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Kundan Lal Sehgal (1904–1947) was an Indian actor and singer. He is considered the first superstar of the Hindi film industry. He was called “Shahenshah-e-Mousiki” (Emperor of Music) and acclaimed as the ‘Ghazal King’. The position he achieved in singing was the result of informal education. ‘Devdas’, released in 1936, was a landmark film in his career, earning him an iconic status. He sang songs in 6 different languages. In his short career of 15 years, he worked in 36 films and sang 185 songs in different languages.
Wiki/Biography
Kundan Lal Sehgal was born on Monday, 11 April 1904 (age 42 at the time of death) in Jammu, in the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu, British India (now Jammu, India). His zodiac sign is Aries. He received his early education from Jammu and then joined Prince of Wales College (presently known as Gandhi Memorial Science College), Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India, but discontinued his studies due to his inclination towards music and singing. Did it. Kundan’s mother was very fond of music and he would accompany her to religious functions, where he learned the skill of singing and honed it through practice. He became the disciple of Ustad Faiyaz Khan for a few years. He died in 1947 in Jalandhar, Punjab, India.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 9″
Weight (Approx): 70 kg
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
Family
Kundan belonged to a Punjabi family from the Jammu region.
parents and siblings
Kundan’s father Amarchand Sehgal was a Tehsildar in the court of Maharaja Pratap Singh. His mother’s name was Kesarbai Sehgal. He had 4 siblings, 3 brothers, Ram Lal, Hazari Lal and Mohender Lal and one sister.
Kundan Lal Sehgal (standing on the far left) with his family
wife and children
Kundan married Asha Rani in 1935. They had 3 children, two daughters, Neena and Beena, and a son, Madan Mohan. He adopted Durgesh Nandini, the daughter of his elder brother who died at an early age. Kundan adopted Durgesh when he was alone.
KL Sehgal’s wife Asha Rani
KL Sehgal’s son Madan Mohan Sehgal playing harmonium
signature/autograph
livelihood
singer
In the early 1930s, classical musician Harishchandra Bali brought Sehgal to Calcutta. Sehgal moved to Calcutta with his friend Meharchand Jain, where he recorded several discs of Punjabi songs written and arranged by Harishchandra Bali. These songs were released through the Indian Gramophone Company. ‘Yehudi Ki Ladki’ was the first film of New Theaters in which Sehgal lent his voice. He sang a ghazal of Ghalib ‘Nuktachin Hai Game-Dil’ and some other songs, making the film a hit.
movie jewish girl poster
In the same year his another film ‘Puran Bhagat’ was released. In this, Sehgal sang four bhajans, which created a stir across the country and made him a star. In 1935, he lent his voice to songs written by Rabindranath Tagore such as ‘Ek Tuku Chhoa Laage’ and ‘Tomar Binaye Gaan Chhilo Aar Aamar’. In 1937, he sang the song ‘Ek Bangla Bane Nyara’ in the film ‘President’, which became popular throughout the country and made him a household name.
In such a short period of his career, he sang 185 songs, out of which 142 were film songs and 43 were non-film songs. He sang songs in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Punjabi, Pashto and Persian languages.
actor
In Calcutta, Sehgal met RC Boral, who hired him for New Theaters Limited Calcutta, a film studio owned by BN Sarkar. Sehgal’s first film ‘Mohabbat Ke Aansoo’ was released in 1932; Pramankur Atorathi directed it. The same year, he appeared in two more films, Zinda Laash and Subah Ka Sitara. In these three films his name appeared in the credits as Sehgal Kashmiri.
New Theatres’ logo, roaring elephant
BN Government; Owners of New Theaters Limited Calcutta
‘Jewish Girl’ was released in 1933. In this film he named himself KL Sehgal.
A scene from The Jew’s Girl (1933)
In the years that followed, many films like ‘Rajrani Meera,’ ‘Dulari Bibi,’ ‘Daku Mansoor,’ and ‘Mohabbat Ki Kasauti’ were released. ‘Chandidas’ came in 1934 which won him praise everywhere. In 1935, he appeared in the lead role in ‘Devdas’. This was an important turning point in his life. He became popular throughout the country and established himself as one of the most sought-after actor-singers.
KL Sehgal (far left) in Devdas 1935.
Advertisement of Devdas film released on 6 September 1935
By then, he had started learning Bengali, and later he appeared in several Bengali films produced by New Theatres, such as ‘Saathi,’ ‘Jiban Maran,’ ‘Deshar Mati,’ and ‘Parichay.’ In 1938, New Theater Production produced ‘Street Singer’. In the same year, the Bengali version of this film was made with the name ‘Saathi’.
Street Singer (1938) starring KL Saigal and Kanan Devi.
By 1941, Bombay had become the center of film production in India, and Sehgal also relocated to the millennium city. By this time, he had already become a star. Later he appeared in many films like ‘Tansen,’ ‘Dushman,’ ‘Lagaan,’ ‘My Sister,’ and ‘Shahjahan.’
Tansen (1943)
KL Sehgal’s look in Tansen
His last film ‘Parvana’ was released in February 1947, a month after his death. In such a short period of time he worked in 36 feature films, out of which 28 were Hindi language films, 7 were Bengali language films and 1 was Tamil language film.
car collection
He had an MG salon.
KL Sehgal’s car MG Salon and his manager Paul
salary/income
- When he was working as a salesman in Remington Typewriter Company, he got Rs 80 per month. His grandson Sumant Batra revealed this fact in an interview.
- He joined New Theaters Limited, Calcutta, in 1931, where he received a salary of Rs 200 per month.
- In 1941, he went to Bombay, where he got a salary of Rs 1800 per month.
- He received Rs 1 lakh from Ranjit Movietone Film Studio, Mumbai for three films (Bhakt Surdas, Bhanwara).
Death
Sehgal’s addiction to alcohol was getting worse day by day. In his last years, he was unable to record any song without drinking alcohol. Due to its effects, his health deteriorated and he died at the young age of 42 on 18 January 1947 in Jalandhar, Punjab, India.
Favorite
- Singer: Faiyaz Khan, Pankaj Malik, Pahari Sanyal
- Actress: Khurshid
- Lyricist: Kidar Sharma
- Director: RC Boral
Facts/General Knowledge
- Amrish Puri was the cousin of Kundan Lal Sehgal.
- Lata Mangeshkar was greatly influenced by Sehgal. After Sehgal’s death, Lata Mangeshkar wanted to keep his harmonium with her but Sehgal’s daughter gave her a ring which had belonged to Sehgal. In her biography, ‘Lata Mangeshkar: In Her Own Voice’, she revealed,
I wanted to meet Sehgal Saheb since childhood. When I was very young I used to say: When I grow up I will marry Sehgal. My father would jokingly reply: By that time he would be an old man. I would say: No problem, I will still marry him.
- Amrish Puri’s elder brother Chaman Puri had worked with KL Sehgal in the film Street Singer.
- KL Sehgal did many jobs before becoming a singer. First he was a timekeeper on the railways, then he worked as a salesman at the Remington Typewriter Company. For some time, when he was in Calcutta, he worked as a hotel manager.
- Kundan Lal Sehgal used to sing and act in Ramlila in his childhood.
- Sehgal loved cooking. Whenever he prepared a Mughlai meat dish, he would take it to his studio and feed it to his friends.
- He was the first non-Bengali singer to be allowed by Rabindranath Tagore to sing songs based on Rabindra Sangeet.
- Various singers contemporary to Sehgal confirmed that the greatest quality of KL Sehgal was that the musicians used to tune their instruments on his aalap. Usually, a tanpura was first set to ‘Sa’ or ‘Ma’ by the maestro and then the singer would match his tone or scale with it. But when it came to Sehgal, the studio musicians would wait for his arrival, ask him to give aalap and then everyone would play their respective instruments along with him. He was considered equivalent to ‘Shiva’s sound’.
- Several major awards have been named after KL Sehgal including the KL Sehgal Lifetime Achievement Award; Lata Mangeshkar and her brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar were honored with the KL Sehgal Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2011.
- The Indian Postal Department issued a postage stamp on 4 April 1995 to pay tribute to KL Sehgal. Its value was 500 paise.
KL Sehgal Stamp 1995
First look of KL Sehgal stamp (1995)
- On his 114th birth anniversary in 2018, Google paid tribute to him by making a doodle.
KL Sehgal Doodle by Google in 2018
- In the last days of his life, KL Sehgal was gripped by addiction to smoking and alcohol. He could not even sing a song without drinking 2-3 pegs of liquor.
See more: Anjali Tendulkar Wiki
Anjali Arora Wiki
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn