{"id":5672,"date":"2020-05-09T07:53:16","date_gmt":"2020-05-09T02:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=5672"},"modified":"2020-05-11T16:24:34","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T10:54:34","slug":"the-smiling-rainbow-of-talat-mahmood-tapan-kumar-bengali-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/the-smiling-rainbow-of-talat-mahmood-tapan-kumar-bengali-songs\/","title":{"rendered":"Jetha Ramdhanu Othe Heshe: The Smiling Rainbow of Talat Mahmood (Tapan Kumar’s) Bengali Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Talat

Talat Mahmood<\/p><\/div>\n

Those were the days when the film industry in Calcutta was flourishing under the New Theatres banner, and the house was working on its new film My Sister<\/em>. KL Saigal, back in Calcutta for the film after a brief period of being engaged with Ranjit Movietone’s films in Bombay, was ready for recording Do naina matware tihare, hum par zulm kare.<\/em> Pankaj Kumar Mullick, the music director of the film invited young singer of twenty for being present during the recording. The young man, ever so moved by Saigal’s songs and films, was overwhelmed watching the legend record the classic song. Little did he know that he was soon going to be cast in a film, and that too one, with Kanan Devi, one of KL Saigal’s most well known heroines. He soon became famous in Calcutta as Tapan Kumar, not just as an actor, but as a singer with immense possibilities. The audience of Calcutta remained quite unaware of Tapan’s real name. It was several years later that Tapan Kumar began shining in the light of his own name – Talat Mahmood, a name cherished by music lovers till date.<\/p>\n

How did Pankaj Mullick come to know the young Talat that he let him attend the recording of the most well known name of the silver screen then? The story goes back to 1941, when he was a student of the Marris College of Music (presently Bhatkhande Music Institute Deemed University), learning under Shukl Chandrashekhar Ramkrishna Bhat. Having returned from Aligarh after completing his schooling, Talat had come back to his hometown, Lucknow, and got admitted to the Marris College. It was during this time that he began broadcasting Ghazals both from AIR Lucknow and AIR Lahore. The His Master\u2019s Voice Company didn’t fail to recognise the immense possibilities that were latent in the young singer’s voice and in 1941, invited Talat to Calcutta for recording.<\/p>\n

\"Pankaj

Pankaj Mullick<\/p><\/div>\n

The music industry of the 1941 Calcutta was shining gloriously with outpouring of talent and creativity from KC Dey, Pankaj Mullick, Kamal Dasgupta and Kanan Devi. Talat went to Calcutta, taking a short break from his classes in college, and signed a one-year contract with HMV. The same year, in the month of September, his first record with two songs penned by Faiyaz Hashmi and tuned by Subal Dasgupta (Kamal Dasgupta, as per some sources), saw the light of the day.<\/p>\n

Pankaj Mullick was present when the 17 year old singer was recording one of these two songs, Sab din ek saman nahi tha\/ Ban jaunga kya se kya mein iska to kuchh dhyan nahi tha<\/em>, at the HMV Studio in Dum Dum. Impressed by the voice and musical abilities of Talat, he repeated the words of the song ‘ban jaunga kya se kya mein’<\/em>, and that these were prophetic and he would be a famous singer some day. Thus, when Talat Mahmood came back to Calcutta a few years later, after having completed his three-year course in the Marris College of Music, did Mullick, affectionately invite him to watch KL Saigal record for My Sister<\/em> in the New Theatres Studio. It was just a matter of time for Talat to be recognised as a great singer, he knew.<\/p>\n

\"Talat<\/a>

Talat Mahmood\u2019s (as Tapan Kumar) first record of Bengali songs, released in 1944<\/p><\/div>\n

Pankaj Mullick’s words couldn’t fail to come true. KL Saigal’s My Sister<\/em> was released in 1944, and in November-December, the same year, Talat’s first Bengali songs, Shono go sonar meye<\/em> and Jobe esechhile tumi priyo<\/em> (Composer – Kamal Dasgupta \/ Lyricist – Pranab Roy), saw the light of the day in a record released by HMV.<\/p>\n

Apart from being a composer, Kamal Dasgupta had been one of the trainers most sought for during the times. A year before this, Hemanta Mukherjee had cut his first disc with Hindi songs, under Kamal Dasgupta. That was when Hemanta got his alternative name ‘Hemant Kumar’ and became known outside Bengal by that name. Now when Talat Mahmood recorded his first Bengali songs, Kamal Dasgupta named ‘Tapan Kumar’, the name which brought him fame in Bengal.<\/p>\n

Kamal Dasgupta kept a keen eye on perfect pronunciation, knowing that Talat was not a native speaker of Bengali. He asked the lyricist to read out the words of the songs aloud, and Talat, to carefully note each of the pronunciations.<\/p>\n

\"Kamal

Kamal Dasgupta<\/p><\/div>\n

The success of first Bengali record ensured more chances of recording come the singer’s way. Though he recorded Bengali songs under the name Tapan Kumar, his records of Hindi and Urdu songs had him singing under his real name Talat Mahmood.<\/p>\n

The year 1944 also saw the release of Tasveer tera dil mera behla na sakegi<\/em> (Kamal Dasgupta \/ Faiyaz Hashmi), the Ghazal which gained a lot of appreciation from listeners of different parts of the country, thus proving to be a very important juncture in Talat\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

The mid 40s were not only important for Talat Mahmood as it brought him to the limelight as a singer, but also because it was during this time that Talat Mahmood shaped himself as an actor. Kanan Devi had left New Theatres back in 1941, and was working for Rajlakshmi<\/em>, her seventh film under Muralidhar Chatterjee’s M P Productions. Talat, too was cast in a role. Directed by the famous poet and author Premendra Mitra, the film, released in mid-1945, and had well known actors like Chhabi Biswas, Jahar Ganguly and Tulsi Chakraborty in the cast.<\/p>\n

Shono go shonar meye<\/em><\/strong> (1944, Kamal Dasgupta \/ Pranab Roy)<\/span><\/p>\n