The Magic of the Velvet Voice, Talat Mahmood's Unique Voice Options

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The Quiver: Anil Biswas on Talat Mahmood
- the time of discovery
I have always kept an eye open for fresh talents and fresh voices, and it was during one of those try outs that a tall lanky man from Calcutta said he was desirous of acting in films and as he had already sung in Calcutta as Tapan Kumar, he could break through. I sized him up and asked him to sing a song, and as he started off, I was mesmerized. His voice didnt have any classical base, but his voice was such that you just felt like closing your eyes and listening. I asked him to come the next day saying I would give him a song- and he better forget his acting for the time. The next day, as he sang, I was bemused. That beautiful quiver in his voice which had attracted me was missing. I stopped him and when asked about it, Talat replied "Dada, everyone says my voice shivers - I was trying to correct it". I was furious and asked him to get out and get the voice I had chosen - the Talat Mahmood I had chosen. He immediately obliged - and at the end of the rehearsal, I told him, "Thats how you will sing from now" - and he did. From then on he never did look back - at least not as long as I was there.

That song was "Ae dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal" in "Arzoo" on Dilip Kumar. He became The voice of the Tragedy King and the pathos in Talat's voice so ideally suited the tragic image that Dilip Kumar developed for himself.

Naushad:
from Doordarshan's "Shraddhanjali" programme
"You can fathom how unique Talat sahab's voice is by the fact that there are a thousand copies of Mohd. Rafi, Kishore, Mukesh and others. But Talat sahab's is the only voice in our Film Industry that has never been copied or duplicated ever ! His is a voice that stands apart and is truely inimitable !"

Kishore Kumar:
Illustrated Weekly of India- Dec '87
Such was Talat Mahmood's aura, that Kishore Kumar on hearing Talat once at Anil Biswas's house had remarked, "I think I had better give up singing. How can I dare open my mouth so long as such a perennially romantic voice is around !"

Mehdi Hassan:
From The Hindu- 27th. Sept. '91
"It was through the vocals of Talat Saab that I discovered the goldmine in my throat. His songs like 'Ek main hoon ek meri bekasi ki shaam hai' and 'Husn walon ko na dil do ye mita dete hain' had left a lasting impression on me. It was whilst singing these two Talat numbers on stage in the early years of my singing career, that I held an audience of 10,000 in Pindi spellbound ! Believe it or not, the moment I completed singing these two Talat hits, the Pindi audience showered me with money and in a trice I had collected almost about Rs.14,000 ! All this, was of course, courtesy Talat Saab ! "

Pankaj Udhas:
Voice clip in "Legends - Talat Mahmood" released by HMV
"Whenever there is a discussion on ghazals only one name comes to your lips - that of Shahenshah e Ghazal Janab Talat Mahmood ! I am very much influenced by him and his music. His singing style, his soft velvety voice, his sweet, emotion filled, tuneful film songs, geets and ghazals..... a voice so sweet that you can listen to it for hours on end..... and you get that feeling of sweet nectar being poured into your ears ! "

Ameen Sayani:
Reliving The "GeetMala" lore in 'SCREEN' - Sept 22, 2000
"The Geetmala which was aired from 1952-53 didn’t rank the songs. It only played seven hit songs, without rating them. It was only in 1954 that Geetmala became a countdown show.
I remember vividly that in 1954, the topper of the first countdown show was
Talat Mahmood’s "Jayen to Jayen Kahan" from film 'Taxi Driver'."


Dilip Kumar:
"... There was a uniqueness in his voice which has never been seen in any other singer. His songs touched peoples hearts. When I would act to his playbacked songs I would put in that much more extra effort to match his singing prowess".

Whether it be songs like ai mere dil kahii.n aur chal, koi nahin mera iss dunya mein from Daag or shaam-e-Gam kii qasam, aaj Gamagii.n hai.n ham from Footpath or even Kis ko Khabar Thi from Devdas, the Legend with the Golden Voice proved his mettle time and again while singing for Dilip Kumar and other legends of the movie industry.



Bibliography
My Velvety Idol http://www.freehomepages.com/imsathya/talat.htm
A Golden Voice- Talat Mahmood http://www.talatmahmood.com
Devdas http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/jul/03dilip.htm
Songs of Talat Mehmood http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~navin/india/songs/...at_mehmood.html
Hamara Forums- Binaca Geet Mala - 1954 http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?showtopic=40

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Friends:

Some years ago, when I first came I came across Mr. Khalid Mahmood's internet site about his father Talat Mahmood, I was so impressed that I sent an e-mail to Khalid-sahab. Very kindly he quoted an extract among the messages he had featured at the site.

What is special about the site is that it has been created by a son in honour of a famous father who is admired and loved by innumerable fans of all ages, spread all over the world.

The site has the distinct advantage of access to a vast collection of rare photographs and articles. At no other site dedicated to an artiste, Indian or Western, do we come across so many photographs of such high quality. Talat-sahab must have been photographed even by those who did not care for HFM but surely knew a handsome face!

Talat-sahab was not one of the artistes at the hugely-attended open-air concert I attended in Madras in the late 60's, which featured several of the top singers from Bombay. And perhaps fortunately so. IMHO, to imbibe the flavour of his songs, his singing style, one must be in the midst of a limited audience in the intimate atmosphere of a small auditorium. Fortunately, I later had the opportunity to listen to Talat-sahab in exactly that kind of setting.

On rare occasions, as demanded by our English-language lecturer, I had fulfilled compulsory-attendance requirements and suffered through some amateur performances of Shakespeare plays at the Museum Theatre. But this time it was different. Not only was I there willingly, but infact eagerly looking forward to the event!

Two distinct recollections remain from that evening, so many years ago:

I remember one moment when I felt a tinge of regret and sadness. Talat-sahab announced that he would sing a song from his latest film. His voice then picked up the opening lines, "Phir wohi shaam, wohi gham, wohi tanhaayi hai". To us, "JAHAN ARA" (1964) by then was already an old film! It was evident that in terms of opportunities for film-song recordings, this great artiste's best days were behind him.

After rendering several songs, Talat-sahab left the stage, and his small accompanying music crew played some instrumental pieces of the then current hits of other singers --- totally out of sync with the nostalic tunes that had preceded. The audience became restive. The murmur turned into a chorus of shouts demanding Talat-sahab. We were concerned that his performance was over. The curtain was lowered.

When the curtain lifted again, Talat-sahab was back on stage. And almost as if in answer to the audience was heard the melodious question, "Jaayen to jaayen kahaan?" -- and time stood still for us. An exquisite moment from an unforgettable evening.

Did somebody say, "They don't make singers like that any more"?