Pyaar Ke Pal singer KK says ‘alvida’ rather early, sending the entertainment industry and his fans into shock. Yet, he leaves a legacy to cherish

Mona

Hum Rahe Ya Na Rahe Kal Kal Yaad Aayenge Yeh Pal… Crooned KK, as the enthusiastic young crowd sang along at a concert at Nazrul Mancha in south Kolkata on Tuesday evening. Who knew these were some of the last pals with him. Aptly called the ‘voice of love, he also sung of loss, romance, dosti... KK sure had a song for every emotion.

It is hard to believe that KK, who has given timeless hits like Tadap Tadap Ke Is Dil Se (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam), Chhod

Aaye Hum Ye Galiyaan (Maachis), Yaaron (Rockford) and Tu Aashiqui Hai (Jhankaar Beats), wasn’t a trained musician.

Shining star

• As fans mourned KK’s untimely demise, Emraan Hashmi trended on Twitter too. They together gave hits—Beete Lamhein, Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai, Aye Bekhabar, Zara Sa.
• While early reports labelled KK’s demise due to heart attack, later in the day Kolkata police confirmed the same.
• Telugu actor-politician Pawan Kalyan expressed shock over the untimely death of KK,”The songs he sang in my films greatly impressed both fans and music lovers. Ye Mera Jahan in Kushi has reached people of all ages.”

Born in Delhi to a Malayali couple, Krishnakumar Kunnath, who later got famous as KK, he was a Kirori Mal College alumnus. While he first performed in class two, he was to go through the regular rut— a marketing job, and later ad jingles (he sang Yeh Dil Maange More for Pepsi) — before getting into B-town.

He debuted along with Sony Music as they launched business in India with the album Pal in 1999, which gave the hit Yaaron. It was Tadap Tadap Ke Is Dil Se with Ismail Darbar that established him in the Hindi film industry. Be it peppy numbers like It’s The Time To Disco (Kal Ho Naa Ho), Tune Maari Entriyaan (Gunday), Make Some Noise for the Desi Boyz (Desi Boyz) or soulful melodies Abhi Abhi (Jism 2), Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno), O Humdum Suniyo Re (Saathiya) to sad tracks such as Sach Keh Raha Hai Deewana (Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein) and Alvida from Life In A Metro, KK won the love of listeners with his versatility. In addition to Hindi, he also sang in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Tamil and Telugu.

Creative genius

While music lovers are yet to recover from the loss of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Sidhu Moosewala, the loss of KK, who was just 53, came as a jolt. “KK was an accomplished singer with an illustrious career. It’s hard to believe that we are paying a tribute to him; condolences to the family of the guy who was performing enthusiastically till late last night,” shared actor-director Shekhar Suman. The actor had met KK for the first time during the shoot of Movers and Shakers. “He came across as a very nice, friendly and extremely talented person. When I was making my first film Hearltess, I made sure one of the tracks was sung by him. He gave us such a beautiful song Soniye. God bless his soul,” he recalled.

Singer Shael Oswal calls KK one of his most favourite singers. “It’s not just because of his soulful voice, but also his immense talent. I have always admired his voice, the high pitch and the pain in it, which is really commendable.” Shael fondly recalls his first meeting, “I met him through a common friend during the release of my first album Hello and Kahan Hai Tu. It was then that I told him one of my favourite songs was Pal.” he adds.

It was with Sach Keh Raha Hai Deewana Dil, Dil Na Kisi Se Lagaana that singer Sahil Samuel was introduced to KK’s voice. “I was in my sixth standard when his songs would be consistently on my playlist. Never did it occur to me that one day I would get to share the stage with such a renowned and accomplished artiste. The memory still remains fresh, as if we had just shared the stage yesterday. It was in 2018 when we first shared a platform together and pretty recently in April we got to meet again. Such a young glowing soul taken away from us so soon, I am still shocked,” said Sahil.

Filmmaker Srijit Mukherji shared a two-minute video in which KK is seen singing Chhod Aaye Hum Ye Galiyaan and Gulzar is looking impressed. Srijit wrote, “In a state of total shock. Just met him last month for the first time and it seemed that we had known each other for years. The chatter wouldn’t just stop. And I was so moved to see the love he had for Gulzar saab. He said he stepped into the film world with Chhod Aaye Hum Ye Galiyaan and sang it to him as a tribute. Farewell, my newest friend.”

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