Talat Mahmood & Lata Mangeshkar

Talat Mahmood on Lata

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, the youngest captain of the Indian cricket team, at twenty-one(left), visiting the recording studio, Famous in Tardeo where Madan Mohan, Lata Mangeshkar and Talat Mahmood (extreme right) were recording songs for Duniya Na Mane (1959).

I first met Lataji around 1950. I happened to arrive in Bombay from Calcutta. And I was already fairly well known and had heard her name too. I liked her singing. In 1950, there was talk of us singing a duet `Shikwa tera main gaoon’ in a film called Anmol Ratan. As far as I can remember, I met her for the first time during the song rehearsal. That song remains one of my favorites — it has wonderful singing. Truly, she adds so much feeling. She knows Urdu very well and is a superb performer. In India, there is no other singer as good as her.

Another memorable song is `Seene mein sulagte hain armaan’ from the 1951 film Tarana. When I sang the duet, I was very new in the field and the film’s composer, Anil Biswas, was a famous man. He did not know whether I could sing well, and with great difficulty managed to persuade the producer to give me a chance. For a new singer that’s the usual problem: convincing the producer. The first song I recorded for Tarana was `Jali jo shaakh-e-chaman.’ On that same day, we also planned to record `Seene mein sulagte hain armaan.’ I liked the song very much because it had excellent lyrics by Prem Dhawan. Anil Biswas’s tune was wonderful and the duet became extremely popular. And whenever I give concerts, I sing it as a solo. It’s a very expressive song.

Lataji’s voice worked well with mine. We both knew each other so well. We had rehearsed a lot together and knew each other’s temperament. So when we recorded a duet, it sounded as though it were composed for us. Adding your own expression to a song gives the song feeling. In this respect, Lataji is a fine artist — she helps a lot. She puts so much expression in her singing, and that helps me too.

When Lataji attends a public event, people are astounded to see how simple and modest she is. When they hear her beautiful voice, they imagine she is a glamorous woman and when they see her, they are struck by her humility. How can it be? I too was taken aback when I met her for the first time. I imagined her to be an extroverted, showy lady. But the most beautiful thing about her is her simplicity and sweetness. Through that simplicity she makes her songs more beautiful.

She has not changed at all since we first met in 1950 while recording `Shikwa tera main gaoon,’ till the last song we sang together in the 1964 film Jahanara which was ‘Aye sanam aaj ye kasam khaayen.’ I haven’t seen any change in her. Whenever we meet, Lataji greets me with great respect and speaks very warmly to me. I have said enough. Now I will hum a little, if it can help. I usually never sing without an orchestra backing me, but I’ll sing a verse:

Seene mein sulagte hain armaan

Ankhon mein udaasi chhaayi hai

Ye aaj teri duniya se humen

Taqdeer kahan le aayi hai

Seene mein sulagte hain armaan

Desires burn in my heart

Sorrow fills my eyes

Away from you, where has fate led me?

Desires burn in my heart

Lata on Talat Mahmood

Nasreen Munni Kabir: Another singer who had such individuality was Talat Mahmood. He started singing professionally at the age of 16, moving from Lucknow to Calcutta and finally settling in Bombay in 1949. He had such a soft and melodious voice. Did you like his singing?

Lata Mangeshkar: Yes, I did. It had a soft tone. He had excellent diction and intonation. I first met him at Anil Biswas’s place where he spent much time. I can’t recall the first duet I sang with Talat Sahib but there were many.

Before Talat Mahmood entered films, he sang ghazals by Daag, Mir and Jigar on All India Radio. His ghazals were very popular and he was well known. I particularly liked his `Tasveer teri dil mera behla na sakegi.’ It was a non-film ghazal by Faiyaz Hashmi. Thanks to the radio, both Talat Mahmood and Hemant Kumar became famous.

Talat – Lata Duets

Talat and Lata sang approximately 67 duets together in Hindi Films. Details are provided below :-

Talat Mahmood & Naushad

Babul was the only film in the 1950′s where Talat Mahmood sang for Naushad. Naushad didn’t repeat Talat for the next 18 years, despite the success of Babul. The reason behind not repeating Talat for the next 18 years is mentioned by Subhash K. Jha in “Mohd. Rafi – The Virtuoso”. “Angered with Talat Mahmood, whom he found smoking during a recording, the perfectionist composer, hired Rafi on a whim and decided that he would sing all the songs of Baiju Bawra.”.

However, Naushad had high opinion of Talat Mahmood’s singing abilities. According to Indian Express dated 20th September 1981, Naushad said, “I have a very high opinion of Talat Mahmood. He has a fine style. When he sings ghazals, it is in his own unique inimitable sweet style.  Sweetness is indispensable to a proper singing of the ghazal. Besides, he has mastery over the language. He knows which words to emphasize and which not to. You will never hear any lines misread from Talat Mahmood’s lips!”.

Talat sang 8 songs for Naushad listed below:-

Profile – Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Fact File – Filmography – Interview – Photo Gallery

Back to Legends – Talat Mahmood

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Dil-e-Nadaan (1953) film poster

Talat Mahmood sang maximum number of songs for C. Ramchandra, Madan Mohan, Vinod, Ghulam Mohammed and Shanker Jaikishan.

Talat Mahmood acted in 13 Hindi films, out of which 3 of them were with Nadira (Waris, Raftaar, and Dak Babu), 2 of them each with Suraiya (Waris and Maalik) and Shyama (Dil-e-Nadaan and Lala Rookh).

Talat Mahmood sang 3 songs for Pakistani films during his visit to Pakistan. 2 of them for Chiraag Jalta Raha (1962) and 1 for unreleased film Ghanghour Ghata. Chiraag Jalta Raha marked the debut of 3 Pakistani legends – Deeba, Mohammad Ali and Zeba.

Talat’s first non-film song was Sab din ek samaan nahin tha.

Talat’s first film song was Jago musafir jago from Rajlaxmi (1945).

Talat’s last released album was Ghazal ke saaz uthao in 1986 by HMV.

Talat married child star Latika Mullick (Nasreen) on 20th February, 1951 and have 2 children – Khalid and Sabina.

Talat Mahmood

Profile – Fact File – Interview – Filmography – Gallery

As a Singer

Song List – 1945 – 1950 | 1951 – 1955 | 1956 – 1960

1961 – 1970 | 1971 Onwards

His collaborations with Music Directors – Naushad (more coming soon…)

His duets with Co-Singers – Lata Mangeshkar (more coming soon…)

As an Actor

His Film Reviews – Waris (1954)

Miscellaneous

Talat Mahmood’s favorite songs from his career

Profile – Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Fact File – Filmography – Interview – Photo Gallery

Back to Legends – Talat Mahmood

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Talat Mahmood in Lala Rukh (1958)

Profile – Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Fact File – Filmography – Interview – Photo Gallery

Back to Legends – Talat Mahmood

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Talat Mahmood

Not many Talat Mahmood fans with associate him with acting. After all, the mellow voice which rendered golden classics like Jalte hain jiske liye, Tasveer banata
hoon tasveer nahin banti, had earned him repute as a singer.

But the incomparable Nutan always referred to Seema and Sone Ki Chidiya as her most memorable films. Both films starred Balraj Sahni and Talat Mahmood. Besides, at a Suraiya retrospective in Bombay in 1994, a much-acclaimed film was the late Sohrab Modi’s Waris. This film, too, starred Talat Mahmood.

“I filled a necessary void in those days,” says the soft-spoken hero of 14 films. “I was a singing hero.” There were other luminaries of Hindi cinedom who had also filled that slot. Prominent among whom was that great singer Kundan Lal Saigal, oft-remembered for his tragic rendering of the role of Devdas. The incomparable Kishore Kumar is remembered for his various comic roles. Why, even the soulful Mukesh tried his hand in acting in an eminently forgettable home production.

Of course, these singers were promoted and sold as stars because of their singing ability. Something like the Elvis craze that swept the United States in the fifties and the sixties. None of those guys expected an academy award winning performance from Elvis – all they wanted was to see their favourite singer, live, on screen. Hence, Presley always had roles specially written for him. And the focus was always on his singing ability.

Which is exactly happened with Talatsaab. He was born into a highly cultured, but conservative, family in Lucknow. Music interested him to such an extent that he studied it as a subject in Lucknow’s Morris College. Often, he sang for the All India Radio, Lucknow. Later, he signed on with HMV. He had to go to Calcutta in 1941 for the recording sessions, which was when he was spotted by the famous New Theatre bosses.

Talatsaab was an extremely handsome young man. Even today, despite the ravages of time, a heart attack and a paralytic stroke, there is a certain heartwarming glow about the man.

P K Sanyal of New Theatres wanted me to sign me on as an actor,” Talatsaab recalled his early days in Calcutta. “I had no objections, really. But my father was a bit upset, though he came around finally.”

Calcutta was the scene of hectic filming during the early 1940′s. Talatsaab’s first film, Raj Lakshmi, co-starred Kanan Bala and Chhabi Biswas. Released in 1945, the film did fairly well and was followed by Samapti with Bharati Devi and Tum Aur Mein with Kanan Devi. Talatsaab had never trained as an actor. He performed by instinct and picked up tips by watching his co-actors on-screen.

“I enjoyed acting,” recalls Talatsaab. “And these were soft, romantic roles in films that has a number of songs. The films of this era followed the singing hero concept very closely.” But the handsome actor, at 22, faced a peculiar problem. Most of his heroines like Kanan Bala and Kanan Devi were older than him and the pairing, at times, looked distinctly odd.

During the late 1940s, the focus of movie making shifted from Calcutta to Bombay. Like several other young aspirants, Talatsaab also made the change. He was warmly welcomed; his reputation had preceded him. Music director Anil Biswas gave him a break in Arzoo and his playback singing for Dilip Kumar proved to be a major highlight of the film.

During the early 1950s, Talatsaab was sought after by every leading music director. He lent his voice to every single top hero, from Dilip Kumar to Bharat Bhushan. In 1951, he made a guest appearance in the Dev Anand-Madhubala starrer, Aaram, sitting at the piano as he rendered that memorable number, Shukriya shukriya. The film was not much of a success, but the song is hummed even today.

His first role as a hero in a Bombay film, though, only came in 1953. “(A R) Kardarsaab chose me as the hero for his film, Dil-E-Nadaan,” explained Talatsaab. Newcomer Peace Kanwal, the winner of a beauty contest organised by Kardar and the Kolynos toothpaste firm, was the heroine.

Dil-E-Nadaan was a soft, romantic triangle with Talat, the singer, being wooed by two women, Peace Kanwal and Shyama. The music score by Ghulam Mohammad produced everlasting hits like Zindagi denewale and Yeh raat suhani raat nahi.

Dil-E-Nadaan’s music became the rage. And Talatsaab became a sought-after hero in Hindi films. Then followed Daak Babu (with Nadira), Waris, Raftar (Nadira and Naaz) and Diwali Ki Raat (Roopmala, Shashikala and Leela Mishra). In the last mentioned, the elegant Talatsaab played a taxi driver.

Well known director Satyen Bose directed him in the 1957 hit, Ek Gaon Ki Kahani (Mala Sinha). Producer S U Sunny – who had made the Dilip Kumar starrers, Babul and Udan Khatola – cast the singer-duo of Suraiya and Talat Mahmood in Maalik. The innovative Khayyam scored the music for Lala Rookh, a fantasy where Talatsaab starred with Shyama.

“I never did more than one or two films at a time,” Talatsaab recalled. “I also noted the difference between filming in Bombay and filming in Calcutta. Unlike the more artistic Calcutta where movies were made at a slow pace, Bombay was commercial. Life was hectic. Everyone was  in his own world and was, of course, very professional.”

What kind of an impact did Talat Mahmood make as an actor?

The great singer thought a while and then candidly admitted, “Listen, I was not competing with stars like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand or Ashok Kumar. But, in those days, soft, romantic films were appreciated and singing hero like me could do well.” His films were not box office bonanzas. Neither were they disasters which disappeared without trace, days after their release. Three of his films – Waris, Sone Ki Chidiya and Ek Gaon Ki Kahani – were much-appreciated hits.

Talat Mahmood’s major drawback was that, quite often, he held himself back in crucial romantic scenes. His self-consciousness showed. He could not essay violence and comedy. But he was adequate as an emotional actor. And he had a large female following.

From 1956, Talat Mahmood regularly went on foreign tours. The concerts – held in the UK, the US, the Gulf and even the distant West Indies – were super hits. To the extent that, in the Caribbean, Indian residents even gave up watching cricket to attend his shows.

When he sang in Kabul as the royal guest of King Zahir Shah, the women in the palace competed to get themselves photographed with him. He got a ticker tape welcome in Mauritius. The late Anwar Sadat, president of Egypt, was one of his fans. But the ultimate accolade came from Pakistan – at the packed Karachi stadium, Pakistani women came in thousands to listen to him. It was a first.

It was also a display of star quality. But as he acted in films and spent months abroad on concerts, music directors and producers had to look for other playback singers. As a result, Talatsaab lost out on some memorable films like Madhumati.

Some of the music directors felt that, having turned actor, he would not be easily available as a playback singer. As Talatsaab’s son, Khalid, explained, “Also, Father would never ask for favours. Not would he undercut anyone. He was, and is, a thorough professional and a gentleman.”

By the mid-1960′s, film music had changed. Shammi Kapoor, with his boisterous Yahoo image, had arrived. There were fewer opportunities for a voice like Talatsaab’s. But the concerts continued, so did the recording of private ghazals. The government honoured him with a Padma Bhushan and Doordarshan made a documentary on him – V Gangadhar

Talat Mahmood

In an interview given to Shama Magazine, Talat Mahmood picked the following favorite songs from his career :-

Solos

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Duets

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Non-Film Songs

Song List

1945 – 1950 | 1951 – 1955 | 1956 – 1960

1961 – 1970 | 1971 Onwards

Back to Legends Talat Mahmood

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Talat Mahmood

Song List

1945 – 1950 | 1951 – 1955 | 1956 – 1960

1961 – 1970 | 1971 Onwards

Back to Legends Talat Mahmood

____________________

Talat Mahmood

Song List

1945 – 1950 | 1951 – 1955 | 1956 – 1960

1961 – 1970 | 1971 Onwards

Back to Legends Talat Mahmood

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Talat Mahmood