Talat Mahmood

Talat Mahmood
Born	(1924-02-24)February 24, 1924 Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Died	May 9, 1998(1998-05-09) (aged 74) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Genres	Playback singing
Occupation(s)	Singer, actor
Instrument	Vocalist
Years active	1939–1986

Talat Mahmood (Urdu: طلعت محمود) (February 24, 1924 – May 9, 1998) was a popular Indian playback singer and film actor. A recipient of the Padma Bhushan in 1992, he had a unique style of singing. He was famous for singing ghazals.

Early life

Talat Mahmood was born in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, to Manzoor Mahmood. Talat showed his musical leanings from a very young age and would enjoy sitting through all-night music soirees listening patiently to some of the biggest names in classical Indian music then.

Coming from a conservative Muslim background, singing was not encouraged. Talat had to choose between working in films and staying at home. Despite his parental objection he opted for the former, though his family accepted the fact only about a decade later when he gained respect in the industry.

Singing career

Talat apprenticed classical music under Pandit S.C.R. Bhat at Marris College of Music, Lucknow (presently Bhatkhande Music University) some time in the 30s. He started his career purely as a ghazal singer in 1939. Talat Mahmood began his singing career at the age of 16 in 1939 when he began singing the Ghazals of Daag, Mir, Jigar etc. on All India Radio, Lucknow. His voice had a quality distinct from all the other singers. HMV was quick to notice this and offered Talat his first disc in 1941 Sab din ek samaan nahin tha, Bun jaoon ga kya se kya main, Iska to kuch dhyan nahin tha.

His reputation as a ghazal singer was not limited to his hometown of Lucknow, but it reached the city that proved to shape his destiny - Calcutta. The then famous ghazal singers were Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, K.L. Saigal and M.A. Rauf. The classical songs he sang were " Sapnon Ki Suhaani Duniyaa Ko " for film Shikast and " Laage Tose Naina " for Chaandi Ki Deewar.

In 1944 came the hit Tasveer teri dil mera behela nah sake gi. Its popularity was so phenomenal and unrivalled that even today it remains one of the top selling non-film discs. This disc brought Talat the fame throughout India and soon he was beckoned by the Calcutta film industry. Talat made cameo appearances and starred in about 16 movies, for both the Calcutta (film hub of the 1940s) and Mumbai Film Industry. The three movies in which he starred were regional hits in Calcutta. Initially, in Calcutta, he recorded a lot of Bangla songs under the assumed name "Tapankumar". Several of his Bangla numbers were super hits in Bengal and still aired on All India Radio old song reminisces.

In 1949 Talat moved to Mumbai, to sing for the Mumbai film industry. His name and fame had already preceded him and soon he was flooded with offers. His big break came with the song Ae dil mujhe aisi jagha le chal jahan koi na ho composed by music director Anil Biswas for the soundtrack of the movie Arzoo. The song proved to be extremely popular.

Acting career

Talat was considered a handsome man and a good singer, which prompted movie producers to try him as an actor. Talat acted in over a dozen films with top actresses of the time like Nutan, Mala Sinha, Suraiya and others. Later he decided to give up acting to concentrate on singing.

Talat acted in the following Hindi films [1]:

Film Name	Year	Opposite
Rajlaxmi	1945	Kananbala
Tum Aur Main	1947	Kanandevi
Samapti	1949	Bharti Devi
Araam	1951	Madhubala, Dev Anand
Dil-e-Nadaan	1953	Shyama, Peace Kanwal
Daak Babu	1954	Nadira
Waris	1954	Suraiya, Nadira
Raftaar	1955	Nadira
Diwali ki Raat	1956	Roopmala, Shashikala
Ek Gaon ki Kahani	1957	Mala Sinha
Lala Rukh	1958	Shyama
Maalik	1958	Suraiya
Sone ki Chidiya	1958	Nutan

The advent of rock-n-roll in the late 1960s sidelined singers like Talat. As long as he was top box-office draw, the movie producers insisted on including his songs in their movies. Talat's velvety vocals posed a special challenge to the music-composers, most of whom leaned towards the deep baritones of Mohammad Rafi and Mukesh. The resultant demise of his movie career led to the decline of his singing career. At the same time, the social changes and happiness brought about by increasing prosperity in India meant that blue mood ghazals and heart-rending ballads were not popular any more. Talat continued to record good songs, but less in number. His last soundtrack recording, in 1985, is the song "Mere Shareek-e-Safar", a duet sung with Miss Hemlata, from the movie "Wali-e-Azam" composed by Chitragupt and written by Ahmed Wasi.

However, Talat who was the first Indian singer to go on foreign concert tours in 1956 to East Africa found eager fans awaiting his arrival in other foreign countries. Jam packed audience in the United States, the UK, West Indies and other countries awaited his arrival enthusiastically. He performed in famous Royal Albert Hall in London, Madison Square Garden in the States and Jean Pierre Complex in the West Indies. He continued singing in the packed auditoriums until 1991 when he toured Holland. Talat sang about 800 songs in his long career. His songs are still popular among the music lovers as they were in the days these were released.

Personality

People, who were close to Talat, describe his nature as a quiet one. He is often remarked as a decent man, and his velvety and silky voice also reflected that decency and sense of calmness. Music directors, who worked with him, claimed that while listening to him, one would develop the feeling that Talat was a soft-hearted man. Dilip Kumar termed Talat as "a perfect gentleman".

Available work

Talat sang approximately 800 songs spread over 4 decades spanning between the 40s and 80s. Some of the most popular work of Talat is available even today with the following titles:

• Golden Collection of Talat Mahmood (CD 131015-16)
• Talat Mahmood in a Sentimental Mood (CD 132335)
• Evergreen Hits of Talat Mahmood (CD 132017)

Singles

Even though Talat sang hundreds of hits, some of his most memorable songs from Indian cinema are:

• Humse aaya na gaya - Dekh Kabira Roya (1957)
• Jayen to jayen kahan - Taxi Driver (1954)
• Tasveer banata hoon - Baradari (1955)
• Dil-E-Nadaan tujhe hua kya hai - Mirza Ghalib (1954)
• Itna na mujhse tu pyar badha - Chhaya (1961)
• Aansoo samajh ke kyon mujhe - Chhaya (1961)
• Sham-E-Gham ki qassam - Foothpath (1953)
• Jalte hain jiske liye - Sujata (1959)
• Meri yaad me tum na - Madhosh (1951)
• Phir wohi sham wohi gam - Jahan Aara (1964)
• Aye mere dil kahin aur chal - Daag (1952)
• Zindagi dene wale sun - Dil-e-Nadaan (1953)
• Main dil hoon ek armaan bhara - Anhonee (1952)
• Andhe Jahan ke Andhe Raste - Patita
• kadale Neela Kadale- Malayalam Movie "Dweep" ( Music By M.S.Baburaj)
• Ashkon ne jo paya hai - Chaandi ki Deewar 1964 (Music: N Dutta ; Lyricist: Sahir Ludhianv)
• BECHAIN NAZAR BETAAB JIGAR - YASIM 1955 ( Music : C Ramchandra,Lyricist : Jan Nisar Akhtar

External links

• Website on Talat Mahmood, created by his singer son Khalid Mahmood
• Legends - Talat Mahmood: His profile, Interview, complete list of his songs and reviews of his films