It was 1990 - and I was mid way through the much-hyped teen years, when one night on our Vividh Bharati's 10PM Chaya geet floated "Jalte hain jiske liye". I may have heard this song before - but it was ordained that I had to get hooked on to this voice that night - and for the last decade I have grown and grown into a Talat Mahmood devotee. Never had there been such a voice - and never will we again hear such a voice. What a voice it was !! Such melody and such beauty - to fill a human heart with all the peace and soothe that it much requires in this deranged world !! After a day of such dust and noise, a few moments alone with Talat saab's songs- the lights switched off are a must for me. His voice has influenced me no end. I really do not know how - but since I have grown to being a Talat saab fan, I have felt myself change also as a person- for better or worse I do not know.But when Talat saab's voice is aired, you feel like talking in whispers. You cannot be loud - that would be blasphemy. Or so it seems. This may all seem more like "mounntain-out-of-Talat" stuff. But these are very real personal experiences. All music connoisseurs will agree with me. Ask a M.S.Subbulakshmi fan - and why tears flow without restraint during her concerts. It is MUSIC. And the music magic does that to all its true lovers.

Anil Biswas on Talat Mahmood- the time of discovery

Just as Saigal is Saigal, Talat is Talat. 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. When asked of this great pairing, Dilip Kumar said "The songs he sung were nothing short of revolutionary in the field of filmi ghazals. His voice would convey so much feeling that we hardly needed to act much - the voice conveyed all the feelings by itself."

The next five years were years of almost uninterrupted success for Talat saab. He lent his voice to all major actors of the day from Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand to Premnath and Chandrashekar. To Talat, it was the lyrics that was of paramount importance. "We were lucky to have such fine poets writing songs at that time - Shakeel, Majrooh, Sahir and others." With Shakeel Badayuni, he formed a lasting friendship - so much so that Shakeel willed him a few of his poems on his death.

Talat worked with almost all the music directors of the day - Anil da, Naushad, C.Ramchandra, Roshan,Hansraj Behl, Husnalal Bhagatram, Shyamsunder, Sajjad Hussain, Ravi, Madan Mohan,S.D.Burman,Shankar Jaikishen,Vasant Desai,Salil Chowdhury, Khaiyyam, Jaidev, Sardar Malik, Chittragupta and oh, so many more. That indeed was the golden age. He held Madan Mohan in special regard- "His style of compositions matched my style - we blended really well." as is apparent by the large number of super-super songs that this pairing gave us. Gems like "Meri yaad me tum na ansu bahana" , "Mera qarar leja" , "Yaad jab aaye teri" , "Mohobbat me kashish hogi" , "Do din ki mohobbat me humne" , "Humse aaya na gaya" and my personal favourite - "Main paagal mera manwa paagal" and so, so many more are striking witnesses to this fact.

His acting career was more modest - he acted in 13 films, 3 of which became fair hits thanks mainly to the mesmerizing spell of Talat's songs. "Dil-e-nadan" - who can ever forget the absolute Talat gems here - "Mohobbat ki dhun", "Yeh raat suhani raat nahi" , "Zindagi dene wale sun" and the best - "Jo khushi se chot khaye woh nazar kahan se laoon". Then came "Waris" - Anil Biswas' "Rahi matwale" became the foot-tapping runaway hit of the year. "Ek gaon ki kahani" had a number of superb Salil da composition including the evergreen "Raat ne kya kya khwab dikhaye".

With the advent of "Yaaahoo", film music slipped to louder and cheaper music - and Talat saab had nothing to do with it. He gracefully slipped out of the arena which he had adorned for a decade and more- but he remained a much sought singer - now in the field of private ghazals. HHis ghazals and geets form a precious heritage of their own which have in their own way revolutionized Ghazals in India. His concerts all over the world were of great popularity. Last year, on May 25, Talat saab passed away leaving behind a legacy of the most bewitching melodies. Melodies which have withstood the harsh traverses of time - and as long as there is music and music connoisseurs in this world, so long will Talat saab's voice continue to cast the spell of melody, peace , beauty and romance.

My 10 All-Time Favorite Talat Mahmood Songs

1. Main paagal mera manwa paagal(Madan Mohan)	2. Ro ro beeta jeevan sara(Khayyam)
3. Jo khushi se chot khaye woh(Ghulam Mohd)	4. Hain sabse madhur woh geet (Shankar Jaikishen)
5. Mohobbat turk ki maine (Anil Biswas)	6. Jiyunga jab talak tere afsane yaad ayenge (Manohar)
7. Sitaron tum gawah rehna main (Anil Biswas)	8. Do din ki mohobbat me humne(Madan Mohan)
9. Main dil hoon ek arman bhara (Roshan)	10. Ansoo to nahi hai ankhon me (Jamalsen)

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