Talat's "happy" melodies

The persona of Talat as the singer of blues looms so large that it shadows his sparkling cascade of bubbly duets. In fact, Talat's contribution to the romantic duets genre is immense. His style is typical of the man - the hero comes out as a gentleman, a person who romances more with his eyes and softness of nature than a macho hero that Mohd Rafi personified on the likes of Shammi Kapoor etc in the 1960s. This is not to belittle Rafi in any way because he has definitely sung some of the finest duets of Indian cinema.

Anyway, this small blog is about Talat and his duets. Needless to say, most of Talat's best duets are with Lata, and some with Geeta, Asha and Shamshad. Here is a list of my personal favourite of Talat's duets :

ye nayii nayii priit hai (Lata/Pocketmaar, 1956) : A stunner from Madan Mohan. Madan used his two favourite singers to near perfection. The tune is lilting and the singers have a brilliant chemistry established here. The song typifies what I mean about Talat's singing bringing to mind a softer, gentler hero. The romance is about eyes and dreamy visions of a land yonder :


nigaaho.n hii nigaaho.n me kaho kyaa kar diyaa
..
chalo chal de vahaa.N zamii.n aur aasamaa.N
gale milate jahaa.N banaale vahii.n aashiyaa.N


Its after listening to Talat in such form that even Lata tends to fall a little shrilly on the ears.

nain mile nain hue baa.Nvare (Lata/Taraanaa, 1951) : This stellar soundtrack from Anilda is easily one of the greatest of all-time. And both Talat and Lata are near the top of their form here. The picturization on a very fresh Dilip Kumar and Madhubala adds to the delight of the song.

dil me samaa gaye sajan (Lata/Sangdil, 1952) : A sheer-magic song from Sajjad who created some of the most cherished melodies in Hindi music with Talat and Lata in this film. While "ye havaa ye raat" and "vo to chale gaye ae dil" are top-notch winners, this sweet duet is not very far behind. A regal Talat and a sweet Lata make the listening experience a most enjoyable one.

aramaan bhare dil kii lagan (Geeta/Jaan pehchaan, 1950) : This was Talat's only song with Khemchand Prakash, who sadly passed away shortly after this song was created. The impact of Talat's singing style is obvious when you listen to this song. While Geeta is delightful here, her rendition is a throwback to the 40s while Talat was clearly heralding the soft singing of the 50s. Geeta of course lost no time in tuning herself to the new form. But anyway, what a duet this is ! Amazing orchestration and brilliant singing..

sach bataa tuu mujhape fidaa (Asha/Sone ki chidiyaa, 1958) : A typical O.P.Nayyar composition with lots of fun and jolly exuding every note. What makes this song a delight is again the contrast between the singers - Asha is all fun and lark, Talat still soft and gentle with just that necessary touch of happiness.

These are songs that come to the top of my mind - there are plenty of other magnificent duets I have missed. Compositions of C.Ramchandra and Salil Chowdhury in particular have been missed. But well, these should provide good starting points to discovering that there is a lot more to Talat's repertoire than the sad, grim songs he made his forte. Those are definitely brilliant but then lets not forget his duets in the process.