Talat Mahmood was an Indian playback singer who is considered as one of the greatest and most popular male Indian film song and ghazal singers. Although he tried his luck as a film actor, he did not succeed a great deal in acting.
Talat Mahmood received the Padma Bhushan award in 1992, in recognition of his artistic contributions in the spheres of cinematic and ghazal music.
He was particularly famous for singing soft and sombre ghazals in his quivering and silky voice. Romantic and tragic were the moods he liked most and it was he who helped a great deal in shaping the style and method of modern ghazal singing in India during the 1950s and 1960s.