Happy Birthday Kumar Sanu!  I knew the name and was kind of not that excited, but then I looked at your playlist!  You sang EVERYTHING!!!!  Totally deserve a birthday post!  I’ll go with 16 reasons to love you, for the Indian scale (it is 16, right?).

1.1. I love you because you are an old school musician, trained from childhood by your father, a fellow musician, doing it for the love of the art while working in other careers.

2. I love you because you weren’t an overnight success, working in Bengali films for years before finally getting a chance to come to Bombay and risk it all at age 33.

3. I love you because, once you arrived in Bombay, you were a hit almost over night, Aashiqui coming out shortly after you arrived and becoming a record breaking album.

4.  I love you because you opened a school for underprivileged children in Delhi, providing the students with free uniforms and books.

5.  I love you because you sang a song and did a fabulous cameo in Dum Laga Ke Hasha.

6. I love you because, as is constantly repeated in every article about you, you have the world record for songs recorded in one day, 28.

7.  I love you because this is one of those songs that starts playing in my head as soon as I see the title of the film.  And I still haven’t even seen the movie!

 

8. I love you because you were one of Shahrukh’s first voices.

 

9.  I love you because you properly delivered RB Burman’s last songs.

 

10.  I love you because you showed up for one small part of one song in Hum Aapke Hain Koun.

 

11.  Haven’t seen this movie yet either, but the song is so pretty!

 

12.  On the other hand, I am on record as loving this movie!

 

13.  I have seen this movie many many times, and really the whole thing only works thanks to the amazing way your voice sells this song.

 

14.  This one, this one is just so so pretty.  I could (and have) listened to it on repeat for hours.

 

15.  After ruling the 90s into the early 2000s, you took a break for a few years, before coming back in a big way with this amazing song for a film that was, in many ways, a tribute to your career.

16.  And finally, I love you for this, forever and ever.