Personal info
Known for
Music Director
Gender
Male
Birthday
25 June
Location
Baghdad, Iraq
Edit pageMadan Mohan Kohli
Biography
Madan Mohan Kohli (25 June 1924 – 14 July 1975), better known as Madan Mohan, was an Indian music director of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. He is considered one of the most melodious and skilled music directors in the Hindi film industry. He is particularly remembered for the immortal ghazals he composed for Hindi films. Some of his best works are with singers Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, and Talat Mahmood.
Born on 25 June 1924, in Baghdad where his father Rai Bahadur Chunilal Kohli was working as an Accountant General with the Iraqi Police forces, Madan Mohan spent the early years of his life in the Middle East. After 1932, his family returned to their hometown of Chakwal, then to the Jhelum district of Punjab, British India.
He was left in the care of a grandparent while his father went to Bombay to seek business opportunities. He attended the local school in Lahore for the next few years. During his stay in Lahore, he learned the basics of classical music from one Kartar Singh for a very short period, however, he never received any formal music training.
Sometime later, his family moved to Mumbai where he completed his Senior Cambridge from St. Mary's School in Byculla Mumbai. In Mumbai, at the age of 11 years, he started performing in children's programs broadcast by All India Radio. At age 17, he attended the Colonel Brown Cambridge School in Dehradun where he completed a year's training.
