On the 73rd birthday of veteran actress Leena Chandravarkar, watch her rare throwback interview as she talks about her late husband Kishore Kumar and their son Sumeet.
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PeopleTranscript
00:00 What do you do these days?
00:02 My full time job was to take care of Sumit Kumar.
00:06 When someone asks me how many children do you have, I say one dozen.
00:10 Then you understand what I mean.
00:13 So I had to take care of him.
00:17 He was very shocked because Kishoreji,
00:20 he used to call Amit and sometimes he used to say,
00:26 "Oh my God, I have run away. Come, come, they will come to call me."
00:30 Like kids run away from school.
00:33 So he used to say, "What should I do?
00:36 The lights are off, I have been sitting here for an hour,
00:39 how long will I sit here? I have to go out with the kids."
00:42 He loved me a lot.
00:44 If he gave me something to eat, he used to bring it home for me.
00:47 Simple man. He was a very good man.
00:50 Now tell me about your children.
00:53 Amit is an adult now.
00:59 Kishoreji is not like that.
01:04 He is very talented, but introverted.
01:07 He composes in his room. He makes very good songs.
01:11 I just started writing, I didn't tell you.
01:13 So I write lyrics and write some songs.
01:17 My second album has also been released.
01:19 And one more is coming.
01:21 I wrote a song, he gave me a chance.
01:23 I started writing songs while writing dummy words.
01:26 I like that.
01:28 And I think Sumit, his father wanted him to learn piano.
01:36 We didn't force him, but he showed more interest in it.
01:40 And he was playing by himself without learning.
01:43 Then Pyareji said, "If you sit with wrong fingers,
01:46 you will play very well."
01:48 Now we are training him.
01:50 He is very naughty.
01:52 He is very naughty.
01:54 He puts on a mask to scare everyone.
01:56 He is like a father.
01:58 Now tell me about your ambition.
02:01 When I was 15 years old, I had the ambition to become an artist like Meena.
02:07 But I was a type.
02:10 My first movie was Man Kami.
02:13 Before that, Masi Hai was announced with Dutt and Raj Kumar.
02:19 Mumtaz played a very beautiful role.
02:25 So he became a shell.
02:27 And then Man Kami.
02:30 When I saw the Tamil version, I started crying.
02:34 I said I can't do all this.
02:36 I can't wear such clothes.
02:37 I came from Dharwad.
02:39 But Mrs. Dutt helped me a lot.
02:43 She said, "You can do what you are in front of the camera.
02:47 But you have to do what you are not.
02:49 You can do it as a challenge.
02:52 And people accepted me in Man Kami.
02:55 After that, I started to feel like doing it.
02:58 I started to feel glamorous.
03:00 What is your ambition now?
03:02 My ambition now is to fulfill Sumit's dream.
03:09 I don't have a big ambition.
03:11 I live for today.
03:12 I have my dogs, my family.
03:14 I write.
03:17 I am scared of planning.
03:20 It happens.
03:21 People say that Kishore Daal was a genius and eccentric.
03:26 We all know that he was a genius.
03:29 But why eccentric?
03:31 You tell me.
03:33 He was eccentric because he liked it when people called him crazy.
03:40 I don't know why.
03:42 He was not a sad person.
03:45 His behavior was very serious.
03:52 And he was very childish.
03:55 You can't expect him to react like this.
04:00 He asked me, "Lina, did you hear about me?
04:07 You have worked in films for so many years."
04:09 I said, "What did I hear?"
04:11 He said, "I heard about you, but I didn't want to say."
04:14 I said, "What did you hear?"
04:16 He said, "I heard that you sing very well.
04:19 I was your fan and you did such a good comedy.
04:22 And you were a genius."
04:25 He didn't like it.
04:26 He didn't enjoy it.
04:27 I said, "I didn't hear anything."
04:29 I was alone in the room doing my makeup.
04:32 A movie was being made, Pyaraj movie.
04:34 He said, "I didn't hear anything."
04:35 I said, "I didn't hear anything."
04:37 I can't do my face.
04:40 I was scared.
04:42 I was going crazy.
04:44 I said, "I heard about you, so I got scared."
04:47 I said, "I will look for my hairdresser."
04:49 I jumped on the sofa and started jumping.
04:55 I said, "Yes, I heard about you."
04:57 I closed my eyes and said, "I heard that you are crazy."
05:00 Then he started laughing.
05:01 I said, "Why didn't you say this before?"
05:03 He scared me.
05:05 But he laughed a lot.
05:07 I enjoyed showing movies of Sunit and Amit.
05:11 I used to say, "Sunit is still young.
05:13 He is not 18 years old. What are you doing?"
05:15 He said, "No, I am also a kid. We are watching both."
05:18 He was like this before.
05:21 He was like this before.
05:22 He was very childish.
05:24 And as I said, he didn't like meeting people.
05:30 I don't know what was the reason.
05:32 But he liked whoever he liked.
05:36 That's why he was very happy with me.
05:39 When Sunit was born, he changed a lot after marrying me.
05:43 I don't know what he was like before.
05:45 But Raj Kapoor said that when he came here for his birthday,
05:49 he used to call me Chela Babu.
05:51 I said, "I haven't been to Chela Babu's house yet.
05:53 I came here for the first time."
05:55 He said, "That's amazing."
05:56 And one day, I want to say something very interesting.
06:00 Husband and wife fight.
06:02 Why did you come late?
06:04 Which woman was calling?
06:05 All this happens.
06:06 I was very insecure.
06:08 I was in fourth position.
06:10 I shouldn't be in fifth position.
06:12 I should be in full stop.
06:14 I was very tensed.
06:16 I don't know what I thought that day.
06:18 I said, "I am going."
06:20 I packed everything.
06:22 At first, he was very scared.
06:25 I said, "Go. Go if you want to."
06:28 Then I went to the watchman's place.
06:33 I went there.
06:38 I had a suitcase.
06:40 But before going, he came out and said,
06:42 "Don't come back and don't talk to me.
06:45 Never. Not on the phone or anything."
06:47 I said, "Yes."
06:48 He said, "I said it.
06:49 The first person who talks to you is a big fool."
06:51 I said, "Yes. Okay."
06:53 Then I said, "Badal, get a taxi."
06:56 As soon as Badal opened the door to get a taxi,
06:59 I saw a huge crew from a far off place.
07:04 Who were they?
07:06 Indira was 84 years old.
07:09 We were going to sing some Bhavanjali for her.
07:13 They all came.
07:15 Yakub, Sahib, and others.
07:17 I don't know if they were there.
07:19 It was a big group.
07:20 I said, "Sister-in-law, where are you going?
07:22 Because of you, the eighth Ajuba has changed.
07:25 You did a great job.
07:27 What are you saying?"
07:29 They said, "Where are you going?
07:30 You can't go.
07:31 Give us tea.
07:32 Come home."
07:33 I slowly, with my feet,
07:34 gave a kiss to the suitcase.
07:36 I quietly hung my face and came inside.
07:39 I smiled and said, "Listen."
07:41 Then I was like this.
07:43 I was a fool.
07:45 I said, "Fool."
07:46 After that, they kept looking at me.
07:49 They kept looking at Amit and said,
07:50 "Look, she's talking to me."
07:51 They said, "Whatever you're saying is a fool."
07:53 After that, when everyone left,
07:55 we laughed and said,
07:56 "It's not that easy to break."
07:59 So, it was fun.
08:01 It was nice to see.
08:02 (Music)