Johnson Cherian.
Google on Wednesday celebrated the 114th birth anniversary of singer-actor K.L. Saigal with a doodle. Hailed as the “Shehansha-e-mausiqi’ or Sangeet Samrat (King-emperor of music), Kundan Lal Saigal recorded 185 songs, apart from acting in 36 films, in a span of about 15 years. He passed away in January, 1947.
Saigal appeared on the music map in the early 1930s when B.N. Sircar, the founder of New Theatres Calcutta, presented him to the Indian audience.
He is considered to be the first superstar of Indian cinema. His talent for both acting and singing was fully recognised after the success of Yahudi ki Ladki, a costume epic-based on Aga Hashr Kashmiri’s famous play Misar Kumari with 19 songs including Saigal’s ever popular Ghalib number “Nuktachin Hai Gham-e-Dil”.
It was around this time that Hindustan Records Company of Calcutta brought out Saigal’s famous recording “Jhulna Jhulao” which blazed a new trail in Indian music.
Saigal attained stardom with the release of New Theatres’ Chandidas in 1934. His outstanding and histrionic performance in P.C. Barua’s masterpiece Devdas also got him wide appreciation.
