How music baron Gulshan Kumar’s perfectly inspiring life journey came to a tragic end

Gulshan Kumar’s humble beginning

Gulshan Kumar was born in the year 1951 on May 5 in Delhi. His father was a juice seller in Daryaganj. He started his career by helping with the family business. Further, he entered into the music business after acquiring a shop of selling records and cheap audio cassettes, a step taken by his family. Looking at a expansion of the business, Gulshan decided to start his own audio cassette label. This was first named as Super Cassettes Industries Ltd. (further named T-Series). Once his business venture started earning profits, the music baron shifted his base to Mumbai.

The rise to success

Within few years in business, Gulshan Kumar's company emerged as one of the top music labels in India. He even turned producer with films like 'Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka', 'Aashiqui', 'Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin', 'Meera Ka Mohan' and 'Jeena Marna Tere Sang'. Most of his films are still remembered for their melodious music. Gulshan gave talents like musical duo Nadeem Shravan, singers Kumar Sanu, Anuradha Paudwal and Sonu Nigam their big break in Bollywood films. Till mid '90s, Gulshan Kumar successfully made a vast music empire.

The cold-blooded murder and underworld threats

It was a fateful day of August 12, 1997, Gulshan Kumar left for his office. As per his daily routine, he arrived at the Jeeteshwar Mahadev Mandir in Andheri to offer puja. A highly religious man, Gulshan was shot to death outside this temple by three people. According to reports, 16 bullets were fired at him and he died on the spot before any medical help could reach the spot. This news sent shock waves across the film industry. After his death, it was alleged that he was being threatened for an extortion of Rs 10 crore as protection money from gangster Abu Salem. And it was Gulshan's refusal for paying this amount which resulted in his cold-blooded murder.

The insight into Police investigation and Court trial

Following Gulshan Kumar's murder, the police investigation began and after almost 15 days, the then Police Commissioner of Mumbai, RH Mendonca called for a press conference and said music composer Nadeem Saifee (of musical duo Nadeem-Shravan) is a co-conspirator in Kumar’s murder. Further, it was reported that Ramesh Taurani was also involved in this conspiracy. In one of their chargesheets, the police claimed that Taurani, who is also a big name in the music industry with his company Tips Industries Ltd., had paid Rs 25 lakh to underworld don Abu Salem through Nadeem for killing Kumar. Subsequently, the court case ran for years and reportedly in April 2002, a man Abdul Rauf (one of the assassins) was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment (the only one). He was arrested from Kolkata in year 2001. Nadeem Saifee never returned to India from UK after this incident.

Bhushan Kumar’s dream and tribute with ‘Mogul’

As per his family's wishes, Gulshan Kumar was cremated in Delhi. Gulshan Kumar's son Bhushan Kumar took over the responsibilities of T-Series at the age of 19. And today, his dream has come true with the biopic based on his father's life titled 'Mogul'. Talking about it to a leading daily, Bhushan said, "My father has been a guiding force all through my life and I have always felt his presence in everything I do. I always knew that one day I would make 'Mogul' and share my father’s amazing story with the world." The film’s announcement was done on the happy occasion of singer Tulsi Kumar's birthday, late Gulshan Kumar's daughter. Without a doubt, the loss for Bhushan, Tulsi and their family is something that will remain forever. But, definitely 'Mogul' will be a perfect tribute for an inspiring person like Gulshan Kumar.