By Admin 
Shabbir Kumar, whose real name was Shabbir Sheikh, is one of the few playback singers of Indian cinema, who gave a new dimension to Bollywood with his sweet and velvety voice in the 1980s.
Shabbir, who is known as the biggest fan of Mohammed Rafi, by adding ‘Kumar’ to his name gave a strong message that in the world of music, the walls of caste or community do not matter, but talent and voice are the religion.
Career started in 1967
His journey began in 1967, when he made headlines for the first time by singing Rafi Saheb’s song ‘Mere Dushman Tu Meri Dosti Ko Tarse’ on stage on the occasion of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s birth anniversary. In 1981, musician Usha Khanna gave her her first break for the film ‘Tazurba’, where she made a place with famous singers like Suresh Wadkar, Amit Kumar and Hemlata by singing ‘Hum Ek Nahi, Hum Do Nahi… Hum Hain Poore Paanch’.
The real blast came when Manmohan Desai and Laxmikant-Pyarelal gave him a chance to sing ‘Mubarak Ho Tum Sabko Haj Ka Mahina’ for Amitabh Bachchan in the film ‘Coolie’ (1983). After this, Shabbir sang hundreds of hit songs for stars like Dharmendra, Rishi Kapoor, Jeetendra, Mithun Chakraborty, and Govinda, including tracks like ‘Gori Hai Kalaiyan’ and ‘Sochna Kya’.
Showed musical talent in many languages
His collaborations with legendary musicians like Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Rahul Dev Burman, Bappi Lahiri, Anand-Milind and Jatin-Lalit won him 34 gold discs, 16 platinum awards and the ‘Kala Ratna’ award from President Giani Zail Singh. Apart from Hindi, he also spread the magic of his talent in languages like Marathi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Punjabi and Malayalam.
In the 1980s, when a huge void was created in the music world due to the sudden demise of Indian cinema’s ‘Sura Samrat’ Mohammad Rafi, the voice that emerged to fill that place was that of Shabbir Kumar.
Interesting story related to the song ‘Mard’
There is an incident from Shabbir Kumar’s illustrious career which shows that despite stardom and success, some singers give more importance to their family values than filmy needs. The 1985 superhit film ‘Mard’ once again established Amitabh Bachchan as an angry young man. The songs of this film were also an equally huge hit, which included the song ‘Buri Nazarwale Tera Munh Kaala’ sung by Shabbir Kumar, which talks about the rights of the common man.
This song is still a cult classic, but while recording it, Shabbir Kumar was going through a strange dilemma. In fact, lyricist Prayagraj had written some lyrics in this song which were part of the street and colloquial language, such as the ending word, ‘Saala’ (which is used as a mild film abuse).
Shabbir Kumar told
Shabbir Kumar had revealed in one of his interviews that he comes from a very cultured and traditional family. There was so much decorum in his house that he or his siblings were never allowed to use abusive language or abuse towards anyone. His parents had taught him to never speak loudly or use bad words at home.
When he came to the studio and had to repeatedly sing lines like ‘Aye Saala’, ‘Ja Saala’, and ‘Wah Saala’, he felt very hesitant. He used to stop again and again. There was a fear in his mind that when his family members, especially his parents, would hear this song, what would they think that their son was singing such words in films.