumously.
In the early 1930s, classical musician and music director Harishchandra Bali brought K.L. Saigal to Calcutta and introduced him to R. C. Boral. R.C. Boral took an instant liking to his talents.
Saigal was hired by B. N. Sircar’s Calcutta-based film studio New Theatres on a contract of Rs. 200 per month. There he came into contact with contemporaries like Pankaj Mullick, K. C. Dey and Pahari Sanyal.
Meanwhile, Indian Gramophone Company had released Saigal’s record containing a couple of Punjabi songs, composed by Harishchandra Bali. In this way, Bali became Saigal’s first music director.
(AGENCIES)
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