Lest We Forget The Doyen
Today’s post is a monologue on
Indian film music. An early chapter in its history. A famous music composer,
creative person and an early exponent of playback singing. His
name was Anil Biswas. He was probably the first music composer for Hindi films
who popularized the genre called light music. The art of playback singing –
with its overall grammar, craft, emotions and techniques – was popularized by him.
Singers like Talat Mahmood, Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh and Mohammad Rafi sang some
classic songs under his guidance. He was fondly called “Anilda”.
Though initially he was a freedom
fighter who listened to the call of the Indian nationalist movement, Anil
Biswas' shift from his early base of East Bengal to Bombay was somewhat
destined. He was inclined towards music from a very early age and he started to
show his talent at composing music. Eventually he became a part of the great
league of musicians in Kolkata that included such giants like K.L.Saigal and
S.D.Burman. He was also blessed by none other than the rebel poet of Bengal,
Kazi Nazrul Islam. Those days were early yet experimental. He started to experiment
in this new form of art and went on to make vast contribution to playback music.
He gave the first proper shape to playback
music. As Lata Mangeshkar would quote later in an interview, he was her first
teacher when it came to teach her how to hide breathing during the recording of
a song. It may sound very strange nowadays, almost to the point of being
laughable. Today, hardly there are songs that are recorded from start to end;
there are lines and pieces recorded separately and finally mixed. The sound of
a breath or two can easily be digitally corrected. But this was certainly not
possible those days.
In one way or the other, one could
possibly compare him to a designer or an architect who framed the structure of
a building and then prepared the plinth for others to continue working on it.
It was through Anil Biswas' vision that Hindi film music really found its
successful and popular path to move forward. His contemporaries included
Husnlal-Bhagatram, Sajjad Hussein, Khemchand Prakash. Even though they too were
great composers but, a few would disagree to the fact that Anil Biswas was by
far the most accomplished among his contemporaries. He tasted success movie
after movie. He was a regular in the productions of Mehboob Khan and K.A.Abbas –
two very famous names of his times. He worked in their movies and gave lilting
music. Rahi, Aurat, Pardesi were big movies with successful music.
A song that immediately comes to my
mind is a duet by Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar. The film was
"Taraana", released way back in 1951. On the screen it was the famous
Dilip Kumar and the heavenly Madhubaala. The song is "Seene mein sulagte
hai armaan". The song is a typical sad ghazal. Talat had a very gentle
and sweet voice. This song was perfect for the tone of his voice. He was nicely
partnered by Lata Mangeshkar who could easily trickle her voice through the
highs and lows of the tune. The words were penned by Prem Dhawan. Both the
singers – through their exquisite voices – brought out great pain and emotion
and helped the actors on-screen.
Kismet was a movie released in 1943
which had music by Anil Biswas. A good story-line was indeed the biggest reason
for its grand success. However, the music was also a standout hit. Two songs
"Mera Bulbul so raha hai..." and "Door Hato Aye
Duniyawalon...", among others, became chart-busters. Penned by Kavi
Pradeep, the sweetness of a lullaby and the clarity of a patriotic song were
perfectly created by the composer.
After several years of sabbatical,
during which he held many positions within different musical institutions in India,
Anil Biswas was seen judging musical talent-hunt programs on Indian television.
The fondness for music, his personal affection towards the singers – many of
whose careers were built by him – were still intact. Two of his biggest
contributions were, firstly, to get immense respect from his peers; everyone
from S.D.Burman to Naushad, from Hemant Kumar to O.P.Nayyar respected him as a
great exponent and creator. Secondly, he was one of the early
mentors of playback singing in India and thereby one of the very first
visionaries who converted an art form to a successful proposition. I remember
once during a show he called up on stage the legendary Manna Dey. The way he
called Manna Dey's name and the warm hug that followed said it all! A
respectful gratitude from Manna Dey to Anil Biswas showed, beyond an iota of
doubt, that he was the one and only "doyen" when it comes to playback
singing and music direction in Indian cinema.
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