Year: 1960. Location: An ultra-modern recording studio in United States. It was being visited by an experienced and famous composer from India. After seeing all the latest machinery of the studio, the studio representative tells the composer with utmost humbleness in his voice that the composer himself being experienced would know these technologies, to which the composer says “Yes, I have seen it all. However, we in India can produce the same musical effect that these state-of-the-art machines create without actually using them!”
This was the confidence gained by the composer through his
work of 25 years till then, and the composer was none other than Anil Biswas.
Those who are born after 1960 have heard R. D. Burman’s (Pancham)
name time and again for the various experiments he did through his
compositions. A lot has been said, written and presented about him. However,
very little will know that Anil Biswas had done many such experiments at least
20 years before Pancham da. It would take a separate and vast research and a
book to narrate Anilda’s musical experiments.
Anil da is credited for having introduced a full-fledged
orchestra in the Hindi film music, consisting of 12 musicians who could play
different instruments.
He was also the pioneer in using the counter melody in film
scores, employing technique of western music, ‘cantala’, where one line
overlaps the other in contra-melody, recitative prose songs. He was the one who
along with R. C. Boral and Pankaj Mullick revolutionized the film music and
orchestration.
Anil da also gave Sudha Malhotra her first singing break in
“Aarzoo” (1951). Besides this, he also played a major role in mentoring Talat
Mahmood and Mukesh. Anil da was instrumental in making Lata realize her own
potential and come out from the shadows of the great Noorjehan. We will know
more about all this in the next parts.
Anil Krishna Biswas was born on 7th July 1914 in
Barisal (now in Bangla Desh). His father – Jagdishchandra Biswas – was a
government employee. His mother Yaminidevi had an interest in music. She used
to sing Bhajans. In 1914, India was witnessing an impact of the First World
War. People were also anguished because of the partition of Bengal in 1905 by
Lord Curzon. Due to such atmosphere around him, it was not a surprise if young
Anil was fascinated by the thought of revolutionary activities. He did
participate in the freedom struggle and even was jailed 5-6 times while being
in school. Finally, it was his mother and her love for music that drew Anil da
towards the path of music.
Yaminidevi sent young Anil for the Music tuition. By the age
of 14, Anil was already an expert in Tabla besides being a classical vocalist
particularly Khyaal, Thumri and Dadara. He also learnt the Shyama Sangeet and
Keertan which were popular music forms in Bengal in those days. Anil da was
always grateful towards his mother. He always expresses his feelings for his
mother through the following Doha by Sant Kabir:
सात समंद की
मसि करौं, लेखनि सब बनराई ।
धरती सब कागद करौं, तऊ हरि-गुन लिख्या न जाई ।।
(Even if one transforms sea water into an ink,
all trees into pens,
the entire world into a paper,
still, one won’t be able to describe the qualities of the God)
Anil da lost his father in 1930, after which, he decided to
shift to Kolkata (then Calcutta) in search of job and a good career. In
Kolkata, He was fortunate to meet the famous Poet-Composer from Bengal – Kazi
Nazrul Islam, and Manju Khan Saheb Murshidabadi. He got fond of a new music
form Ghazal through the interactions with these two legends.
While in Kolkata, Anil da used to perform at every
opportunity be it singing, acting or composing. He joined Rangamahal Theatre in
Kolkata and composed music for 5 of their plays viz. “Thenk”, “Mahanisha”,
“Pativrata”, “Banglar Meye” and “Ashok & Ravan”. He even wrote songs, acted
and danced as well in those plays. Apart from this, Anil da conceptualized and
presented a Ballet viz. “Kajari”. This was the first ever Ballet performed on
the Bengali stage.
For a brief period, Anil da worked with Hindustan Musical
Company. The legendary singer Kundan Lal Sehgal and musician Sachin Dev Burman
were his colleagues there. One fine day, Hiren Bose – a famous music composer
from Kolkata – visited the studio. He had heard Anilda’s songs earlier and was
impressed. He asked Anil da whether he would accompany him to Mumbai (then
Bombay). The proposal was a blessing for Anil da since it would have exposed
him to more lucrative opportunities. However, both were not sure about creating
their own identity in an already well-established Hindi film industry in
Mumbai. Anil da suggested that they should take along their own orchestra with
them and compose new music which would not have been familiar to Hindi film
audience of that era. Luckily, they got 4 such brilliant musicians – 1) D’Cruze
– Violin and Piano, 2) Mr Power – Hawaain Guitar, 3) Mr Abel – Goa music
expert, Trumpet and Violin, and 4) Linu Athaiyya – Mandolin, Violin and Chelo.
So, finally this group of 6 young, talented and ambitious musicians landed in
Mumbai on 17th Dec 1934. Rest was history.
Soon Anil da got a job at Ajantha Studios (Eastern Art
Syndicate) owned by Ram Daryani. His debut Hindi film as a music composer was
“Dharm Ki Devi” released in 1935, directed by his friend Hiren Bose. Anil da
also enacted a Fakir in this film. The film had 3 songs. The first one
of them was “Kuchh Bhi Nahin Bharosa, Duniya Hai Aani Jaani” was composed by
Anil da based on a Sindhi folk song. Coincidentally, the song “Andhi Duniya,
Matlab Ki Duniya, Haaye Re Duniya” from his last film “Chhoti Chhoti Baaten” in
1965 also was taken from a Sindhi song. Hence, Anil da used to jokingly say
that his entire film music career was sandwiched between 2 Sindhi songs. 😀😂
 |
| Mehrunnisa alias Ashalata |
 |
| Mehboob Khan |
After the success of “Jagirdar”, Anil da composed few more
films for Sagar Movietone. In 1939, Sagar Movietone was merged in National
Studios. There, Anil da composed music for 9 films, out of which 2 movies viz.
“Aurat” (1940) and “Roti” (1942) were super hit due to its songs. In “Roti”,
Anil da had a chance to work with Akhtaribai Faizabadi, who later was popularly
known to be Begum Akhtar and Malika-E-Ghazal.
Anil da also had composed music for “Jwar Bhata” (1944)
which was Dilip Kumar’s debut film. In 1945, through the film “Pehli Nazar”,
Anil da gave a break to a new, young but promising singer, Mukesh Mathur, who
became one of the greatest male singers later and was known as Mukesh.
In 1947, just after India got its independence from British,
Anil da decided to free himself from the restrictions he had while working with
various companies, and started to work as a freelance music composer. This
enabled him to take a huge plunge in his career over next 10 years, and
established his brand of music which we can call as “Anil da Yug” It started
with the film “Anokha Pyar” (1948). It was the beginning of one of the most
endearing and most talented composer-singer jodi in the form of Anil
Biswas and Lata Mangeshkar. Anil da has said about Lata “When Lata appeared on
the Hindi films horizon, we the music composers were so happy that we had a
singer through whom we can get best of our compositions to the audience. This
was possible because of Lata’s young, tender but sharp voice, her amazing range
and to top it all her mastery over the Indian Classical music.” We will know
more about Anilda-Lata duo and their work in the final part of this series.
In 1949, through his film “Arzoo”, Anil da gave a break to
yet another promising singer Talat Mahmood. We will learn more about it in Part
2.
Anil da and Ashalata were divorced in 1954. In 1959, he married
Meena Kapoor whom he had met while working on the film “Anokha Pyar” in 1948.
Between 1948 and 1959, Anil da composed 201 songs for 23 Hindi
films. Each of those songs were a real gem.
During his long 31-year career from 1935 to 1965, Anil da
composed music for 94 films. However, as per my compiled list of his songs, he
composed total 578 songs for 74 films. In the first 12 years of his career from
1935 to 1947, he had composed 218 songs for 27 films. That translates to 35% of
his films and 37% of his songs were completed in just first 12 years!
Anil da worked with 75 singers during his entire career. Out
of these 75 singers, just Lata Mangeshkar has sung 128 songs i.e., 22% of the
songs! Just look at the singer-wise statistics below:
Anil da was extremely successful in creating his own brand of music, we can simply call it “Anil Biswas School of Music”. Well known composers like Roshan, Madan Mohan, C. Ramchandra and O. P. Nayyar all have learnt from Anil da and consider his as their Guru. For this reason, in one of the programmes in mid-90s, the legendary composers Naushad and O. P. Nayyar publicly called Anil da as the “Bhishma Pitamah of the Hindi film music”.
Anil da was honored with Sangeet Natak Academy award in
1986. However, the composer of the stature of Anil da could not get a Padma award
till date is something that his fans would regret.
“Chhoti Chhoti Baaten” (1965) turned out to be Anilda’s last
film as a composer. He withdrew himself from the Hindi film industry post this
film. He then served as the Director, National Orchestra at All India Radio
from 1963 to 1965. He also had an opportunity to work with Doordarshan and
composed the music for the first ever soap opera on Indian Television viz. “Hum
Log”.
Anil da left for heavenly abode on 31st May 2003.
Sharad Dutt has written Anilda’s biography viz. “Ritu Aaye Ritu Jaaye”, in
which Anil da ends his conversation with Sharad Dutt by narrating the following
small poem. We will also remember Anil da through the same words.
अफ़सोस अजल
ले चली मैखाने से
बन जाएँगे
कुछ देर में अफ़साने सें |
मेरे गीत
बेवजह गर याद आ जाएँ
छलका देना
इक जरा पैमाने सें ||
(My death is taking me away from this Tavern. Soon there will be poems on this. If at all you remember my songs, let them spill over from your cups)
In today’s part, I am going to present 6 of Anilda’s songs, which have been sung by singers other than his favorite ones.
1) Kahe Karata Der Barati – Aurat (1940) – Singer Anil
Biswas and Chorus – Lyricist Dr. Safdar Aah
The 1940 film “Aurat” contained 14 songs, out of which Anil
da lent his voice to 6 of them. This song is the most impactful song. Since the
story of the film revolves around a poor farmer and his family, Anil da, while
composing its songs used Folk Music mixed with Indian Classical music. “Aurat”
was directed by Mehboob Khan, who again in 1957 remade this film with a
different name “Mother India”. The story and all the technicians were the same
except the composer.
2) Door Hato Ai Duniyavalon Hindustan Hamara Hai – Kismet (1943)
– Amirbai Karnataki, Arunkumar, Pradeep and Anil Biswas – Lyricist Kavi Pradeep
As mentioned earlier, Anil da had his leanings towards the
leftist ideology right from his childhood, and thus was angry with Britishers.
He used all his feelings to compose this song. The song is extremely powerful.
Anil da used the style of Army band music while composing this song to inspire
the youth against the British regime.
3) Main Unki Ban Jaaon Re – Hamari Baat (1943) – Parul Ghosh
– Lyricist Pt. Narendra Sharma
This is yet another sweet song. Anil da’s sister Parul Ghosh
has sung it. Anil da has effectively used the rhythm from Bengali Rabindra
Sangeet.
4) Door Papiha Bola Raat Aadhi Rah Gayi – Gajre (1948) –
Suraiyya – Lyricist Gopal Singh Nepali
The well-known actor-singer of the 1940’s and 50’s –
Suraiyya – sung total 14 songs for Anil da. This is one of her most popular
songs. The film starred Motilal and Suraiyya.
5) Le Jaa Uski Duwayein O, Jo Tera Ho Na Sakaa – Heer (1956)
– Mohammad Rafi – Lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri
To our surprise, the great Rafi saab has sung only 4 solo
songs under Anil Biswas. I always wonder why Anil da did not use Rafi more.
Rafi saab, as always, sung this song with great emotions.
6) Kachchi Hai Umariya Kori Hai Chunariya – Char Dil Char
Raahein (1959) – Meena Kapoor – Lyricist Sahir Ludhiyanvi
This film was directed by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas who was a Leftist. He has tried to depict changes happening in the then Indian society through 4 different stories. The film had a great start cast in Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Meena Kumari, Ajit, Nimmi, Anwar Hussain, Nana Palshikar, Achla Sachdev and David. This song was picturized on Meena Kumari who played an Adiwasi girl, sung by Anilda’s wife Meena Kapoor. It was a superhit song. People still remember Meena Kapoor for this song. Since the song was picturized on the backdrop of an Adiwasi Basti, Anil da has used the Folk music to create the atmosphere. The pace of the song and chorus adds value to its composition.
Thus, remembering Anil Biswas – the legend – with utmost respect. I hope you would have liked the blog. Please leave a comment on the blog itself. Thank you.
References:
1) Ritu Aaye Ritu Jaaye – Biography of Anil Biswas by Sharad Dutt – Marathi Translation by Sharayu Pednekar – First Edition Padmagandha Prakashan
2) Wikipedia
3) Lata Mangeshkar, journey of a singer – Biography by Raju Bharatan – Marathi Translation by Sou. Leena Sohoni – Second Edition Mehta Publishing House
4) All Photos courtesy Internet
5) List of songs courtesy https://m.hindilyrics4u.com/music_director/anil_biswas.php?page=59
6) Biography of Anil Biswas by David Courtney https://chandrakantha.com/biodata/Anil_Biswas.html
7) Tribute – Anlil Biswas https://ywgh.wordpress.com/2022/07/05/tribute-anil-biswas/
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hello, if you have liked my blog, please leave a comment with your name. Please feel free to share the link with your friends and families. Thank you.