Golden Collection: Talat Mahmood

Friends, for the sake of continuity, please read my previous two revus…

There are millions of Talat fans out there and many get too emotional when the name Talat is mentioned in their midst. Here is one such fan…”Talat, my sweetheart, I was sixteen when I fell in love with you and now after a decade, the situation is still the same. The other day I was watching your film ‘Waris’ on TV, I envied Suraiya whenever you came a little close to her. I prepare ‘Kheer’ on your birthday and pray to Allah to give some years of my life to you. When I hear your sweet, velvety voice, I forget everything else in the world. I feel that your singing is going directly to my heart and flowing through my blood stream in every vein. I wish I could hear your ‘Ae Gham e dil kya karoon’ while leaving this world. When I think of you all the time my husband gets cheesed off. But I can’t help it. I wish that at least in the next birth I become your Begum and hear your voice straight from the heart, resting my head on your ‘dil’.

Yours forever.” – Meeta.

“I have sung a lot of duets with Talat sahib and always enjoyed a wonderful rapport with him. I first heard his heart-warming songs on the radio when he began singing from Lucknow and Calcutta. Me and my entire family was already his fans by the time he came to Bombay. His voice is the only voice in this Film Industry which has never been copied!” -- Lata Mangeshkar.

“For us there is only one Ghazal King Talat Mahmood…” -- Rajendra Mehta and Nina Mehta, Ghazal singers.

He has received countless accolades and all those cannot be featured here for very obvious reasons. I must also conclude this tribute before I run out of space again.

Here are a few more numbers, which as the lady (Meeta) above has rightly mentioned, that go straight to my heart whenever I hear them…

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Ha! The timeless philosophy of love – you never know when you fall in love or what is it that is required to fall in love. Even if you want to fall in love you cannot, and may fall in love when you don’t want to. In fact, there is little control over love and perhaps that is why it so mysterious and romantic. Here the lover is giving an option to his beloved to break off from the relationship if she wishes to do so, but his lady love is too enamoured by him, anyway, to heed his advice. Talat’s silken voice seems to caress the lovely lyrics of this number from ‘Sone Ki Chidiya’.

Pyar par bas to nahin hain mera lekin phirbhi,

tu bata de ke tujhe pyar karun ya na karun…;

I have no control over love, but even so

Tell me whether I should love you or not

mere kwabon ke jharokon ko sajane wali,

meri raaton ke muqaddar mein saher hai ke nahin;

being the one who gives my dreams substance

do you allow me to dwell in your dreams as well

ask your eyes and tell me about it

whether in my nights’ destiny there is a sunrise or not.

Kahin aisa na ho paun mere tharr aajayen,

aur teri reshmi aanchal ka kinara na mile;

I hope not, but if my feet begin to tremble

and the support of your comforting arms is missing

my tears flow silently in the dark nights

as the corners of your silken veil are missing

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This number again from ‘Jahanara’ expresses the helplessness of a lover who is unable to be at his beloved’s side in her time of need. Not that he cannot! But, there are other constraints holding him back and he feels wretched about this. The lover in his bid to share his beloved’s sorrow reveals a concern for his love that can only be termed divinely comforting. Add the magically expressive voice of Talat and you have a heady concoction.

tera ghamqar hoon lekin main tujhtak aa nahi sakta

main apne naam teri bekasi likwah nahin sakta…

I share your sorrow but I cannot come near you

I cannot rid of your helplessness by making it my own

teri ankh ke aansoon peejaoon aisi meri taqdeer kahan,

tere gham mein tujhko behalawoon aisi meri taqdeer kahan;

I wish to lap up the tears in your eyes but I am not so fortunate

I want to give solace in your sorrow, but I am not so fortunate

aye kaash jo milkar rote, kuch dard toh halke hote

halaat ki uljhan suljawoon, aisi meri taqdeer kahan…

Alas! If we could meet and together cry,

a bit of sorrow could have been lightened

The tears would not have gone to waste,

a few wounds of the heart we could have washed

Your sorrow would not have been so much as it is felt in loneliness

Now, who knows how long this path of sorrow is...

To solve the problems of your circumstances, I am not so fortunate

kya teri zulf ka lehra, hai ab tak wohi sunehra

woh zulf pareshaan mahekaoon aisi meri taqdeer kahan…

how is it that the curls of your tresses are so golden even now

how is it that the winds stand sentinel at your door even now

but this situation is imaginary, your tresses have turned beggarly

in dire need of just one bud was the flower girl one day

those unwieldy tresses I could fill with fragrance, but I am not so fortunate

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Since this is a tribute to the greatest Ghazal singer of all time. I thought it appropriate to mention, apart from my own thoughts, the thoughts of various other people who are masters in their profession. I have mentioned only a few, the list of admirers is, however, endless.

Jagjit Singh once said of Talat Mahmood…”I was weaned on Talat Mahmood, so to speak, because much before we became popular, he was already the King if you’ll notice, Mehdi Hassan sings like him! There’s very little difference.”

The great Mehdi Hassan himself said of Talat…”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 10000 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.14000/- (in those days). All this, was of course, courtesy Talat Saab!”

Kishore Kumar on hearing Talat in Anil Biswas’s house is reported to have 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!”

Every actor and singer has praised Talat Mahmood unabashedly. My effort has merely been to present this rather unique singer to a generation that has not known much about him. With regard to the older generation who have been weaned on the likes of Saigal, Rafi, and their contemporaries this would be, I hope, a pleasant voyage of rediscovery – rediscovering the golden voice of Talat Mahmood.

As for me, I am going back to my Talat CD, my headphones, and of course my reflections. Try disturbing my reverie!

MB Farookh.

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