From: sumeet@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (sumeet)
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.misc
Subject: More on Amit Kumar
Date: 6 Nov 92 22:50:46 GMT
Reply-To: sumeet@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (sumeet)
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX
Originator: sumeet@happy.cc.utexas.edu

In his article, PVR writes :

>I totally agree with you. But, I wonder what excatly the reason is. I was
>surprised that some of my friends who were very interested in Hindi film
>music didn't even know about Amit! I may not be wrong in assuming that
>it's the same way with many common film-goers in India. It looks like
>some of the good songs he sang when his father was alive were attributed
>in the minds of common film-goers to Kishore Kumar because the voice was
>very similar. Later, when he stopped imitating his father, again he
>remained unknown to many. Some of his songs became popular, but he didn't
>get any recognition. I won't be surprised if many average people don't
>know that Amit Kumar sang the male versions of `ek do teen' and `oye oye'.

Quite possible. A probable reason could be that the late 70s and the 80s 
saw the emergence of a spate of new singers - Yesudas, Bhupinder, Manhar,
Shailendra Singh, Suresh Wadkar, Vijay Benedict, SP Balasubramaniam, Nitin
Mukesh, Shabbir, Mohammad Aziz, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet etc.
These people had different voices, and so people noticed them immediately.
Amit was sort of taken for granted all the time. I doubt if many people know
that Amit sang for Amjad in the song Laila main Laila (Qurbani). Amit's voice
was similar  to his dad's, but a keen ear could easily spot the difference.
Amit's voice was huskier and richer. The only time Amit made an impact was 
in Love Story.  

>Towards the end of last year, Amit Kumar announced at a death anniversary
>function of his father that he would imitate his father again. Seemingly,
>he and Sumit Kumar sang a song at the function in which Amit did a
>fantastic imitation of KK (imagine: KK comes back to earth, sees Amit and
>Sumit and sings, `are o amito, kaise ho sumito' and Amit and Sumit also
>respond. That's the song. Sumit sang for himself while Amit sang for
>himself and Kishore. Apparently Amit singing for KK was very lively.
>Anyway, I am deviating ...). The point is that MDs like LP, AM etc were at
>the function and they decided to compose Kishore-like tunes for Amit in
>future releases.

Hey, I didn't know that. I'd love to hear that song. Who's Sumit Kumar? Is
he Kishore-Leena's son? If so, isn't he still too young?


>In the movies released after that, Amit's imitation of KK was just
>excellent. I'm sure it'll be tough for you to identify whether it is Amit
>or Kishore. The songs are not really great, but it gives a hint of the
>things to come. I'm still hopeful of Amit getting the recognition he
>merits. After all, he's very young still! At this age, even Kishore didn't
>achieve much. If he plans his career carefully and doesn't limit himself
>to songs like `oye oye', he can still have a great future. When even cheap
>imitators of Rafi can make big fortunes, why can't a genuine imitator of
>Kishore!

Amit is not really so young. He's pushing forty. Kishore came to movies in his
late twenties itself, if I'm not mistaken. But yes, Amit can certainly imitate
papa Kumar extremely well. There was a song (I forget which) which I used to
think for years, had been sung by Kishore, whereas it was by Amit. In most of
his songs, Amit made a conscious effort to be different from Kishore. The
difference was most obvious in songs in which both sang together - Ja Jaldi
Bhaag Ja (Desh Premee), Aati Rahengi Bahaaren (Kasme Vaade), Barson Beete 
Yun Hi Jeete (Bagul Bhagat or something), Asli Kya hai, Naqli kya hai (Mahaan)
etc. Amit sang very few notable songs in the 80s. One example that comes to
my mind is the movie Aakhir Kyon. Another is the tele-film Janam, and the
title song of the tele-serial Chunauti. (Which reminds me, anyone remember
the fabulous title song of the tele-serial Ye Jo hai Zindagi - the only one
sung by Kishore for the idiot-box?) Amit, I felt, did a good job in Afsana
Pyaar Ka. It was sidey songs like Street Dancer (some Govinda movie) and 
Oye Oye (Tridev) that kept Amit from carving a niche of his own. 
 
>Talking about Amit Kumar not receiving the recognition he merits, I
>remembered a call-in survey conducted on a Hindi film songs program on a
>Houston radio station. People were asked if they thought whether Amit's voice
>matched Kishore's better or Kumar Sanu's did. Except 2 persons (one of them
>being myself),everyone said something like "it's really surprising that Kumar 
>Sanu's voice is more similar to Kishoreji's voice than Kishoreji's own son's!"

Reminds me of a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest, in which the Chaplin 
himself participated and yet came in second!! Some damn clone beat him to it!
Jokes apart, both Amit and Sanu resemble Kishore in different ways. Amit's
voice resembles Kishore's, but Sanu imitates Kishore's style (poor imitation,
I'd say). Sanu is good, but as I said in my earlier posting, it's that nasal
twang (so evident in his earlier movies like Aashiqui, Meera Ka Mohan etc)
that puts me off. I'd go so far as to say that even Kishore couldn't have sung
the song Mera Dil Bhi Kitna Paagal Hai (Saajan) better than Sanu. But then 
there's no way Sanu could have sung Badi Sooni Sooni Hai (Mili), Zindagi ke 
Safar Mein..(Aap Ki Kasam), Rim Jhim Gire Saawan (Manzil) etc half as well as
Kishore. Sanu has done a great job in Saajan, but his other movies, in general,
leave a lot to be desired. 


>I have nothing against Kumar Sanu and I like his style, but I have yet
>to see a song of his in which he imitated Kishore so well that it is
>tough to distinguish (of course, imitating Kishore is neither necessry
>nor sufficient in order to be a good singer. But, that was the point in
>the survey. People thought Sanu's voice matched KK's more than Amit's
>did). OTOH, I have seen several songs by Amit in which I had to make out
>the singer from 2 or 3 words at a high pitch!

Why do people have to resort to cheap imitation, anyway? Yesudas, SPB, 
Udit  etc have such unique individual styles. Can't the Shabbirs, Azizs
and Sanus (and yes, Nitin Mukesh is guilty of this too) develop their 
own style? When singing on the stage, it's OK to imitate famous singers,
since the audience loves to hear the original songs in as similar a
voice as possible. But, these people carry their imitation into movies too.
In fact, Amit has such a good voice that he really doesn't need to imitate
papa. He should be choosy and select songs that will bring out his full 
potential. 

>Anyway, it has already got too long - let me stop.

>PVR

Me too !!

Regards.
Sumeet Hingorani


Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.misc