9 Aspects We Expect To See In Akshay’s ‘Mogul’- A Gulshan Kumar Biopic

It was a rags to riches story which started in the 70’s and 80’s that Gulshan Kumar, a son of a fruit juice seller in Delhi’s Daryaganj market, made a living by taking care of his father’s business. Later, he acquired a shop where he sold records and cheap audio cassettes. With the money he earned he started his own brand of music cassettes named ‘Super Cassettes Industries.’ He moved to Mumbai to spread his business and venture full time into production and marketing of film music.

Gulshan Kumar was a huge devotee of goddess Vaishno Devi mata. Be it personal of professional life, he always attributed his success to the goddess and felt that he was blessed in every way. After becoming a big name in the music industry he set up mata’s ‘chowki’, ‘jagrata’, ‘lungar’, temples, charities and what not all to pay her back. He even had the goddess’ image along with his company’s logo. He immensely contributed to the popularity of Vaishno Devi’s shrine and temple near Katra in J & K state.

His love for all types of music and devotional songs made him make it big among music lovers. He had a keen ear for listening and knowing what will sell and what won’t in the market. He himself was a keen singer and wanted to pursue a career in singing but fate had something else in store. His penchant for music drove him to achieve greater heights.

He started his company T-Series (Super Cassettes Industries) by selling devotional songs which sold like hot cakes. Later he started selling cover versions of old Bollywood hit songs at affordable prices which again became very successful. Besides stiff competition from HMV and other music brands, his T-Series created a huge market in India and emerged as the leading music labels.

After becoming a leading music brand in Bollywood and bagging the music rights of almost all big banner films in the 80’s, he turned to producing devotional and mythological video films. It was only in the late 80’s that he planned to get into Bollywood film production. It was Mahesh Bhatt’s musical blockbuster of 1990 ‘Aashiqui’ which Gulshan Kumar produced under his banner ‘T-Series’ and there on also produced hit films like ‘Bahaar Aane Tak’, ‘Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin’, ‘Ayee Milan Ki Raat’, ‘Meera Ka Mohan’, etc.

Gulshan Kumar was often associated and linked to playback singer Anuradha Paudwal whose career flourished after collaborating with the former. Anuradha was a known playback singer but it was Gulshan Kumar who gave her the much-needed boost to her singing career as she sang all the songs produced under his music label. Her name was later added to his name while presenting a film or music album by T-Series. The Gulshan Kumar - Anuradha Paudwal marriage too did the rumours then but eventually died a natural death.

Gulshan Kumar had an eye for spotting singers and musicians. He was known to give breaks to upcoming playback singers like Sonu Nigam, Kumar Sanu, Babul Supriyo, Bela and others. He was instrumental in providing big breaks to music directors Nadeem-Shravan, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen and Arun Paudwal. He even launched a few actors including his brother Kishan Kumar who currently heads ‘T-Series’ along with Gulshan’s son Bhushan Kumar.

The 90’s not just witnessed his T-Series enjoying music monopoly but also saw an influx of other music companies venturing into the music market like Tips and Venus. Both theses brands followed suit to Gulshan’s marketing strategy and started collaborating with other big banners after a few films along with its music did moderate businesses for his T-Series. The mid-90’s saw a lull in his business as Gulshan continued producing devotional music.

It was in 1996-97 where Gulshan planned to uplift Bollywood music once again by introducing some new talents to the music industry and sell DVD’s at lowest prices. This move got him back in the reckoning which eventually led to his murder in 1997.Gulshan Kumar's death came as a rude shock to the industry. Despite his demise, Gulshan continues live through his music, films and charities and blessings of goddess Vaishno Devi.