This is a weekly column in
which Raaga.Com will take readers into the interesting world of Music and
reveal some exciting anecdotes and revive memories of Music legend from
Bollywood.
“Duniya
mein abhi mausiki ka ayzaz hai baki, Saigal tu nahinto kya duniya mein abhi
teri awaz hai baki.”
(The world still admires
music, Saigal if you are no more, so what,Your voice is still alive in this
world)
Apt words from music maestro
Naushad, who paid him befitting tribute on his death anniversary.
While volumes have been
written about the golden baritone of Saigal, few know about his down-to-earth
nature.
A close friend of Saigal narrated an
interesting episode about the singer’s humble attitude. He informed, “Once it
so happened that Saigal received an invitation from a country’s business tycoon
to attend his son’s wedding ceremony. Besides gracing the function, the
businessman was keen that the singer entertains the crowd with his majestic
voice. For this, a cheque with a hefty amount was sent in advance along with
the invitation.
Coincidentally, the same evening, one of
Saigal’s servants approached him with his daughter’s wedding ceremony
invitation and with folded hands requested him to grace the ceremony. It would
have been a Catch-22 situation for anybody, but not for Saigal, who cared a
damn for money, and gave top priority to humanity. Returning the cheque to the
business tycoon, Saigal went to his servant’s wedding ceremony and made it
memorable by singing through the night, as if it was the wedding of his own
daughter and not of his servant’s!”
In yet another similar incident, Saigal was
called upon as a ‘star attraction’ to promote Mehboob Khan’s film NAJMA, by
giving a live performance at Mumbai’s Metro cinema during the interval. As
scheduled, Saigal arrived and sang as per the demand of the elite audience
seated in the ‘A’ class row. Suddenly Saigal heard a voice from the back row of the upper stall,
“Saigal Sahab, hum chavvani walon par bhi nazre-karam karen.” ( Saigal kindly
pay attention to the demands of we four anna people also)
Hearing this, Saigal immediately switched his
attention to their demands, ignoring the rich.
Note: In those days chavvani or four anna (
25 paise) was the lowest rate in cinema halls.
K.L.Saigal Top 5
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