"Saigal was a born singer with a perfectly tuned voice and his seemingly effortless talent was the result of a deep, meditative training style nurtured not by any gharana but by intense riyaz and mad passion for the ‘inner world’."

“I was told when he died he was listening to Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya, which I thought was far-fetched, because Saigal never liked his film songs, just his Ghalib compositions. But it was dramatic, so we used it. So imagine my surprise, when after a show in Delhi, a lady came up to me and said she was the niece, Durgesh, seen in that death scene, and her uncle had indeed listened to that song on his deathbed.”

“He sang in low octaves from the throat which became a fashion and model for many singers. The Hindi films from 1932 to 1946 had the melody of Saigal.”

“The actual star persona of K.L.Saigal strongly relied on a similar unspoken hierarchy between the ‘natural’ and the ‘trained voice’, emphasizing his lack of formal musical training and his ‘natural gift.’”

“…he was impossible to fathom and the most complex creation of God.”

“On his acting and singing in the film Devdas”

“The two hundred or so songs that Saigal sang, touched a popular chord despite their, or perhaps because of their, profundity.”