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 Talat’s 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 Malik’s 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, Talat’s 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 Talat’s 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 Talat’s 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 Talat’s 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.