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Meri yaad
mein tum na aansoo bahana...
By M.L.
Dhawan
TALAT MAHMOOD was born on February
24, 1924 in Lucknow. Music was so much a part of his
being that he longed for the company of musicians and
singers right from his childhood onwards. To hone his
talent, he joined Morris College of Music in Lucknow. He
began his career as a small-time singer at All India
Radio, Lucknow and later moved on to Calcutta.
Nurtured in the lap of the ghazal culture
prevalent in Lucknow and exposed in his salad years to
the artistic atmosphere in Calcutta and New Theatres,
Talat came to Bombay in 1949-50. The essence of music and
poetry moulded his literary persona. Anil Biswas
introduced him to the Hindi film industry with Aarzoo
number Ay dil mujhe aisi jagha ley chal jahan koi no
ho. Talat was a quite stunner. He took the industry
by storm with his charismatic voice. He was acknowledged
as the singer extraordinaire.
Stalwart composers like
Khemchand Prakash, Sajjad Hussain, Jamal Sen,
Hussanlal-Bhagatram, Naushad, Shankar-Jaikishan,
S.D.Burman, Khayyam, C. Ramchandran, Madan Mohan, Salil
Chaudhary Ravi, etc were charmed by his velvety voice,
which had a natural treble that was quite ideal for
lovelorn and lilting songs.
They were eager to
compose for Talat as they knew that his lips had that
rare gift to further refine and polish their
compositions. Even the humblest of the composers came out
with some out standing songs and ghazals in Talats
inimitable voice. Soon Talat achieved the stature of a
ghazal icon on account of his impeccable Urdu diction and
classy Bengal base.
Talat was particular was
that his songs should have good poetry. And it was poetry
that was integral to the music that he made. It was this
intrinsic poetic content in his vocalising that elevated
his film songs and ghazals to a near art form.
Talat had admitted that
his life had been one happy song. His marriage, his
family or his career nothing ever caused him
anguish. Yet, his voice was steeped in sorrow, pain and
suffering. Talat gave broken hearts songs to live with
and live by. He distilled a lifetime of pain, sorrow, and
grief in songs like Teri yaad ka deepak jalta hai,
Tera khayal dil se mitaya nahin abhi, Mohabbat tark kee
main ne, Mujhe dekho hasrat kee tasveer hoon main,
Tasveer banata hoon, Ay gam-e-dil kiya karoon,
Sham-e-gham kee kasam, Zindagi dene wale sun, Ay mere dil
kahin aur chal, Abtera intezaar kaun karey, Tera khayal
dil ko sataye to kya karen, Betaab hai dil bechain nazar,
Unhein tu bhool ja ay dil, Yaad jab aye teri etc.
Each song that Talat
immortalised was rehearsed 20-25 times by him with the
music director. Talat, for all his seasoning, insisted
upon just "one last rehearsal" before
undertaking the recording. Once Sardar Malik (Anu
Maliks father) let a minor vocal slip pass as Talat
recorded Tere dar pa aaya hoon faryaad le kar for Chor
Bazaar only later did Talat get to know that the composer
had hesitated to correct him, Talats response was:
"You are the composer and it is your professional
duty to pull me up" Little wonder that each song of
Talat outshone the other and raised him to the crest of
popularity.
To point out
Talats film songs and ghazals alone would be to
overlook his oeuvre as a super performer in the richer
realm outside cinema that of private ghazals. Each
ghazal that he sang had its own musical colouring, was
dainty in tone, pleasing in timbre and had a magical
expression which moved the listeners. Such was the vocal
virtuosity of Talat Mahmood that he could build a far
following for his ghazals especially in an age
when Saigal held the nation in thrall. The effect that
Talat left is peer-less in the train of Tasveer teri
dil mera behal na sake gee, Hangama-e-gham se tang aakar,
Koi din gar zindgani aur hai, Gahme-e-zindgi ka ya rab na
mila koi kinara, Bekaif dil hai aur jiye ja raha
hoon main, Kuchh aur poochhiye yeh haqiqat na poochhiye.
According to Jagjit
Singh, Talat Mahmood was the original ghazal king
and all who followed (including Jagjit himself) were
inspired by Talats style and idiom. Any wonder all
other singers insisted on performing before Talat at a mehfil.
They knew that people in a mehfil would want to
hear no other once Talat cast his vocal sway. Why only
the ghazal, one has to recall the spell he cast
through his geet Ro ro beeta jiwan sara, Kaun
Kehta hai tujhe main ney bhula rakha kai, Chupke sey
kabhi jab yaad meri sapno sey tujhe chounka dey, Mera
dukh amber main chaya, Sagar kiyon hai aaj aadhir, Chup
chap aakeley chup chup ke main geet kise ke gata hoon,
etc.
With the advent of
violence and vulgarity in the films, the music scene
changed. Songs started getting more pacy with content in
them. The great tradition of Indian music receded to the
bottom. The fusion of Indian film music and Western tunes
resulted in producing ear-splitting rather than soul
stirring music. The basis of film music changed from
lyricism to virility. As the synthesizer got too loud the
music got too strange. Jahanara was the last film
in which Talat rendered well remembered gahzals like Phir
wohi sham, Teri aankh ke aansoo pee jaoon, Main teri
nazar ka saroor hoon.
After 1965, Hindi film
music was not Talats cup of tea. He left the music
scene as he found himself incapable or rendering songs
which had neither melody nor poetry. It hurt, it really
hurt the music lovers to see a sensitive, sentimental and
talented singer sitting at home brooding over the change
in trends, tastes and tunes and complaining to the
Almighty Dekh lee teri khudayee bus mera dil bhar gaya
Teri rehmat chup rahi main rote rote mar gaya.
Talat Mahmood, who had
kept captive a large number of fans for over 50 years,
passed on a year ago on May 9, 1998 leaving his
distraught fans in tears.
Talat Mahmood is no more
yet his songs float through the ether and knock the music
lovers down with their power of nostalgia. One can
imagine Talat singing from his grave Meri yaad mein
tum na aasoon bahana, Who guzra zamana mujhe bhool jana.
But that is not possible at least as long as music lovers
exist. Music lovers would cling to his memory for all
times to come.
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