K. L. Saigal, the late Indian singer, and actor have been honoured with a Google Doodle on his 114th birth anniversary. Kundanlal Saigal who is referred to as the first superstar of the Hindi film industry was born on April 11, 1904, in Jammu and Kashmir. The doodle shows the legendary man singing in the backdrop of a pre-independence era. He acted in films at a time when the movie industry was based in Kolkata. His style of singing is said to have inspired legends like Kishore Kumar and Mukesh before they made their mark in the industry with their signature styles.

In a career span of fifteen years, Saigal acted in 36 feature films in different languages. Some of the popular songs by the singer include Jeevan Been Madhur Na Baaje from Street Singer in 1938, Suno Ek Hare Ped Ki Daali Par from Meri Bahen in 1944, Koi Preet Ki Reet Bata De from Karwane Hayat in 1935 among many others.

K.L Saigal started singing at a very young age and his family encouraged the talent. In the early 1930s, classical musician and music director Harishchandra Bali brought K.L. Saigal introduced him to R. C. Boral who was impressed by his singing skills.

The first film that Saigal acted is Mohabbat Ke Ansu in 1932, followed by Subah Ka Sitara and Zinda Lash. Some of his other films included Yahudi Ki Ladki, Chandidas, Rooplekha and Karwan-E-Hayat. It is his role of Devdas, based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel directed by P.C. Barua which defined his acting career. The songs in the film, "Balam Aaye Baso Moray Man Mein" and "Dukh Ke Ab Din Beetat Naahi", gained a lot of popularity across the country

Saigal was first the non-Bengali, Rabindranath Tagore gave consent to sing his songs. He moved to Mumbai in 1941 and delivered hits like Bhukt Surdas and Tansen. Towards the later part of his career, alcohol started to have an influence on him which affected work. Years of being an alcoholic pushed him to an early death.

He passed away at the age of 42 on January 18, 1947, at his ancestral city of Jalandhar. Following his death, in 1955, B.N. Sircar released a documentary film based on the life of K.L. Saigal, Amar Saigal. He had fans in Hindi playback singers, including Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, and Mukesh.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 11, 2018 12:44 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).