KUNDAN Lal Saigal, commonly knwon as K.L. Saigal, was an Indian singer and actor, who worked in Hindi cinema, which at the time was centred in Calcutta (since renamed Kolkata) during Saigal’s time. He is considered the main architect of film playback singing in the original voice without distortion, a characteristic which followed him in the last century, and continues to date.

All the famous playback singers, such as Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Mukesh in India, and Ahmed Rushdi, Masood Rana as well as Mujeeb Alam in Pakistan, sang in their original voices, trying not to copy the Saigal style. Mukesh copied Saigal in his first song Dil jalta hai to jalne de in Pehli Nazar, but thereafter sang in his own voice, which was the right thing to do. Despite the passage of almost eight decades, Saigal’s songs are still liked by music lovers, and vocalists often sing them on stage and in private gatherings.

However, instead of singing in their original voices, they try to emulate Saigal’s nasal voice, which spoils the quality of the song because the maestro simply cannot be imitated. The thing to do is to sing in one’s original voice while maintaining the melody, expression and essence of the song.

Parvez Rahim
Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2024