July 3rd, 2010

Talat Mahmood – Part 4

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Talat Mahmood

Talat Mahmood

Talat Mahmood’s fans enjoyed watching him on stage as much as they enjoyed hearing him sing on tape. This was because his voice seemed to belong to the people. Its unadorned, unassuming genteel quality manifested a heart and a soul that was clean and generous. Fans felt comfortable with Talat Saab in their midst. Humming along with his voice, one never feels like an over-reacher trying to scale an impossible summit. Rather, Talat Saab’s voice provides his fans with an encouraging platform. As he sings Madan Mohan’s ‘Meri yaad mein tum na aansoon bahana’, Anil Biswas ‘Shukriya ae dil’ and Roshan’s ‘Kissi soorat lagi dil ki’, we are tempted to sing along spontaneously.

Talat Mahmood never sang from a point above his fans. He sang as one of us. A comforting, though looming presence whom we love and admire in equal measures. If in the 50s he made a mark as the first bonafide male star-singer of Hindi cinema since Kundan Lal Saigal (who incidentally was a childhood idol whom he met in Calcutta at the age of 20), then in the 60s he was the undisputed king of stage performances. In fact Talat Saab was the first Indian playback singer to perform internationally. The venue was East Africa. Originally scheduled to give six performances Talat Saab finally did twenty five concerts in East Africa.

The ‘Firsts’ flowed out fluently from Talat Mahmood’s domain. He was the first male playback singer of Hindi cinema to bring the Ghazal out of mehfils and concerts into Hindi cinema without losing its nuanced resplendence. Can any connoisseur of the Ghazal complain that Talat’s interpretation of Mirza Ghalib’s ‘Dil-e-naadan tujhe hua kya hai’ in 1954′s Mirza Ghalib is any less pure than Ghalib according to Begum Akhtar?

In fact the duet ‘Dil-e-naadan’ with Suraiya, spotlights Talat Mahmood’s splendid on-mike camaraderie in the duet format. Whether it was with Suraiya in the above song, Mohd.Rafi in ‘Gham ki andheri raat mein’ (Sushila) or Manna Dey, Mohd.Rafi and Bhupinder in ‘Hoke majboor mujhe ussne bhulaya hoga’ (Haqeeqat) the voice that makes a muted impact is that of Talat Mahmood.

In his duets, as in his life, Talat Saab preferred to let his talent do all the talking on his behalf. The spirit of one upmanship was refreshingly absent in his attitude. No wonder, playback singers who had the opportunity to work with him are all praise for Talat Saab. Says Manna Dey “He was a lovely person. I really like all his songs. I have hardly ever met a person who doesn’t like Talat Saab songs and who doesn’t like the man behind the songs”.

A large section of art lovers believe that a great artiste must be a good, if not a great, human being, Talat Mahmood certainly scored points in both departments. Friends and admirers who had the privilege of knowing this media-shy artiste firsthand swear by his modesty and gentle personality. While many individuals from the performing arts tom-tom their talents Talat Mahmood never wasted his time by speaking about himself. Trips down memory lanes were a strict no-no with him. He believed in living in the present rather than the past.

Diehard admirers often wondered what deep dark undisclosed dimensions of despair and despondency elicited those exquisite songs of heartbreak, such as the rarely heard ‘Ek dil hazar gham’ from ‘Aag ka dariya’, and ‘Aansoon to nahin hai aankhon mein’ from ‘Daaera’. But fortunately Talat Saab’s life was a joyous, enriching song.

On 9 May, 2010 it shall be 12 whole years since the passing away of Talat Mahmood. Not a day has gone by when his dedicated fans haven’t sighed and thrilled to the sounds of his fragile Ghazal singing.

The magnitude of his popularity was evident on the day of his demise on 9th May, 1998. Talat Mahmood’s son Khalid Mahmood who himself is a singer received condolence calls from fans in every part of the world. They couldn’t believe that the golden voice had been stilled.

Talat Mahmood never had to draw attention to his vocals. His songs continue to speak for themselves – Subhash K . Jha (Legends – Talat Mahmood – The Silken Voice)

Bollywood . Singing Stars