Milestone Songs of Anil Biswas. (Music Director)

Anil Da used to say about too much labouring on the tune, "If you squeeze the lemon just right you get the desired flavour; squeeze it too much and you get bitterness". He always got the lyrics first and then set them to music. Words seem to be chiselled in his compositions. His mastery of Urdu and Hindi enabled him to bring out the subtlety of words. For example in the song 'Mast pavan hai chanchal dhara man ki naiya dol na jaye' every time the word 'dol' occurs it is given a different glide, signifying the lurching of boat. Listen to 'O saajana' (Heer 1956) and you marvel at his mingling of Punjabi and Bengali music, in the voices of Geeta Dutt and Hemant Kumar respectively, bridged by interludes of Punjabi folk music. How effortlessly he composed is shown by the famous 'Seene mein sulagte hain armaan' (Taraana 1951), one of the most beautiful duets ever composed, and one of Anil Da's personal favourites among his compositions. Anil Biswas and Prem Dhawan were going in a car and Prem Dhawan said "Dada, how do you like this Mukhda?" And he recited "Seene mein sulagte hain armaan..." Dada liked it. By then they were near the famous singer, Surinder Kaur's house and Prem Dhawan wanted to see her. Dada said, "You go, I shall stay here", arrd sat on a parapet facing the sea. A little later when Prem Dhawan returned, Dada said, "Here, I have set the tune for your Mukhda', and he sang it. Prem Dhawan was very happy with the tune and completed the song. One day Roshan came to Dada and sang a Punjabi folk song and asked him, "How do you like it? "Very nice", said Dada, and started turning it around. It emerged as Meena Kapoor's famous song 'Kachchi hai umariya' in Chaar Dil Chaar Rahen. When next Roshan carne excited about using that Punjabi folk tune, Dada snapped his fingers and said, "Tum baithe raho; hamne usko istemal kar liya hal' . And Dada played the song. The Punjabi Mukhda of the song gives way to Bengali Keertan, and then an instrumental interlude based on Tamil snake charmers' tune and finally it ends with a touch of Bihari folk songs --- an all India musical journey in a span of three minutes twenty seconds. I asked him about the rich sound of his orchestra. He gave credit for that to his assistant, Ram Singh. Anil Da told me that Ram Singh landed at his place one day from Karachi and said that he would work with him and him alone, and if that was not possible, then he would go back to Lahore. Anil Biswas agreed and it was a remarkable partnership. Ram Singh's contribution to his music was always acknowledged with respect by Anil Biswas. The credit titles of Taraana say, "Music by Anil Biswas and Ram Singh". He told me that he seldom used more than ten to twelve instruments. Voices and instruments were perfectly balanced in his compositions. The use of Komal Dhaivat was a characteristic feature of Anil Biswas's compositions. "I have used Komal Dhaivat even where the raga on which the tune was based prohibited Komal Dhaivat", Dada said. His compositions were his creations and not just renditions of Ragas. Once Anil Da and I were discussing Urdu poetry. We agreed that Ghalib was great but Nazeer Akbarabadi was the greatest. I said, "Dada, I wish somebody would record Nazeer's Banjara Nama", .Dada said he would love to set it to music. He started humming and then and there composed a tune. It was a magical moment: Nazeer Akbarabadi's Banjara Nama being set to tune and sung by Anil Biswas. I had imagined Banjara Nama being sung in the style of Bundelkhaldi balladeers. But Dada composed it as Punjabi Kaafi, which brought out the metaphysical element of the poem, like Bulleh Shah's Kaafis.My most fav. MD.