K L SAIGAL KE SAATH MERA BHI EK GAJAB KA RISHTA ... BY ALI PETER JOHN

I first heard about K L Saigal when my father Haroon Ali sang some of his incomplete songs when he was drunk and I was only six year old. The Saigal festival for stoped when my father suddenly died when I was seven years old and I have to continue my Saigal festival with the few songs my mother remembered in the way my father sang them - Ali Peter John

My first memory of K L Saigal was when he had come to visit a director in J B Nagar which was much later to be known as the place where Madhuri Dixit was born .

I lost touch with Saigal when I went to Christian School where Saigal was an alien name . But Saigal was destined to be a part of my life .

My younger brother , Roy loved the songs of Saigal and had a collection of them on his tape recorder which he played every evening when he sat on his easy chair with a glass of whiskey in one hand , and an expensive cigarette in another hand and listened to the songs of Saigal till he was high had his dinner and went out to sleep with I suppose the songs of Saigal playing in his ears.

This was a ritual Roy followed come what may till the end of his life , and he died when he is only 32 , but he left his love for Saigal with his wife Usha and me . Little did I know then that I would be a part of the film industry where Saigal would be a name to worship.

One of the first stories I heard about Saigal was about how he went to the red light areas at night and sang his heart out to entertain the destitute women of the area and how he used to be carried home in the early hours of the morning when he was almost unconscious .

I had my first meeting with Premnath and before saying anything much , he took me to a room which had some of the best vintage instruments and began playing the harmonium and singing the songs of K L Saigal and looking at me , he had said , " Sonny this is what I call heavenly singing , anyone who has not heard this voice must either be stone deaf or a damn fool " and he continued playing the harmonium and singing and losing track of me

I visited Gauri Kunj , the house of Kishor Kumar and he had black and white photographs of Saigal in every corner of his large bungalow and gave a commentry to every photograph and then had a one man Kishor Kumar concert using all the instruments he had and even the furniture and the utensils .

And the best tribute to Saigal came from Lata Mangeshkar who said it was her greatest wish to sing at least one song with " Saigal Sahab", but her wish remained unfulfilled. I also had the privilege of listening to her telling me that if she ever wanted to marry anyone , it was K L Saigal.

And this is like a horror story or believe it or not story. TV had just become popular in India and Chhaya Geet was one of the most popular music programmes . I was sitting with Manmohan Desai in his house , Swapna Lok . A black and white song , "jab dil hi toot gaya" was playing on his TV set.

I could see how "Manji" was getting angry and restless and before I could think any further , he picked up two glass paper weights , flung them at the TV and smashes the screen into hundreds of pieces. He couldn't believe that a man who could sing so badly could be tolerated by millions of people for years .

MERI BAATEIN JO BHI HO , KUNDAN LAL SAIGAL KO AAJ BHI HAZAARON LAAKHON LOG MAANTE HAI AUR POOJTE HAI AUR UNMEIN AAJ KE SAARE DIGGAJ GAAYAK SANGEETKAAR AUR KALAKAAR BHI HAI ,YE DUKH KI BAAT HAI KI SAIGAL SIRF 47 MEIN DUNIYA KO CHHOD KAR CHALE GAYE. KYA UNKA DIL AISA TOOD GAYA THA KI WOH APNE DILL KA KUCH NA KAR SAKE ?