Youtube talat Mehmood and hemant kumar songs…This is a mood for old hindi songs from the bengali – neorealist era(which means plenty of fedoras , Shots of the sky reflected from the water, the shadows of sad evenings…and arabesque harems are the settings for these talat, hemant and Kishore kumar songs in Hindi and bengali.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u_6VaeQQ-w
Teri duniyan mein jeene se House Number 44.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAs2wiCqQlI
Jaane Woh Kaise Log the jinke : Pyaasa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YY2pZa22Io
Yaad Kiya dil ne kahan ho tum.. :
Jalte hain jis ke liye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuO_5AIkCsM
Humse aaya na gaya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CRiZH8JTaM
Hain sabse madhur who geet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOYDw_jKMc8
Ae mere dil Kahin Aur Chal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaYPOqSX06Q
Tere dar pe aaya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjEk9YVJkM0
Andhey jahaan ke andhe raaste
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqIaEgIKI2I
Arman bhare dil ki lagan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWI0WGx56Yg
Dil ki umangen hain jawan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfg5nHbH0j4
Phir wohi Shaam.
Jayen to jaayen Kahan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yghFAegNyKA
Dil matwala laakh sambhala
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMVRI92EV_0&mode=related&search=
Kushi ke saath duniyan mein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mpnz0MAHFw
Milte hi aankhen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsglOZgwhHw
Ae dil mujhe aise jagah le chal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVstB_FtDnc
Shaam e gam ki kasam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXrB-E7dVmA
Jayen to Jaayen Kahan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1B43ECYRdc
Mitwa Laagi re ye kaisi (devdas)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzIrPBqK5DI
Duniyan badal gayi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWtb3I-lnOc
Itna na mujh se
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM-cQB2SyFs
Ami chini go chini : Ray’s Charulatha..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYVvsMwlljs
Sankha bela ke pratham kale asche
http://video.mlmlaboratory.com/video/WTnIBNnqOHg
Akaash bora surju tara from Komal Ghandar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y8m_apPJeQ
Shudo Jao Aasha
The Popular Front (Alo Marsha!) 
Hemant Kumar was one of the notable personalities who made significant contribution in bollywood and tollywood music. He composed music for the films Nagin,
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Hemant Kumar is sadly a much under-rated singer and even more under-assessed music director. In an era mainly dominated by Mohammad Rafi in playback singing and by such stalwarts as Nushad, C.Ramchandra, Madan Mohan, Salil Chowdhury and S.D.Burman Hemant ji found it hard to over ride the tides of current film music trends. Yet , when one looks back today, one feels he contributed a different style of singing and a far distinguished manner of music that set him apart as a class in himself. Like his serene and towering personality which could cast an awesome effect on anyone [ no wonder Lata Mangeshkar used to touch his feet], his musical compositions and orchestral arrangement left a celestial, other-worldly magical impact on the listeners. One has only to listen once again to his songs in Shart, Kohra, Bin Badal Barsat, Fashion , Jagriti, Miss Mary , Champakali , Maa Beta and several other films to get a sense of the essentially contemplative and philosophical mood with which he used to enrich them. Nobody from amongst the existing singers could render the songs like ‘Tumhe jo bhi dekh legs’, ‘Jab jag uthe arman’, ‘Na yeh chand hoga’, ‘ Main gharibon ka dil’, ‘Suraj re jalte rahna’, Tumhara intezar hai’, ‘Zindagi pyar ki do chaar ghadi’ and a large number of other hauntingly lingering lyrics the way he did. Most notable are his non filmi songs like ‘Bhala that kitna apna bachpan’, ‘Yad karogi hamein tum’,’Patthar ki trha ho dil jiska’, etc.There is a dire need to make a serious and thorough re-assessment of this unique, very melodious and upright singer who never make compromises under pressure and yet possessed an immaculate sense like a born musician of the appropriateness of a singer at particular situations. He is one of the few music directors to have used Mohammad Rafi with perfect sense of the singer’s range and merits. It is hoped, one day a realistic evaluation of Hemant Kumar will be made.
Shard Rajimwale
Jodhpur
Thanks Sharad for such an upright writing on Hemant Kumar. You presented Hemant Kumar exactly the way he deserves to be presented.
I completely agree with you on the point that Hemant’s creations were always with philosophical touches. The songs like “Chup gaya Koi re” and “Kuch dilne Kahna kuch bhi nehi” by Lata, are the two gems from many, which transpires through one’s heart with permanent imprint.
Thanks for giving such an unique view regarding Hemant Kumar. I also think Hemant Kumar’s genius has not yet been properly assessed. Actually there is nobody to sing his song in proper way both in Hindi and Bengali.
Talat Mehmood is one singer who stands unique among all the singers by virtue of his exceptional singing style and that other-worldly voice which floats ethereally like the fragrance-laden breeze of early morning. That is why he cannot easily be imitated. He redefined ghazal singing in early fifties when KLSaigal type of style needed to be replaced by something new and fresh. He did that successfully, and dominated the ghazal world by his own style. There was such stunning freshness about this new tender way of singing that almost all great music directors ran after him. But credit must go to Salil Choudhury and Talat’s mentor Anil Biswas for shaping him into the immortal icon of love song singer that he became. It is sad that he had to leave the stage while he was still capable of singing as effectively as ever in mid-sixties. I think one person who could most aptly use his voice was Madan Mohan. But times were changing and his type of songs faded out. Yet it is a treat to listen to his renditions of Mirza Ghalib and numerous love lyrics penned by Fayyaz Hashmi, Madhukar Rajasthani etc. His songs shall always remain fresh and inspire younger singers who take ghazal singing seriously for there is a lot to learn from him.
I am totally agree with Mr. Sharad Rajimwale about the Great Singer Talat Mehmood and Hemant Kumar..
Please let me know his e-mail address….or please forward my e-mail address to him.
Thanking you
Dilip Shridhar Kulkarni
Dear Mr. Kulkarni,
My E-mail is sharad_rajimwale@yahoo.com
Warm Regards
Sharad Rajimwale
Talat Mahmood was the orignal ghazal singer and I have not heard of any better ghazal singer. He has been forgotton before his time. People dont know what they are missing out.
Dear Abdul Quereshiji,
Great singers like Talat Mehmood can never be forgotten or pushed to oblivion. They are always there with us like fragrance of fresh flowers. We must accept the fact that Talat had always commanded a small following. He was not like Mohammad Rafi who conquered every heart in the country and his admirers were just crazy about him. But the fanatic Talat-lovers have been steady and permanent devotees. Every generation will find its small group of dedicated listeners of this immortal singer. I happen to be one of them.
Sharad Rajimwale
Mr Sharad Rajimwale’s observation that Talat Mahmood redefined ghazal-singing and replaced KL Saigal style of singing ghazals, does not seem to me to carry any weight. K.L Saigal had a unique style of singing ghazals. It was inimitable. Talat Mhamood was a great ghazal singer, no doubt, but his voice lacked the range that Saigal was capable of. Saigal could vary the pitch and intonation of his voice according to the raga in which a ghazal was set. He could sing, ‘Ah ko chahiye ik umar asar hone tak’ in the lower otaves as easily as he could sing, ‘Bekhabriye dil ko diwana bana dena, har sans ki hasti se…’ in the higher octaves. Then, can you imagine Talat Mahmood singing ‘Layee hayat aye kazza le chali chale’ the way Saigal sang it? It is not my intention to downgrade Talat Mahmood. He had a lovely voice with a silken smoothness about it. I cannot imagine anyone else singing a song like, ‘Jalte hain jis ke liye teri ankhon ke diye’. It was only Talat who could lend it depth and poignancy. In short, Saigal has a unique place in the pantheon of singers, and Talat Mahmood too has his place in that elite company.
Dear A C Tuli,
Thanks for your candid observation.
It is difficult to disagree with your opinions.
However, it is not the question of comparing Talat Mehmood with K.L.Sehgal. Sehgal is incomparable, and inimitable. He forms not only a particular phase in Indian play back singing but a distinctive school of ghazal singing which inspired a number of singers to follow his style. Both Talat Mehmood and Mohammad Rafi began their career by adopting the sehgal repertoire,but later on created their own style which again grew into distinct schools. This is how great artists develop into icons. My point is that we must be careful about setting up comparative evaluations since this might often degenerate into denigrating one while we praise the other. I still stand by my view that Talat evolved a style which remains unparalleled. Possessing pitch and range of voice may not be sufficient guarantee for a singers’ achieving the height of perfection. Rafi is a class apart in commanding a mastery over the easy modulation of pitch and range which no living or past singer could possess. Yet Rafi could not create that effect which Talat could do with enviable ease within his limitations. Isn’t this why Salil Chowdhury, Anil Biswas and Madan Mohan preferred him over others? He was the best example of how a singer turns his limitations into great singing asset. Perhaps other singers also wished they had the same limited range which Talat had! Herein lies Talat’s Olympian Musical genius. We can understand this by comparing Lata Mangeshkar style with that of Geeta Dutt. Geeta’s ‘Waqt ne kiya kya hanseen sitam’ from Kaghaz Ke Phool is her own special song and twenty Latas wouldn’t have given us that song. So with Geet’a ‘Jane kya tune kahi, jane kya maine suni’ fron Pyasa. That should make it clear why Talat Mehmood is not an extension of the KLSehgal school of ghazal singing but a distinct and separate school altogether. If Sehgal saheb could come back and listen to Talat’s ghazals he would truly be amazed to see that ghazals could be rendered in this way also! And also feel convinced that ghazal-singing is a mult-coloured dome [ as the poet Shelley said in a different context] full of endless possibilities which is what makes it survive the ravages of fashion and time. A third great school was formed by the monumental Begum Akhtar who stood totally apart from these two.
Sharad Rajimwale
Jodhpur
Dear Mr Sharad Rajimwale,
It is indeed gratifying to note that you and I agree on certain points in so far as the singing styles of K. L Saigal and Talat Mahmood are concerned. In this missive, however, my intention is to dwell on a completely different topic – that is, the sad state to which film music has been reduced by the present-day composers and lyricists. Whereas technologically filmmaking has registered a tremendous improvement over the years, film music unfortunately has deteriorated to such an extent that it no longer sounds as music.
If you ask the present-day music directors and lyricists why the shelf life of their film songs is so short, they will, in justification, trot forth a number of flimsy reasons, the chief one being that they supply whatever is demanded of them.
I do not pretend to have any deep knowledge of music, but I am proud of saying that I have a keen ear for good music. When I was a child, the singers who were then household names were Mohammad Rafi, Manna Dey, Mukesh, Hemant Kumar, Talat Mahmood, Kishore Kumar. In fact, as a schoolboy the singers I loved listening to were Mukesh, Talat Mahmood, Manna Dey, Mohammad Rafi and Hemant Kumar.
As a child, I had often heard an uncle of mine waxing lyrical over the sterling qualities of K.L Saigal as a singer. Till then I was unaware of the magic of his voice. But when I started listening to the songs of this great singer, I was simply bowled over. The more I listened to him, the more obsessed I grew with his voice.
Then, the music directors to whose compositions I was exposed in my childhood were creative geniuses like Khemchand Prakash, Anil Biswas, Naushad, Sajjad Hussain, Bulo C Rani, S. D. Burman, Roshan, Madan Mohan, Khayyam, Ghulam Mohammad and a few others. Doubtless, all of them have rendered inestimable service to Hindi film music. Then, we had lyricists like Shakeel Badayuni, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Rajinder Krishan, Qamar Jalalabadi, Prem Dhawan, Neeraj, and a few others who knew how to express emotions and sentiments in a language that scrupulously avoided vulgarity.
I do not want to disparage the present-day music directors, but I would be delighted if anyone could cite just one creation of theirs that would be remembered, say, some fifty years hence. Shall we cherish the ‘Jai ho’ of A. R. Rahman as much as most of us still do ditties like, ‘Apni azadi ko hum hargiz mita sakte nahin’ or ‘Kar chale hum fida jan-o-tan sathiyo, ab tumhare hawale watan sathiyo’, or ‘De di hamen azadi bina khadag bina dhal, Sabarmati ke sant…’?
It goes without saying that the songs of old films still sell far more than the songs of new films. It is because even today songs of a film like ‘Baiju Bawra’ are as riveting as they were some sixty years ago. Then, shall we ever have another Roshan who could compose a quwali like ‘Na to karvaan ki talaash hai, na to hum safar ki …’? The soulful film ghazals that Madan Mohan created are unsurpassable. His ‘Hum pyar mein jane walon ko chain kahan’ is emotionally so stirring that one forgets for a while the sordid cares of life. And I would like to know, do we have a music director, a lyricist, and a singer who could collaborate to create a song like ‘Jayen to jayen kahan, samje ga kaun yahan’?
Dear mr. A.C.Tuli,
It is a pleasure to communicate with you. Genuine music-lovers can only agree on salient points which foreground the essence of melody in music. I subscribe to your views on the degenerate condition of present day film music and I need not repeat your ideas. All I can do is to add that today’s films and their music reflect the content of life that is lived and presented. The absence of values and harmony in life will certainly find reflection in the art forms of the times. But at the same time film makers have forgotten that they can shape the tastes of the common man, as you have rightly pointed out. Once Naushad had said in an interview that it is the music makers who must create and refine the habits of the public and not the public who must tell what to write and how to compose. In old days Film directors like V. Shantaram, Mehboob Khan, Sohrab Modi and Bimal Roy treated film making as art, though box office profit was also a main consideration. They took the best out of men like Shanker-Jaikishan, Vasant Desai, C. Ramchandra and Chitragupt, on the one hand and Shailendra, Pradeep and Sahir on the other. The spirit of team work could never have failed to click. When I see on U-TUBE clippings of Rafi, Mukesh and others I feel overwhelmed by the remarkable display of team work. Even lesser music directors like Iqbal Quereshi, Dan Singh, Ram Lal, Dattaram, N, Dutta and Dulal Guha or Snehal Bhatkar could produce good melodious compositions only because they knew where melody lies and not because the public demanded vulgarity and cacophony.
I think music took a turn for the worse sometime in mid-70s with the turbulent emergence of R.D.Burman, Anand Bakshi and on the screen the eternally anarchist image of Amitabh Bachchan whose stature as the ‘Actor of the Millennium’ [!!] is highly questionable contrasted with artists like Prithviraj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar. In this age of self adulation and aggressive media hype any one can be turned into super-hero, and getting awards is no big deal [ seeing the Nobel Peace Prize being conferred on President Barrack Obama before he had completed six months in the office !]. So the Jai Ho composer far out strips the likes of Naushad, Anil Bishwas, S.N.Tripathi and Madan Mohan. I would have liked to see A.R.Rehman sweating it over in the 1950s and 1960s in competion with Salil Chowdhury, Hemant Kumar, Naushad and O.PNayyar!
Sharad Rajimwale
Jodhpur
A C TULI
I find an echo of my own true feelings in what Mr Sharad Rajimwale has said about Hemant Kumar. I think anyone who has an ear for good music cannot remain immune to the vocal magic that this singer-composer can work with his inimitable sur and taal. As a school-going lad, I was first introduced to his non-film songs like ‘Bhala tha kitna apna bachpan’, ‘Kitna dukh bhulaya tum ne pyari’, ‘Anchal se kyon band liya muj pardesi ka payar’, ‘Aaj sharabi ankhon se peene ki hum ne thani’ and many others.
A non-film song of Hemant Kumar that he sang with a peculiar melancholic ring to his resonant baritone was, ‘O preet nibhane wali mujhe khabar hai, tu bhoole gi ik din mera pya, apne gale se mere prem ki mala de gi utaar’, and it made a particularly vivid impression on my mind in my teen years. So, before I had listened to his film songs, it was his non-film songs that sank deep into my psyche and kept haunting my ears in my hours of solitude.
His film songs too have left a deep impression on my mind. But my tastes in music are slightly peculiar. While I love listening to songs of Hemant Kumar that have gained wide popularity, it is his lesser known songs that sometimes have an overpowering effect on my mind. For instance, Hemant Kumar sang a song in the film ‘Hill Station’, ‘Wo khush naseeb hain jin ko jahan mein pyar mila, hamen to dil bhi mila wo bhi bekrar mila’. I think no other singer could have sung it the way Hemant Kumar did it. It is a lover’s dirge sung in a voice that suggests measureless depths of the sadness of a frustrated lover.
Similarly, Hemant Kumar’s song, ‘Kaise koi jiye zehr hain zindagi…’ from the film ‘Badbaan’ has a unique place in his entire repertoire of songs.
on March 18, 2010 at 12:27 am | Reply A C TULI
A C TULI
I find an echo of my own true feelings in what Mr Sharad Rajimwale has said about Hemant Kumar. I think anyone who has an ear for good music cannot remain immune to the vocal magic that this singer-composer can work with his inimitable sur and taal. As a school-going lad, I was first introduced to his non-film songs like ‘Bhala tha kitna apna bachpan’, ‘Kitna dukh bhulaya tum ne pyari’, ‘Anchal se kyon band liya muj pardesi ka payar’, ‘Aaj sharabi ankhon se peene ki hum ne thani’ and many others.
A non-film song of Hemant Kumar that he sang with a peculiar melancholic ring to his resonant baritone was, ‘O preet nibhane wali mujhe khabar hai, tu bhoole gi ik din mera pya, apne gale se mere prem ki mala de gi utaar’, and it made a particularly vivid impression on my mind in my teen years. So, before I had listened to his film songs, it was his non-film songs that sank deep into my psyche and kept haunting my ears in my hours of solitude.
His film songs too have left a deep impression on my mind. But my tastes in music are slightly peculiar. While I love listening to songs of Hemant Kumar that have gained wide popularity, it is his lesser known songs that sometimes have an overpowering effect on my mind. For instance, Hemant Kumar sang a song in the film ‘Hill Station’, ‘Wo khush naseeb hain jin ko jahan mein pyar mila, hamen to dil bhi mila wo bhi bekrar mila’. I think no other singer could have sung it the way Hemant Kumar did it. It is a lover’s dirge sung in a voice that suggests measureless depths of the sadness of a frustrated lover.
Similarly, Hemant Kumar’s song, ‘Kaise koi jiye zehr hain zindagi…’ from the film ‘Badbaan’ has a unique place in his entire repertoire of songs.
really nice one………
Recently I heard in Talat’s voice ‘chal ud ja re panchhi’ from Bhabhi film which we all know Md. Rafi had sung in the film. I wonder why Talat version was removed . Though Rafi song is matchless, Talat rendition is hypnotizing.The film would have gained immensely by retaining both the versions.– Sharad Rajimwale
aa gaayin phir sey baharein…. talat mehmood ,kidhar hae tu ae meri tamana… kl saigal,……. ek sitara hae aakaash mein ….c h aatma …………you will see that the trio are at the same level of immortal rendition ….i see convergence of style in pathos ! pitch ,timbre ,quality all inclusive….. but saigol had huge range not subdued by the villain alcohol , just listen to his closing numbers, gham diyae mustqil and chah barbaad, the fragile beauty of talats voice was subdued in later repetition singing for lps , like aatma but ! saigol shoud lead all the lads with their agreement ! even pankaj mullik will push saigol to the front ,!…..but i love ,.. mein nein aaj piya, thanks.
Mr Ahmed Masoud’s comments make interesting reading. He had juxtaposed CH Atma with KL Saigal and Talat Mahmood. I think Atma’s contribution to film and non-film music is not of a stature as to render him eligible for the company of the other two stalwarts. Atma’s tragedy was that he spent his entire singing career moulding himself into the image of KL Saigal, which he could not. It was because his voice had a very limited range. The only music director who took some interest in him was O.P Nayyar, who recorded his first non-film song, ‘Preetam aan milo…’ The songs Atma sang under Shankar-Jaikishan’s direction in ‘Nagina’ and under OP Nayyar direction in ‘Aasman’ are unforgettable. But, taken all in all, Atma failed to make a place for himself in the film music. He died a frustrated man.
Sharad Rijimwale wonders why the Talat Mahmood sung song, ‘Chal ud ja re panchi…’ in ‘Bhabi’ was removed to accommodate the one rendered by Mohammad Rafi. I think very often it is the producer of the film who interferes in the music director’s work to have his own way. The truth is that Talat Mahmood who was keen on becoming singer-hero of Hindi films was neglecting his playback singing work. But most of the films in which he appeared as hero in the 50s bombed at the box office. To name just a few, ‘Dil-e-Nadan’ (1953), ‘Malik’ (1956), ‘Sone Ki Chidya’ (1956), ‘Ek Gaon Ki Kahani’ (1958), ‘Lala Rukh’ (1958) and a few others. But this abortive foray in acting cost him his playback singing career. By 1957 he had started losing his popularity as singer. His voice quality had also declined. Therefore, the producer of ‘Bhabi’ preferred Mohammad Rafi to Talat Mahmood.
But sometimes it so happens that the music director himself is not much satisfied with the rendering of a song by a particular singer. For instance, the song, ‘Yeh kooche yeh galian….’ in ‘Pyasa’ was first recorded by S.D. Burman in the voice of Manna Dey, but then he had second thoughts and thought that the song would sound better in the voice of Rafi. Hence the change. Incidentally, the number sung of Manna Dey was never issued commercially. It is perhaps lying with the successors of S.D. Burman or Guru Dutt’s son, or perhaps Manna Dey. It would be interesting if it is put on Youtube.