‘KK sounded like nobody else, he explained our times best’: Anupam Roy

KK was a livewire performer, who reverberated with the crowd, drew his energy from them and sustained himself for hours on the stage. And in that cross-flow, he expressed himself best, pouring out his purest emotions, that he would not otherwise articulate. In that moment of melody, lyrics and listeners, he laid himself bare. That union was so palpable that no matter how many KK concerts you watched, you remembered every one of them as a felt experience. So, if you heard him sing Tadap Tadap, Pal or Yaaron at various venues, you would find each act different from the other because they manifested his innermost emotions at that moment in time. At that moment, he belonged to every listener around him. That’s how honest he was.

Performers are used to strenuous back-to-back acts but KK swam happily with the tide, flowing in that moment. And he could go on and on. He led a disciplined life and was very conscious about his lifestyle. I have never seen him partying post-show. In fact, it would be difficult for even us to meet him backstage after a performance because he would wire himself out completely and retire to his room. As a college student, I have tracked him in Bangalore, in Kolkata and even as a performer in Orlando, US (2014). But for all the intimacy with the crowd during his performance, he would not interact much with his fans after it. Perhaps, that’s why the moments remain.

It was in 2015, when I made my Bollywood debut, composing the songs and score for Piku, that I finally met KK. And that’s when I realised what a consummate artiste he was, surrendering to the composer completely, although he had given cult hits. He could come down to your level and synchronise himself with you. And laughter was his great levelling tool and I can still hear it. Then filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh’s daughter, Diya, asked me to do a song with KK for her film, Bob Biswas, called Mujhe mujhse kaun bachayega.

That’s when I realised that KK was not just a thorough professional but could also vibe with everybody around him; he could strike that chemistry. If anybody had seen him in the recording studio, he would know that he was very particular about the slightest pitch. The way he hit the notes was his own signature, that’s something even a composer wouldn’t have to bother about. And he wouldn’t settle for anything less than perfect. We were supposed to record the song in 2020 but then the pandemic hit us. Normally, these days artistes record their bits and send them over for mixing. But when I compose a song, I like to record the singer live in the studio. KK agreed and we waited a whole year to finally record the song in 2021. And what a song it turned out to be after the extended sessions of laughter, discussions and some serious music. He worked with me on every nuance. In that space, he gave his best and got the best out of me, motivating me. That’s one of the reasons why KK’s band is one of the most harmonised I have ever seen.

I am nobody to comment on how the industry saw him or whether he was under-rated. But to me he was a top-notch performer, an original artiste who sounded like nobody else. And it would be trivial to count his hits and albums. He was a bard of the people and he explained our times best standing on that stage. His last performance of Pal, as caught on video, is what we should remember. If only I had made it a bit earlier…

As told to Rinku Ghosh