Talat Mahmood-Singer and Actor with Grace

Talat Mahmood is one of the gem of Indian film industry who is still known for his sweet and elegant way of singing. He was the king of ghazal and acted in movies too.

Life of Talat Mahmood

Talat Mahmood was born on 24 Feb, 1924 in Lucknow, India, to Manojoor Mahmood. He belonged to a conservative family where acting in films was beyond imagination. Talat showed interest in singing since very early when he would spend nights to listen few of the famous renowned classical Indian music.

Needless to say, that he had to face a lot of objection from the family when opted to act in films but got accepted once he got respect and recognition in the industry.

He moved to Mumbai and sang more than 800 songs and ghazal in his life. He was a Filmfare and Padma Bhushan Awardee.
Talat began singing ghazal on All India Radio, Lucknow when he was 16-year-old. He got famous with his unique style of singing. HMV,on listening him offered him first disc in 1941.

Talat Mahmood began his singing career at the age of 16 in 1939 when he began singing the Ghazals of Daag, Mir, Jigar etc. on All India Radio, Lucknow. His voice had a quality distinct from all the other singers. HMV was quick to notice this and offered Talat his first disc in 1941. Very soon he got fame and name and sang for the famous ghazal singers like Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, K.L. Saigal and M.A. Rauf.

Talat sang for many films and acted in Bombay and Calcutta film industry.

The classical songs he sang were ” Sapnon Ki Suhaani Duniyaa Ko ” for film Shikast and ” Laage Tose Naina ” for Chaandi Ki Dewar.

Talat’s voice was so lovely that everyone would fall in love with it. He sang many soft and Sombre song classical and non-classical songs in an elegant manner.

He died on 9 May, 1988

Famous Songs of Talat Mahmood

Though Talat Mahmood sang lot of songs and ghazal in his career but few of the most famous were:

Humse aaya na gaya – (1957)
Jayen to jayen kahan – (1954)
Tasveer banata hoon – (1955)
Dil-E-Nadaan tujhe hua kya hai – (1954)
Itna na mujhse tu pyar badha – (1961)
Seene me sulagtein hain armaan, aakhon mein udasi chhayee hai – (1951)
Aansoo samajh ke kyon mujhe – (1961)
Aha rim jhim ke ye pyare pyare geet liye – (1960)
Sham-E-Gham ki qassam – (1953)
Jalte hain jiske liye – (1959)
Meri yaad me tum na – (1951)
Phir wohi sham wohi gam – (1964)
Aye mere dil kahin aur chal – (1952)
Zindagi dene wale sun – (1953)
Main dil hoon ek armaan bhara – (1952)