When Kishore Kumar revealed how Madhubala died in front of his eyes, “I nursed her, she would rant, scream, she was dying..."

When Kishore Kumar revealed how Madhubala died in front of his eyes, “I nursed her, she would rant, scream, she was dyeing..."

• Kishore Kumar spoke candidly about his marriages and losses
• He nursed Madhubala through illness until her death in 1969
• Kishore found happiness with his fourth wife, Leena Chandavarkar

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On Madhubala’s birth anniversary, it is impossible not to revisit one of the most haunting confessions ever made by Kishore Kumar, a man known for his laughter, mischief and yodelling, but who quietly carried deep personal scars.

Forty years ago, in a rare and now-iconic interview with journalist Pritish Nandy, published in The Illustrated Weekly of India (April 28–May 4, 1985), Kishore Kumar spoke candidly about his turbulent personal life. The setting itself became legendary. In his home sat a skull with glowing red eyes as part of the decor. At the end of the conversation, Kishore joked, “Look, doesn’t it look nice with my specs on its non-existent nose?” before turning to Nandy and saying, “You are a good man. You understand the real things of life. You are going to look like this one day.”

Behind the humour was a man who had witnessed love, illness and death up close.

Speaking about his first marriage to Ruma Devi, he said, “She was a very talented person, but we could not get along because we looked at life differently. She wanted to build a choir and a career. I wanted someone to build me a home. How can the two reconcile? You see, I’m a simple-minded villager type. I don’t understand this business about women making careers. Wives should first learn how to make a home. And how can you fit the two together? A career and a home are quite separate things. That’s why we went our separate ways.”

But it was when he spoke of Madhubala that the tone changed completely.

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“She was quite another matter. I knew she was very sick even before I married her. But a promise is a promise. So I kept my word and brought her home as my wife, even though I knew she was dying from a congenital heart problem. For nine long years, I nursed her. I watched her die before my own eyes. You can never understand what this means until you live through this yourself.”

Madhubala suffered from a congenital heart condition that confined her to bed for years before her passing in 1969. Kishore recalled the emotional toll of those final years. “She was such a beautiful woman, and she died so painfully. She would rave and rant and scream in frustration. How can such an active person spend nine long years bedridden? And I had to humour her all the time. That’s what the doctor asked me to. That’s what I did till her very last breath. I would laugh with her. I would cry with her.”

His third marriage to Yogeeta Bali was short-lived. He described it bluntly: “That was a joke. I don’t think she was serious about marriage. She was only obsessed with her mother. She never wanted to live here.”

Then came his fourth wife, Leena Chandavarkar, and for the first time in the interview, his words softened into contentment.

“Leena is a very different kind of person. She, too, is an actress like all of them, but she’s very different. She’s seen tragedy. She’s faced grief. When your husband is shot dead, you change. You understand life. You realise the ephemeral quality of all things. I am happy now.”

That quiet declaration — “I am happy now” — carried weight, coming from a man who had watched one wife chase ambition, another fade away painfully, and a third walk out quickly.

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Kishore Kumar was more than a playback singer. He acted, composed music and redefined Hindi film music with his playful yodelling inspired by Jimmie Rodgers and Tex Morton. From Bombay Talkies, where he began as a chorus singer under the shadow of his brother Ashok Kumar, to becoming one of Indian cinema’s most celebrated voices, his journey was extraordinary.

He received the Lata Mangeshkar Award from the Madhya Pradesh government in 1985. After his death on October 13, 1987, the state instituted the Kishore Kumar Award in his honour.

Yet on Madhubala’s birth anniversary, it is not the awards or the yodels that echo the loudest. It is that line: “I watched her die before my own eyes.” Behind the laughter of a legend was a man who had endured love in its most fragile form — and survived it.