Legendary singer Kishore Kumar‘s fans have demanded that the ancestral house of the late singer in Khandwa be converted into a national heritage site, PTI reported.
On the occasion of the singer’s 92nd birth anniversary on Wednesday, Kishore Prerna Manch’s spokesman Sunil Jain was asked by PTI about the demand to confer India’s highest civilian award on the versatile singer-actor. “Kishoreda was a Bharat Ratna in its own sense. Instead, his dilapidated house should be converted into national heritage,” he said.
The 200-year-old property currently lies in a dilapidated condition because of a dispute among the Ganguly family members. ‘Ganguly’ is the original surname of the famous actor-brothers Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar, and Anoop Kumar.
A report in Free Press Journal states that in June, Khandwa Sub-divisional Magistrate Mamta Khede had examined Kumar’s house in Khandwa. The local civic body had earlier planned to dismantle the building but had to stall it following protests by Kumar’s fans. The report also states that since this ancestral house is in dilapidated condition, chances of it collapsing due to rain is high.
The house is currently owned by Anoop Kumar.
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Kishore Kumar was born in Khandwa town on 4 August 1929. He began his musical journey with Ziddi in 1949. Born as Abhas Kumar Gangopadhyay (Ganguly), Kumar was the younger sibling of popular actor Ashok Kumar. He has over 2,000 songs to his credit, his work remains fresh, relevant and continues to inspire upcoming artistes.
He has sung in Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam, Odia, and Urdu, and has won eight Film Fare awards in his career spanning 36 years. A number of songs featuring actor Rajesh Khanna were sung by Kishore Kumar, and the actor’s superstardom had a lot to do with Kishore Kumar’s voice.
The legendary singer died at the age of 58 in 1987.