Google honours K L Saigal on 114th birth anniversary with a doodle

Born on April 11, 1904 in Jammu, Kundanlal Saigal was considered the first superstar of the Hindi film industry. He sang 200 film and non-film songs that continue to enthrall generations of music lovers even today.

His father Amarchand Saigal was a Tehsildar in the court of the King in Jammu while his mother Kesarbai was extremely fond of music.

In the 1930s, Saigal joined the New Theatres in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and started working with the film studio for a salary of Rs 200 per month. Simultaneously, his musical journey too began.




He worked on 36 films in three languages in a span of 15 years. Singing over 185 songs throughout his career, his distinct voice mesmerised his listeners.

Saigal worked in films such as 'Mohabbat Ke Ansu', 'Subah Ka Sitara' and 'Zinda Lash' in 1932 followed by 'Yahudi Ki Ladki' in 1933. In the same year, he sang four bhajans for a film titled 'Puran Bhagat' and these became popular across the country.

Saigal's music education came informally, owing to the fact that he came from a modest background. He would sing along with people at a local shrine or would sing in religious ceremonies with his mother. KL Saigal pursued his singing on the side.



By the mid-1940s, Saigal was not just a superstar. He was the first institution in playback singing. With 'Devdas' (1935), Saigal became a national icon. He succeeded as an actor too in the film.

His films such as 'President', 'My Sister', 'Zindagi', 'Chandidas', 'Bhakta Surdas', 'Tansen' became hits.

His first film was the 1932 Urdu film "Mohabbat Ke Ansu" and he followed it up with two more movies the same year, "Zinda Lash" and "Subah Ka Sitara". He tasted success with "Yahudi ki Ladki", a costume epic-based on Aga Hashr Kashmiri's famous play Misar Kumari.



On Twitter, veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar remembered listening to Saigal's songs and revealed that became a huge fan of Saigal after listening to the songs of "Chandidas". "All three of us me, Kishore da and Mukesh bhaiya were the devotees of Saigal sahab," she added.



The celebrated artist, who died at an early age of 42 in the year 1947, became an inspiration for his illustrious predecessors.

Today’s doodle, designed by Vidhya Nagarajan, shows Saigal singing with the background of Kolkata, where the Hindi film industry or Bollywood was based initially.

(With inputs from PTI)