Google honours the legendary playback singer Mukhesh Chand Mathur with a beautiful doodle on his 93rd birth anniversary. He was born on 22nd July 1923 in Ludhiyana, is better known mononymously as Mukesh or Mukesh Ji, was an Indian playback singer of Hindi movies.He was a huge fan of K L Saigal and used to imitate him. Mukesh had lent his voice for many of the legendary actor Raj Kapoor’s ongs. With Raj Kapoor, Mukesh immortalized heartbreaks and despair and belted out some classic numbers and endless list of hits. The ones that deserve a mention are ‘Awaara’, ‘Shri 420’, ‘Parvarish’, ‘Anari, ‘Sangam’ and ‘Mera Naam Joker’. His last recording with Raj Kapoor was the song “Ek Din Bik Jaayega” from the movie ‘Dharam Karam’. The music was composed by R.D. Burman.
Mukesh received Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer awards for films ‘Anari’, ‘Pehchan’, ‘Beimaan’ and ‘Kabhi Kabhi’. He was also nominated for successive films spanning his entire film career. Mukesh has delivered hits all through his stay in Bollywood, up until his death. But, it was probably in 1974 that his talent was given the best recognition and reward when Mukesh was bestowed with the National Film Award for the Best Male Playback Singer for his song ‘Kain Baar Yoon Bhi Dekhaa Hai’ from the film ‘Rajnigandha’.
Mukesh died on August 27, 1976 at the age of 53. The singer succumbed to a heart attack while on a concert tour to the US. The concert was completed by veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar.
His untimely death shocked the entire nation and the film industry. When the film industry knew about it, Raj Kapoor said, “I have lost my voice”.