Tango

A new book on K.L. Saigal (By Sharad Dutt) not only corrects disinformation about the enigmatic singer but adds some new myths as well.

Almost everyone in the media knew about his pioneering work on television. Many admired the ease with which he spoke about various aspects of Indian cinema, particularly music.

Some also knew him as a voracious reader but hardly anyone who knew him over the years could imagine he could write as well. So it is certainly a case of late blossoming.

But what a blossoming! Winning two National Awards for the best book on cinema in quick succession, first for a biography of music composer Anil Biswas (2002), and now for a path-breaking book on the life and musical journey of the legendary K.L. Saigal.

A book that not only corrects disinformation about Saigal but adds some new myths as well. And Sharad Dutt, who retired as Director, Delhi Doordarshan, two years ago, has written both the books in Hindi.

“I was born just a month before Partition. So I never met Saigal, though his music and songs ran through my veins. In my earliest memories, Saigal’s songs resonated through my father’s voice.

He wasn’t a professional but he wasn’t a bathroom singer also. And I can say this with some authority, because as I grew up, music and Hindi film songs became an obsession with me,” says Dutt, who in his long and eventful stint with Doordarshan has produced hour-long documentaries on Hindi cinema’s 28 leading composers, apart from a variety of programmes on Saigal himself.

More disinformation

“Since I had this almost in-born interest in Hindi film music, I searched far and wide for information and documentation and found hardly anything tangible existed. When I researched Saigal I found there was more disinformation than information.

I was also intrigued by the importance of the contribution of an individual to the making of a song: whether it was the lyricist, the singer or the composer? And very early I concluded that the singer contributed the least, unless it was someone like Saigal. I asked this question to composers and the lyricists. Anil Biswas always maintained that without music, the lyrics did not exist, but then the lyricists countered that there was no music without the lyrics.

“That’s when I decided to seek my answer not only through exploring the oeuvre of music composers but by writing a trilogy.

I spent hundreds of hours talking to Anil da; travelled to various parts of the country collecting material and information on Saigal; and my next book will be on Shailendra.

Luckily, one of his sons has preserved carefully a lot of material from which some nostalgia can be redeemed, because not many producers, directors and composers he worked with are around to share useful information.”

“Kundan: Life and Music of K.L. Saigal”, a coffee table book (Saaransh Prakashan, New Delhi-Hyderabad) published to commemorate the legendary singer’s centenary in 2005 is an evocative volume which traces his journey from birth to death.

Rare photographs and new information on the singer contribute significantly to the value of the book.