Madan Mohan joined the army in 1943 (emergency commission), he later quit to pursue his interests in music. This talent he is said to have inherited from his mother and the encouragement from his grandfather Hakim Yograj and his younger brother Prakash also helped, all of whom were music aficionados.
While working with the All India Radio in Lucknow he got an opportunity to interact with stalwarts like Ustad Faiyyaz Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Begum Akhtar, Roshanara Begum, Roshan, Jaidev and Talat Mahmood. Perhaps, this was the time when he fell in love with ghazals. After a stint in AIR Delhi, he went to Mumbai and his struggle period involved working as an assistant to Shyam Sunder and also with SD Burman, notably in Do Bhai (1947) and Munimji (1955) also.
Madan Mohan is the only Hindi film composer who is credited as music director for a film whose music was produced and recorded posthumously. He has been called as Ghazal Samrat (King of Ghazals) by many fans and co-artists due to his hold on this medium. (It is so embedded in the fans' minds that many don't appreciate his hold on other mediums!). Naushad is reported to have proposed to exchange all his work for two of his Ghazals in Anpadh, 'Hai Isi Mein Pyar Ki Aabroo' and 'Aap Ki Nazron Ne Samjha Pyar Ke Kaabil Mujhe'! His inclination towards Ghazals could be seen quite early in his career. His first movie Aankhen was more mainstream but in his second movie Adaa (1951) one gets glimpses of the things to come in the form of 'Preetam Teri Duniya Mein' and the Talat solo 'Jise Dil Mein Basana Chaaha Tha Usse Apne Dil Mein Basa Na Sake'. Madan Mohan's son Sanjeev Kohli recreated his father's compositions for the Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee starrer Veer Zaara (2004), almost three decades after Madan Mohan's death. Ironically both of Madan Mohan's posthumous scores for HS Rawail's Laila Majnu and Gulzar's Mausam released in 1975 turned out to be money-spinners. The man who composed gossamer feelings dressed up as songs had arrived.
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