Tansen, called Ramtanu or Tanu is born dumb, but a miracle in the temple at the age five gives the boy the ability to speak and sing. His voice attracts the sage musician Swami Haridas of Brindaban. He trains the boy in the Dhrupad style. Swami Haridas gets Tanu to study under Muhammad Ghaus, where he lives with his childhood mate Hansa. Several years pass and Ghaus asks Tanu to shift to the court of Raja Ramchandra. This disappoints Tanu as he has plans to marry Hansa. However, he ventures forth to the palace where his voice is applauded and he is awarded the title of Sangeet Shiromani Tansen. His singing reputation reaches Emperor Akbar, who invites him to join his court singers. There, he becomes one of the nine jewels of the Emperor's exceptionally talented men. The story then follows misunderstandings with his beloved Hansa, his singing prowess and finally his getting united once again with Hansa.

• Bharat Bhushan as Tansen
• Anita Guha as Hansa
• Sabita Chatterjee as Naaz Prveen
• David as Muhammad Ghaus
• Sapru as Raja Ramchandra
• Mukri as Ustad Fateh Khan
• Kumar
• S. N. Tripathi
• Prem Sagar
• Parshuram
• Radheshyam

Two films were made depicting the life of Tansen. The first was the K. L. Saigal starrer Tansen (1943) with Khursheed Bano which had popular songs and was a success at the box-office. The second was Sangeet Samrat Tansen. Tansen, played by Surendra, was also shown in Baiju Bawra (1952), where he competes with Baiju in a music competition only to lose to him.^[9]

S. N. Tripathi, along with directing the film also gave the music direction. The lyrics were by Shailendra and Swami Haridas, who is the author of "Sapta Suran Teen Gram" sung in Raga Yaman Kalyan (or Adbhut Kalyan).^[10][11] Some of the Raga-based songs: The song "Raag Bhairav Pratham Shant Ras" shows the completion of Tansen's training by Haridas by his singing the raagmala, "Deepak Jalao Jyoti Jagao" in Raaga Dipak and "traditionally associated with fire",^[9] "Badli Badli Duniya Hai Meri" in Raag Jhinjhoti sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Mahendra Kapoor,^[12] and "Jhoomti Chali Hawaa" in Raaga Sohni sung by Mukesh.^[4]

Songlist