The following are excerpts from the recently released book Talat Mahmood: The Definitive Biography by Sahar Zaman, published with permission from the author. February 2024 marks the centenary birth anniversary of the yesteryear singer. 

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Perfection in Telugu 

He wrapped up the final year of this golden decade with another feather in his cap. He sang for another regional film, this time in Telugu. The film’s name was Manorama (1959). He sang three songs with music composed by Ramesh Naidu. This is Talat’s solo song in the film –

‘Andala seema sudha nilayam 
Ee lokame Divya Prema mayam’

(This beautiful sweet abode
The world is filled with divine love)

The music composer Ramesh Naidu knew Talat from his Calcutta days and he wanted all songs of the main lead sung by Talat. He was called to Chennai and rehearsals of all the songs would happen at the Taj Connemara Hotel where Talat was staying. It is often said that out of all the languages of South India, Telugu is the hardest. Despite Talat not knowing the language at all, Naidu was confident of his ability to sing comfortably in it. After all, he had witnessed how Talat had completely blended as a native speaker while singing in Bengali.

“His pronunciation was perfect. There was no hint of any non-native accent. It is especially difficult to do a ‘murki’ (inverted mordent in music) on the right word to evoke the right feeling, when you don’t understand the language. But he sang his ‘murki’ just at the apt moment”, adds his co-singer, P. Susheela. She is known as one of the tallest singing legends in the country, with a career spanning six decades across South Indian cinema. She has sung one duet with Talat in this film.

I fortunately had the chance to speak with her, despite her frail condition but the mention of Talat brought in a rush of fond memories about him. “His ability to sing on the key was amazing. His voice never wavered in ‘shruti’ (musical pitches). When he hit the note on his harmonium, it was difficult to differentiate his voice from the harmonium key because his voice was in perfect alignment.”

Talat - Marachi poyevemo mayani bhasalu, mankideyo sakhi

(Did you forget our promises, hard to get over o’ dear)

Susheela - ‘Marachi poradoyi cheysina vhaasalu, aashalu masina’

(Should not forget the promises made, even if hopes dwindle)

She further adds, “His control over emotions was remarkable. It would never overflow. You never felt he was overtly weeping or wailing because if emotions overflow, the listeners lose touch with song. My favourite song of his has been ‘Jaayen to jaayen kahaan’ which he sang in absolute perfection.”

Talat’s personality had the gift of making personal connections and fond friendships with colleagues very soon. People would feel the warmth of his affection and genuine care. Another great singer of that time from the South Indian music industry was P. B. Sreenivas, popularly known as PBS. He had once gone to visit Talat at his home in Bandra. Susheela recalls how PBS would often talk about that evening spent with Talat who sat with his harmonium and sang Ghazals for at least half an hour in honour of his visiting guest. PBS was mesmerised by his voice and touched by the gesture. He believed that there was no greater crooner than Talat, he was a natural in this genre and never required to scream out any emotions. Subtlety was his forte.

This 50s was the most successful and significant decade in Talat’s career. The 50s made him a superstar singer and a filmstar to the outside world and a complete family man at home. But there was never any time to take a breath and rest on some laurels. Talat didn’t believe in that. He was looking forward to the 1960s with more gusto and fervour. 

The Frank Sinatra of India

In August 1968, Talat received an invitation for a recording at the heart of Times Square at 1481 Broadway Studio. But this wasn’t for recording a song. He had been invited as a guest on the popular talk show called the ‘Joe Franklin Show’. The channel where this show was aired for decades was called WOR-TV with its recording studio called STUDIO-4, on the upper floor of the art deco Rialto Theatre. Nothing can beat the historic importance of this place which is part of the charming past of old Times Square. The show host Joe Franklin is credited for having the first ever talk show and was a pioneer in inventing the format of these one-on-one chats on television. The formula he created was about a curious show host sitting behind the desk, quizzing a range of personalities from varied professional fields. His show had an uninterrupted run from 1951 to 1993, with stars ranging from Bing Crosby, Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson and Woody Allen, to name a few. His envious list of guests also included Andy Warhol, Muhammad Ali and US Presidents like John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

There’s a picture of Talat standing with Franklin in his studio set with a background of abstract white and purple Mondrianesque triangles outlined in strong, black strokes. The audience immediately took note of this gentle legend from India when Franklin introduced him as the ‘Frank Sinatra of India’. This was a comparison which stuck on for long, especially when both crooning legends passed away barely five days apart in the same year in 1998.

The recording time of this episode with Franklin was about one hour long. His studio team had purchased a record of Talat’s songs to play out for the audience in between the interview. It was an amazing moment when an all American audience watched their favourite talk show host speak to a suave singer from India, while his songs in Urdu played out in between their conversation. Talat spoke about his music journey that had taken the Asian Diaspora by storm! The show was aired on August 29, 1968.

While in America, Talat heard about a new concept of film tourism that had gained popularity in the U.S. This was called the ‘Universal City Studio Tours’ which was a ticketed trip inside the Universal Studios in California. This is that part of history in which tourism and cinema were linked together with ticket sales. Universal showed how a film tourist gaze can bring immediate commercial benefit. Actor, singer and radio artist Bob Hastings used to be a regular at the Universal Studios. It was one such day that Hastings found out about a big star visiting from India. He was eager to talk to him about the workings of showbiz in India. He was delighted to know that Talat was a singer too and shared his newly released music album called ‘Bob Hastings Sings for the Family’. Hastings recorded an impromptu chat with Talat about his career and some pictures of them were clicked together for the local press. This trip to the U.S. worked as a great teaser. There were bigger concerts by Talat coming up in the USA and UK for the next decade, the 1970s.

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Royal Albert Hall 

It was the unstinting love and accolades that kept Talat going. Refusing to rest on his laurels, he was still on the move. He was touring and performing and winning hearts, gaining new fans across the globe. His tour to the United Kingdom was landmark, just like the United States. The highlight of this tour was performing at the esteemed Royal Albert Hall (RAH) in London in 1979. Ever since its launch by Queen Victoria in 1871, it has remained a coveted venue with a seating of more than 6,000. Leading artists of different genres from across the world wait for a chance to be approved for the venue, the calendar of which remains packed every year. 281 Speeches have been given by Albert Einstein, events by boxer Muhammad Ali, performances by Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, Beth Hart, Adele, PlayStation music concert, 60 years of James Bond, Hollywood film premiers, awards nights, just to name a few from a very long list of prestigious events.

On May 27, 1979, as Talat walked down the maroon-coloured carpeted and circular corridor backstage, looking at all the framed images on the walls of previous performers, he was aware of the historicity of this moment. It is a dream come true for any performing artist worth his/her salt. The majestic interiors of the amphitheatre under the glass dome designed in the Italian Renaissance style have been witness to the world’s most significant cultural events. To date, there are only a handful of Indian musicians and singers who have performed at the RAH. Talat stepped on stage to thunderous applause, waving to the crowd which was occupying the maroon swivel seats and balconies with little arches clad in maroon velvet curtains. All of this grandeur was placed 180 degrees around the singer while his back faced the grand pipe organ in the hall. Talat was always there to help his friends however possible. Work had entirely dried up for popular comedian actor Agha. Many would recall his roles in old films like Patita, Jugnu, etc. He decided to take Agha along as part of his troupe who became a popular presenter with the crowd for all his shows in the UK. After being introduced on stage by actor Agha as the King of Hearts, Talat stepped in and addressed the audience with a warm note, “Aapse mera purana rishta hai. Aapke saamne main ghair to nahin hoon. Aap ka purana gaane wala hoon jisko aap ne hamesha pasand kiya hai, shukriya (I have an old connection with you. I am no stranger to you. I’m a singer familiar to you, whom you have always liked, thank you).”

Talat gave an interesting insight on how he connected with different generations through his stage concerts. He reminisced about the audience that he had met during his East Africa tour in 1956. After their forced exodus from Uganda and Kenya under the Idi Amin dictatorship, many of them settled in the UK. Many children who were part of his audience in East Africa were today attending Talat’s concert at the RAH as adults. One wonders, could Britain’s youngest Prime Minister Rishi Saunak’s parents have been in this audience? Quite possibly, yes!

He started the show with one of his favourite songs to set the mood, ‘Hain sabse madhur woh geet jinhe’ from the film Patita (1953). Incredibly, despite all his film songs which were iconic hits and had become timeless classics by the 1970s, his foremost and first ever blockbuster of his career was a non- film ghazal which never failed to give Talat the loudest claps. Talat said, “This Ghazal was released in 1944 and it still sells like hot cakes to date”. This ghazal was ‘Tasveer teri dil mera behla na sakegi’. The audience at the RAH wanted an encore after the ghazal but Talat apologised in order to move on to other songs. The restless audience always had to be pacified by Talat that their ‘farmaaish’ (requested songs) would be sung by him as well but he would be unable to accommodate an encore for any song. But then guess what? The persuasive audience eventually got their way! Amidst the whistles and claps, Talat repeated the stanza of this song from the film Dil-e-Nadan (1953), which was also his film as an actor in the main lead.

‘Bekhata tune mujh se khushi chheen li 
Zinda rakha magar zindagi chheen li
Kar diya dil ka khun
Chup kahaan tak rahun
Saaf kyu na kahun
Tu khushi se meri dar gaya
Zindagi dene wale sun’

(Why have you snatched away my happiness
I’m alive but breathing without a soul
My heart swims in blood
To what avail is my silence
Isn’t it crystal clear
You are envious of my happiness
O, Giver of Life, hear me out)

As the ovation for him thundered down, he had just launched the musical equivalent of a grand slam. The audience joined in with a fresh jolt of delighted cheers. In the alchemy that a great performance can produce, Talat had united a houseful of strangers into celebrants in the borderless nation of music. His final song for the evening was ‘Jhoome re, neela ambar jhoome’ from the film ‘Ek Gaon Ki Kahani’(1957). As Talat hummed away the last line of this peppy song, the applause didn’t stop. The crowd cheered louder for an encore. The British official from the RAH took over the mike, profusely apologising to the audience that the time is up, thanking Talat for the brilliant success of his show. It is believed that tickets to this concert were entirely sold out two weeks in advance.

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