
Krishnakumar Kunnath popularly known as KK died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 53 following a concert on Tuesday. Kunnath felt unwell while playing at a concert in Kolkata. He reportedly complained of being quite cold after the show and wanted to return to his hotel. He was brought from his hotel to a hospital in south Kolkata after fainting at about 10:30 p.m. local time when doctors pronounced him dead.
KK has been a star playback singer since his debut with Pal(1999) with AR Rahman’s soundtrack. Born to Malayali parents in Delhi, Krishnakumar rose to fame in Bollywood, while also being popular among the South Indian music buffs. He has been embroiled in some controversies throughout his time in the Industry. Here are some of those:
Rupankar Bagchi’s remarks hours before KK’s death:
On Monday evening, Rupankar said, “KK is a wonderful singer. I was holding online classes and watching videos where I saw KK’s LIVE performance. After watching his LIVE videos, I have realized that we all perform better than him.” His “we all” was referred to, himself, Anupam Roy, Somlta Acharya, Iman Chakraborty, Raghab Chatterjee, Monomoy Bhattacharya, band Cactus and other talented artists of Bengal.
Later, Bagchi claimed that his statement has been ‘misinterpreted’ by fans and he wanted to speak about extending support to regional artists as well.
Controversy over Shaan and KK’s concert in Asansol:
Singers KK and Shaan were allegedly threatened by cops and were told that they will not be allowed to hold the concert if the then union minister Babul Supriyo was also invited to the concert. The singer-turned-politician took to social media to claim that state police awoke Shaan in his hotel room and threatened to cancel his upcoming event if Supriyo attended. He tweeted,
“Am in Kolkata today•Thought of going to Asansol to watch the Concert of @singer_shaan &KK together, #No1YaariHai now• Shaan just called me to say that Police Officers woke him up frm sleep, threatening 2 cancel the license 2 the show if I go to watch it! Infuriated,”
I have asked Shaan not to take any calls or get perturbed by tjis get into this muck .. He is dear friend.. so is KK.. cant let Mamta and her police spoil their show.. I will not go to the show it will fight this out 😡 What are spineless hunch of men in uniform thinking? https://t.co/F8n3H3Ptei
— Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) October 3, 2018
Later, talking to ANI, Supriyo said, “I’ve decided not to attend the show so that no problems are created there.”
KK’s song Maa in Taare Zameen Par was replaced:
The song Maa in the movie Taare Zameen Par was initially sung by KK. Later the singer was replaced by Shankar Mahadevan to sing the song. KK spoke about this and said, “I had done the song ‘Maa’ in Taare Zameen Par, and then I went out for a holiday. I was later told that a few changes had been made to the song and I had to work on it again. I said that I won’t be able to do it. Then the song was finally sung by Shankar Mahadevan. It’s okay. The song is beautiful.”
KK’s statements regarding not being attached to one actor:
KK said, “I don’t want to restrict myself by being someone’s voice. I don’t want to be XYZ’s voice. I never aspired that as a child. Even when I got into the field (music), I never thought that I’ve to sing for so and so actor,” He added, “It’s my passion to sing songs that has got me where I am today. It’s not about being related to a particular star. I never wanted that because then you are stuck with that.”
“Here is the film, this is the scenario and you fit the song. That’s how it works… not like I want to sing for him,” said KK.