'I was Dilip's voice'

[The late] Talat Mahmood, singer

In those days when loud acting was the style, Dilip Kumar formed his own style of dialogue delivery. He spoke softly. Like his voice, his acting, too, was low key. This added grace to his sophistication.

I was very proud to sing for him, to be called his voice. My first song for him was in the film Arzoo. There are a number of beautiful songs we had together. My favourites are Ai mere dil kahin aur chal, Seene main sulagte hain armaan and Shame gham ki kasam.

When I sang for him in Devdas, people refused to believe that I was singing it. They swore it was Dilip Kumar himself in the song Mitva laagi yeh kaisi.

This piece is based on an earlier conversation with Lata Khubchandani