KL Saigal: Live singing made him come alive

“Sorry, I don’t understand ragas. Just show me the tune and I sing” — KL Saigal said during his early auditions with music composer RC Boral. It was the 1930s and the young singer was just beginning to dream of a career in music.

Nothing about Saigal was conventional. He did not have any professional training in music, did not have a deep understanding of ragas, and would prefer singing live over recording songs in a studio. His voice, a quintessential mix of the baritone and tenor range, however, was one that Boral took an instant liking to, and before anyone knew it, Saigal was starring in films and singing his own songs. After releasing three films in 1932, Saigal found greater success with his bhajans for Puran Bhagat a year later. Suddenly, the entire country was humming to the tunes of this young lad from Jammu.

At the time, the film industry was based in Calcutta. Saigal knew he needed to learn the language to succeed. And that is just what he did, going on to play iconic roles, such as the lead in Devdas (1935) and famously becoming the first non-Bengali to have won Rabindranath Tagore’s consent to perform to his lyrics.

Then came the move to Bombay and bigger projects like Bhakt Surdas (1942), Tansen (1943) and Shahjehan (1946), which featured some of his most iconic songs, including Diya jalao and Jab dil hi toot gaya.

During the course of his career, he was associated with some of the biggest brands in the business — from the New Theatres production house to the Gramophone Company of India. He, however, never let the industry dictate how he performed his music.

Even though playback was beginning to gain traction by the late 1930s, Saigal continued to hold audiences captive with his live singing. His rendition of Babul mora naihar chhooto jaye before the camera swept audiences off their feet. While he did record a few songs for playback in the latter part of his career, he would never do so for someone else to lip-sync.

Saigal’s everyman beginnings ensured that he remained grounded. Even late in his career, he would credit the encouragement from his friend, Mehrchand Jain, to building his confidence. As a carefree youngster, he spent a significant amount of time in Simla, performing at just about any venue that would have him — from the iconic Gaiety Theatre to his friends’ houses. Spotted by Harishchandra Bali at one such performance, he quit his job at the Remington Rand Typewriter Company, took the leap of faith, and in the process, found his true calling.

Features