K. L. Saigal Biography

Kundanlal Saigal, often abbreviated as K. L. Saigal, was an Indian singer and actor who is considered the first superstar of the Hindi film industry, which was centred in Kolkata during Saigal's time, but is currently centred in Mumbai

*Born:* 11 April 1904, Jammu

*Died:* 18 January 1947, Jalandhar

*Spouse:* Asha Rani (m. 1935–1947)

*Children:* Nina, Bina, Durgesh Nandani, Madan Mohan

K.L. Saigal was a musical maestro of the Hindi film industry whose beautiful renditions of songs enchanted the audience with his melodious voice. Popularly known as Kundan Lal Saigal, Saigal was born on the 12th of April in the year of 1904 in Jammu. At the tender age of 12, Kundan Lal Saigal had cast a magical spell on Maharaja Pratap Singh with his enchanting musical rendition.

During the later years of his life, Saigal moved to Jalandhar, where he adopted the Punjabi style of singing songs. However, he had to undergo lots of hardship before he rose to stardom. In his initial days of career, he was appointed as a clerk of the railways, a manager of a hotel and ultimately a typist in the Remington Typewriter Company.

The insatiable spirit of Saigal led him to become one of the important Jalandhar people. Apart from singing in more than 200 movies, he was also a renowned actor of his time. The musical legend is known to have portrayed his artistic skill of acting in 36 films.

One of the best performances of Saigal was in the famous film Devdas, where his songs, Balam Aao Baso Morey Man Mein and Dukh ke Ab Din Bitat Nahin, made him the brightest star of the musical world. He was best known as the king of Ghazals. The famous personality sang several stanzas from the anthology of poems by Mirza Ghalib.

He left for his heavenly abode on the 18th of January in the year of 1947. With his death, came the end of a legend from the field of music.