These days, almost every actor has tried their hand at singing – be it Priyanka Chopra, Parineeti Chopra, Ayushmann Khurrana, Shraddha Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Amitabh Bachchan and even Salman Khan. 

When it comes to singers, a lot of them have tried acting as well – Sonu Nigam, Adnan Sami, Lucky Ali, Himesh Reshammiya are few names that come to mind. 

But none of these many names, can claim to be as adept at both skills, like Kishore Kumar whose birth anniversary we are celebrating today. Not only has Kishore Kumar sung some of Bollywood’s best songs like Aanewala Pal, O Saathi Re, Chingaari Koi Bhadke and Kuch Toh Log Kahenge and Khaike Paan Banaraswala, he has also shown that he is an avant-garde actor with stellar performances in films like Padosan and Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi. 

Interestingly, Kishore Kumar’s calibre as an actor  can also be determined by how other singers have done playback singing for him. Including probably the only other contender for Bollywood’s most gifted singer, Mohd. Rafi. 

Then there is Hemant Kumar, the master of sad songs, to whom Kishore Kumar has lip synced with panache.

As a singer, Kishoreda could do happy songs and sad song with equal ease, and it’s hard to find any fault with him, even though he was not classically trained. One of his key skills was yodelling, and few can match him in that in India or abroad.

Then, he had a penchant for singing rainy day songs. And just yesterday, we did a post about how his songs always manages to set fire to the rain.

As an actor, one of his best skills was comedy and in no movie, has he performed better than he did in Padosan. 

All said and done, there is no one more talented in Bollywood (past or present) than Kishore Kumar. Kishore-da, if you’re looking at us from up there, please know that you are the greatest gift to Bollywood ever.