Today's spotlight is on the well known playback singer Kedarnath Bhattacharya, better known by his screen name "Kumar Sanu". It was the composers Kalyanji Anandji, who suggested this name and also gave him a break in the Amitabh starrer Jaadugar in 1989. Kishore Kumar's death in 1987 had left a void, and Kumar Sanu was one of the Kishore "clones" who looked to step into his idol's shoes.

However, his real breakthrough came in 1990, when composers Nadeem Shravan got him to sing most of the songs for the movie Aashiqui. The album was a huge hit with Kumar Sanu becoming a household name.

After that Sanu's career literally went into orbit. He became the first choice Hindi playback singer for most heroes and music directors, and won five consecutive Filmfare awards for best singer from 1990 to 1994. While he had a large number of fans, he also had his share of critics who felt that he had achieved his success mainly because of being a Kishore Kumar clone, was nowhere near Kishore da, and often was too nasal in his singing. Anyway, as a teenager growing up in those days, I liked some of his songs and did not like some.

Today's song "Kuch Na Kaho" by Kumar Sanu is from the movie 1942: A love story by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. And the music director? None other than the one and only RD Burman (Pancham). This was Pancham's last film, and he passed away a few months before the movie was released in 1994. For somebody of his stature and genius, the last few years of his life were very difficult. He was shunned by most filmmakers who thought he was past his prime, with one exception.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra was the one filmmaker who stood by Pancham during those times, roping him in for Parinda in 1989 and for this movie 1942: A love story, in 1993. And Pancham did not let him down. With his back to the wall, and knowing that a failure might shut down his career permanently, Pancham came up with his magnum opus for this movie. With six songs, each one a gem, Pancham's score for the movie fetched him his third filmfare award for best music director - unfortunately he was not there to receive it. Like many of Pancham's earlier songs, this one "Kuch na kaho" had a female and male version. Lata sang the female version and in Kishore da's absence, Pancham got Kumar Sanu to sing the male version. And Sanu did an outstanding job with a lot of people considering this as his best ever song.

Hope you like my version!