Kishore Kumar Birthday

Bollywood star Kishore Kumar was born in a Bengali family in Khandwa, Central Provinces (now in Madhya Pradesh) as Abhas Kumar Ganguly.

Kishore Kumar Family

His father, Kunjalal Ganguly (Gangopadhyay) was a lawyer and his mother, Gouri Devi came from a wealthy Bengali family and was a home-maker. Kamavisadar Gokhale family of Khandwa invited Kunjalal Gangopadhyaya to be their personal lawyer.

Kishore Kumar Brothers

He was the youngest of four siblings, the older three being Ashok (the eldest), Sati Devi, and Anoop.

Kishore Kumar Biography

While Kishore was still a child, his brother Ashok became a Bollywood actor. Later, Anoop also ventured into cinema with Ashok’s help. He graduated from Christian College, Indore.

After Ashok Kumar became a star of Hindi films, the Ganguly family visited Mumbai regularly.

Abhas Kumar changed his name to ‘Kishore Kumar’ and started his cinema career as a chorus singer at Bombay Talkies, where his brother worked.

Kumar’s first film appearance was in Shikari (1946), in which his brother, Ashok played the lead role.

Kishore Kumar Actor

In 1949, he settled in Mumbai. Kumar played the lead in the Bombay Talkies film Andolan (1951), directed by Phani Majumdar. Although he got some acting assignments with the help of his brother, he was more interested in becoming a singer. But Ashok wanted Kumar to be an actor like him.

Kishore Kumar Movies

Between 1946 and 1955, Kumar appeared in 22 films of which 16 were flops. Since he was disinterested in taking up acting as a career, he would find ways to be in the bad books of the director or producer, so that they throw him from their films.

It was only after the success of films such as Ladki, Naukari, Miss Malaysia, Char Paise and Baap Re Baap that Kumar developed interest in acting seriously, which resulted in him having successful films as the lead actor between 1955 and 1966.

Kishore Kumar and Madhubala

Madhubala met Kishore Kumar during the shooting of Dhake Ki Malmal (1956). In 1960, Madhubala married him when she was 27 years old.

When Madhubala was ill in the late 1950s with the congenital heart disease, Kishore Kumar proposed to her and she decided to marry him after realizing that Dilip Kumar was not going to marry her.

Kishore Kumar’s family never accepted her in their family because Kishore Kumar married Madhubala as per his own wish.

They went to London soon after their marriage for their honeymoon where the doctor told her that she had only two years to live.

After returning India, He bought a flat for Madhubala at Quarter Deck, Carter’s Road, Bandra, where they stayed for a while and then, he left her there with a nurse and a driver.

He would visit Madhubala once in two months and said he couldn’t look after her. But he never abused her as reported in media and bore her medical expenses.

They remained married, but under great strain for the remainder of Madhubala’s life. Their marriage ended with Madhubala’s death on 23 February 1969.

He married four times. His first wife was Bengali singer and actress Ruma Guha Thakurta aka Ruma Ghosh. Their marriage lasted from 1950 to 1958.

His second wife was actress Madhubala. Their marriage ended with Madhubala’s death on 23 February 1969.

Kishore’s third marriage was to Yogeeta Bali, and lasted from 1976 to 4 August 1978.

Kishore was married to Leena Chandavarkar from 1980 until his death.

Kishore Kumar Children

He had two sons, Amit Kumar with Ruma, and Sumit Kumar with Leena Chandavarkar.

Kishore Kumar Biopic

An official biopic on his life and times is being made by director Anurag Basu, which stars Ranbir Kapoor as Kishore Kumar.