Greetings!

A thought came to mind in analyzing the clones who try to pay their tribute to Guru. While it is commendable that they honor the great artist, we have to be critical to see where each clone has their strengths and weaknesses.

Amit Kumar:
Guru's oldest son. His first song was in Door Gagan Ki Chaon Mein, although it never got released publically. He sang this song again in Guru's last film, Mamta Ki Chaon Mein.

Strengths
Being Guru's son, Guru's voice quality and timber came to Amit-da naturally. Even though Amit didn't want to copy his father, he could fool someone in making them think that it is Guru singing.

Weakness
He does have the tendency to sing off-key. In Swami Dada, there was a disco-bhajan "Zindagi Yeh Kaisi Hai" where Ashaji, Guru, and Amitda sang. After Ashaji sang first the line, Amitda sang and the refrain sounded off key. The word "arzoooooo" sounded very very flat.

Kumar Sanu:
Sanu Bhattacharjee is one of the more famous playback singers of the 90s. After Guru's death, Sanuda stepped into Hindi playback singing with Andhiyan. There were a few movies where Guru and Sanuda had shared songs (although they didn't sing together).

Strenghts
Can imitate Guru's voice of Dev Anand really really well. Gotta give him credit for that! I hardly ever heard him sing off-key.

Weakness
His voice is incredibly nasal. I also haven't seen him use a good range of dynamics in his voice.

Jolly Mukherjee:
Singer of the very late 80s singing occasional songs. He does seem more like an R.D. Burman-esque type singer, but his voice will remind you of Guru.

Strengths
His voice quality will not get on your nerves.

Weakness
His diction can be bad.

Vinod Rathod
Another singer from the late 80s who jumped in at Waris.

Strengths:
Not excessively nasal like Kumar Sanu. More dynamic than Sanu's voice.

Weakness:
His singing will inevitably remind you that it sounds like he's going to war!


Abhijeet:
Singer who had an erratic career from 1984 to 1990, but found his big break on to move forward. Sang one song with Guru, to which Guru told him "tum bahut sur mein gaate ho." This compliment, to Abhijit, was more valuable than an award.

Strengths
As Guru rightly pointed out, he is one of the rare sur-perfect singers you'll ever hear. Even when performing in a concert, where singing in sur is very difficult, he doesn't miss a note when he is singing the fastest of fast or slowest of slow songs. Speaking of him, where is he? Can sing Guru's numbers for Rajesh Khanna flawlessly. Despite being a Guru clone, he also done justice to two Mukeshji songs, "Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaye" and "Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein." Kinda makes you think how Guru could have rendered them. As much as I am a fan of Guru, I am also a Mukesh fan.

Weakness
Anybody?

Shaan:
Shantanu Mukherji found his fame from his non-film albums in 1996 and entered Hindi playback singing in late 1999. He was the host Sa Re Ga Ma Pa from 2002 to 2006 (he's leaving the show as of today).

Strengths:
A clone that is suited for today's style of music.

Weakness:
Too thin of a voice. Listen to his rendition of "Abhimanyu Chakravyuh Mein Fas Gaya Hai Tu" and you can't help but agree.

Sudesh Bhosle:
He's everybody's clone. If you want an Ashok Kumar, Panchamda, Mukesh, Rafisaab, Guru, Burmanda, Saigal, or anyone else, ask Sudeshji! Sudeshji sang one song with Guru and did dialogue with another.

Strengths
Can mimick Guru's voice to some degree.

Weakness
Listen to Barah Mahine Line Maari and you'll see it stick out like a sore tooth.

Saptak Bhattacharjee
A young singer from Calcutta who did some stage shows, did some private albums, and performed in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.

Strength
Very thick and powerful.

Weakness
Sounds very off-key.

Baul Supriyo :
A Kumar Sanu cum Guru clone. Sang in films from 1995.

Strenghts :
I haven't him sway off-key. Not as nasal as Sanuda. Can sing Guru songs better than Sanuda.

Weakness :
Voice too thin!

Raga Tala,
Thank you for initiating this interesting topic .Its a well-written, informative and analytic post.But you missed mentioning the name of another KK-clone,Gautam Roy.In fact,he was the first one(if I'm not mistaken).
He had started his career sometime in the mid-80's,by perfroming in various local stage-shows arranged in and around Kolkata.He was a quite popular artist and even got a chance to work with RD for "Khule Aam".
But he didn't pursue his career in Mumbai and so not many people know about him.
I'm sure many of the esteemed members of this lovely forum will provide with more details about him,if needed.

Rinki

Thanks Rinki for the info on Gautam Roy! I hope some others will contribute information about Gautam Roy. If anyone has a sound clip of him, it'll be greatly appreciated!

I have the cassette of "Khule Aam" but that's a post'87 release.

Rinki

Is there any more songs by Gautam Roy that are not released after 1987?

He did record some Bengali songs,IIRC,but I don't have them.Sorry about that.

Rinki

great topic...i dont wanna say too much coz i dont think its a good idea...
1st of all i wanna say that all the singers that raga_tala bhi mentioned are great singers and they all have their own fans, but when it comes to guru's songs, the only and very only one who can sing guru's to a level that can fool alots of people its sanu bhai...
there are people out there that they listen to sanu bhai's songs and they think its guru....infact i have seen lots of people that mistaken sanu's voice with guru....although nobody can be guru, but he is the perfect choice now...

2. abhijeet....i dont think his voice in any form of shape is like guru's voice...he has a very surrela voice, but no depth.....guru's voice is a manly voice and abhijeet's voice is more like a boy's voice....

3. amitda...when he talks, it feels like guru is talking....he is good but a little off key...as my friend said flat..
when he sings kishore's song, he sounds around %60 like his dad..

4.shaan, babul suprio, are good and surreela, but i dont think they should sing guru's songs...their voices are not designed to sing guru's songs....i was not very imressed with "Dil Vil Piar Miar" songs at all...

5. it was my personal oppenion...i hope i didnt offend anyone..

You can also add Babul Supriyo to this list. He first started by singing Kishore songs but later, due to Kumar Sanu's rising popularity, began to mimic Kumar Sanu. Some of his songs are particularly admirable - Khoya Khoya Chand (with Alka Yagnik), Hum Tum, Sar Se Sarak Gayi Re (Albela), etc.

Songs of Kishore that he has sung:-
a- Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai (Dil Vil Pyaar Vyaar)
b- Disco 82 Remix
c- Ab Ke Saawan (Dil Vil Pyaar Vyaar)
d- Mujhko Thand Lag Rahi Hai - UMI 10 Remix, etc

Strengths: Raw, less nasal voice than Kumar Sanu, can be molded by music directors.

Weaknesses: Limited vocal range and too stuck on Kumar Sanu, is yet to find his own identity. Also, unlike Abhijeet, fears to venture out of his vocals to experiment with a new style.

I will put up my personal thoughts.

Kumar Sanu - A good singer, but as known he is too nasal. I have seen people who listen to some songs of Kumar Sanu (which were originally sung by Kishore Kumar) and think they are sung by Kishore Kumar! e.g. Sanu sang a copy of "Do Aur Do Paanch Bana De" and my friend used to think it was KK and listen to it over and over again!

Amit Kumar - A very good singer. I think if he wishes he can copy guru to nearly 80% cases, but he sings of his own. An example, I was very mistaken by a song of Amit Kumar from Chaalbaaz as being sung by KK for a few seconds.

Jolly Mukherjee - is more towards RD.

Pratik Chowdhury - A bengali singer and has a good voice. Sang for "Chalo Jai".

Abhijeet, Vinod Rathod - Good singers but different than Guru.
Shaan, Babul Supriyo - I don't think they can be compared with Guru.

a little disagreement with tala bhai sahab...
if you listen to this song "Muhabat ho na jaaye" from movie kosoor and listen to it very carfully, you WILL notice that this song begins with a very very low pitch aastaya (where it says "DEKHA JO TUMKO YEL DIL KO.....")
this song has a very LOW PITCH beginning which sanu bhai sang it to its perfections....now if you listen to the antra part where it says " Muhabat ho na jaaye, dewaana kho na jaaye......" you WILL notice that it goes extremly high pitch and its very hard to produce high octaves and low actives in a same song.....
just like that song from "mehbooba" (mere naina sawan bhado) guru sang that song from C yane ki SAA in harmonium...the aastaya starts around C yane ki SAA ..and the antra goes back to E which is GA in classical theory or eastern music...
to make it more simple get a harmonium and check that song "muhabat ho na jaaye" and then see where the song starts from and how far the antra goes to?? after that you will know what i am talking about...

*****it was just a friendly comment from me**********

speaking of vocal range....marhoom nusrat fateh ali khan's range was amazing, specially that song from movie "dil lagi or yeh dil lagi" :saaya bhi sath" wow....i also gave alots of credits to sukhwinder singh bhai... his range is very very good too.

When I meant dynamics, I meant how loud or soft his voice is, not his singing range. For example, there is a Mr. India song where Guru sings in almost a soft-whisper tone and then uses his full vocals in the asthayis. I harldy hear any of the Guru clones sing with these distinctly different "voices" (for lack of better term.)

THe point of what I started was to just see how artists have gained by taking inspiration of Guru. Of course, Guru is a legend and is born but once in many many years!

very very good point tala bhai...
that takes alots of hard work, guru sang the begining of "roop tera mastana, hume tumse piar kitna, " and some more, it sounds like guru whispers....(but ver full and strong)
it takes alots of practicing from very very low octaves to produce that kind of sound....good point

If one has to listen to the distinctly different voices, or the range, or whatever....please lieten to a Bengali song of Amit Kumar from the album "Porichoy" ( sung at the age of 52 ) : Ondhokaare aka sritir shaathe dyakhaa

AND then please tell me if any living singer ( I dont count Manna Dey when I am doing any comparisons within bollywood singers...he is a class apart ) can sing this song....fans of other singers who REALLY want to see how AK tears apart their idol, with only this song, please do send me a mail at kcpingle at gmail dot com ( its a challenge )

Amit Kumar has his own distinctive style of singing. If I remember correctly, Amit Kumar in an interview spoke about how his father didn't like him copying his voice and preferred that Amit develop his own distinctive style.

Unfortunately, after Kishore's death, most music directors wanted AK to emulate his father's voice, which he refused to do.

In Bollywood, there are few music directors who could exploit AK's wide range skilfully. After R.D. Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Jatin-Lalit are perhaps who understood his vocal range and exploited it well for the film Kabhi Haa Kabhi Naa. There is a vast range of emotions that Amit could explore. In particular, listen to:

a - Deewana Dil Deewana (with Udit Narayan) - especially when he veers between slow and fast tempos
b - Sach Yeh Kahani Hai (with Alka) - when he goes into the storytelling narrative mode

and Bole Chudiya in the film, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham.

KCP, do you have the song you were mentioning?

Jatin Lalit used to think that Amit is suitable only for fast songs and not for songs of Thehraav

I think Rajesh Roshan, Ajit Verman, Ram Laxman exploited him well too.....

and all the bengali non-film songs of Amit are just too good....Guru definitely must be a proud man to have Amit sung so many gems in Bengali



Sure !!!! one of the best songs ever heard in my life. Music is by Amit himself....do send me a mail at my gmail id ( because I already have the song in my inbox and can forward to "multiple" requests )

Ok I dont mind uploading the song here.....I also dont think that AK ( music director, creator of the song ) would mind my uploading the song here ( my only reason being that I want the world to know, what AK is made of ) Owners be rest assured that there will be no copyright issue with upload for this song ONLY.

Here we go......the song which reaches the deepest point in the sea to the highest peaks of the Himalayas....never ever seen by any living bollywood singer...

Bhaad mein jaaye woh log jo kehte hain ke AK has limited range or he loses his sur at higher notes, etc....I would say to them "Arre Ghadoprasadon.....naach na jaane aangan teda!!"

The pain of AK ( the whole life ) he emotes through this one !!

Wow traces of GURU !!!!!!!!!!!!

N *clap* *clap*

Those who have this mis-conception about AK's voice should listen to the title song of the album "Shurer Raja",all their doubts would be put to rest.


Rinki

Or the title song of Aanmona Mon, or Amaar I Aami, or MAD or Shagorika or .... or..... the list is endless....

i had uploaded this song earlier in AK's thread but feel it important to upload here....this is what classial (semi) songs are all about .....let one singer sing it this way and main natthulaal apni moochhein nikaal doonga

Thanks for uploading the two Amit Kumar songs! I never heard him sing like this before.

As the topic started was on Guru's clones, would anyone like to comment on Sumit Kumar? We heard of his debut in 2003 with "Mudda" and "Naach." We haven't heard much of him, and new male singers are hardly gonna have a chance to propser when Himesh Reshammiya bags offers right and left and lends his vocals!

Any opinions of Sumit Kumar? How do you all think of his voice and do you think he'll reach the same point his elder brother acheived?

RT,
life is certainly difficult for male playback singers these days. It's not only because of Himesh Reshammiya, but also due to the growing number of talented singers these days.
As for Sumit, I did not like him at all in the couple of songs that he sang in Mudda, but in Naach he was too good in the only song he sang. I was really impressed. He's got a nice voice (not a clone of KishoreDa). He would suit more of ythe young heroes in the industry. He is supposed to come up with a private album by the end of this year.

I sure hope Sumit gets more offers and opportunities. He still has a very young voice and I'm sure as he gets older, he'll have some resemblence of his father, just like Amit.

AFAIK Sumeet has the same attitude like Amit....he will never go begging for work....instead he will "create" work...

Anyways....I am hoping something big from Sumeet and I am sure with Guru's ashirwaad, up there, he will succeed in any field that he choses

Sumeet is much comfortable in music arrangement, composing, orchestration etc....so....