100 years Happy Birthday... Anil Biswas. (July 7, 1914)

It was to this Chacha that Moti Lal one day brought a young man and introduced him, saying, "This young man is my relative. He is fond of singing. See if you can make something out of him." Out of regard for Moti Lal, Anil Biswas agreed to give the young man a chance in Pehli Nazar (1945). After a few rehearsals the song was ready for recording; the studio was booked; the orchestra was waiting; but the young singer was missing. Anil Biswas was furious. He called Moti Lal, who did not know where the young man was. After a few calls he was traced at a place where he was playing cards with some friends and drinking. The prospect of recording with Anil Biswas had made the young singer nervous and to steady himself he had been drinking and lost track of time while playing cards. Anil Biswas took a car, reached the place where the card game was on, slapped the young man, dragged him to the car, took him to the studio, dunked his head in a basin of water, which sobered him and recorded the song "Dil jalta hai to jalne de," in a single take. This is how Mukesh's career took off. Anil Da used to say jokingly that perhaps his slap had given that extra touch of pathos to Mukesh's voice in 'Dil jalta hai to jalne de' , which is one of Mukesh's all time great songs, and the first fllm song, according to Anil Da, based on Mishra Darbari. AniI Da had great affection for Mukesh. He groomed Mukesh and helped him come out Sehgal's shadow. Another gift of Anil Biswas to the Hindi film music was Talat Mahmood, who remained his favourite till the end, along with Mukesh and Manna Dey. Anil Da always spoke of Talat Mahmood with deep affection. Talat also said in an interview which was telecast a few years back, "Mere to bas le de ke ek Anil Da hi hain". Talat's first song for Anil Da is also a classic: "Ai dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal jahan koi na ho" (Aarzoo 1950). Anil Biswas mentored and guided Talat Mahmood in the formative stage of his career. When other composers told Talat that his voice was shaky, it was Anil Biswas who told him that the vibrato in his voice was his uniqueness and strength and restored his confidence. Thanks to Anil Bisawas's guidance Talat Mahmood reached great heights as a singer and exponent of ghazal. Manna Dey, has said that the finest classical Hindi filrn song of all time is Anil Da's 'Ritu aaye ritu jaaye', sung by Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar for Hamdard 1953 (which was Biswases' home production). Hamdard was an ordinary film with extraordinary music. About its music Dada said, "I wanted to show in one film all the major types of our music: khayal, thumri, ghazal, Rabindra Sangeet, film song, qawwali, cabaret style song, etc". 'Ritu Aaye Ritu Jaaye' is appropriately the title of Dada's biography written by Sharad Dutt. Anil Biswas was one of our most intellectual composers; he was a formidable scholar and musicologist. He used to sparkle in the company of friends, enlivening the gathering with his wit, humour, sharp repartee and original insights. A robust singer himself, he would illustrate his point by singing. Talking of folk music, once he said to me, "See, each region's folk music has one or two presiding ragas; lt is Desh and Bilawal for Bengal, Bhairavi and Pahadi for Punjab, Maand for Rajasthan...", and he mentioned all the regions and their ragas. He illustrated his thesis by singing. I wished I had a tape recorder with me; this treatise on folk music and classical music and how they borrowed from and enriched each other was a memorable exposition of the subject.   Anil Biswas had undertaken a tour along with his friend Ghulam Haider, another great composer, who revolutionized film music, collecting folk tunes and discovering singers. Many of the folk tunes found their way into the compositions of these great composers. Some were given to other composer friends also. "Dheere se aaja ree akhiyan mein", for example, has its genesis in a tune which Anil Biswas had collected in Rajasthan during that tour and later passed onto his friend C. Ramchandra. "Lo, yeh tere kaam aayegi", he said to C. Ramachndra while giving him the tune, Anil Da told me. And what a song C. Ramchandra made out of that!   It was this tour in the company of Ghulam Haider which made Anil Biswas realise the richness of Indian folk music. This richness he introduced into film music at a time when composers in Bombay were content to emulate Natya Sangeet and those in Calcutta Rabindra Sangeet, and that is his great contribution to the development of Hindi film music . He made the horizons of film music limitless. full article. http://www.anmolfankaar.com/artists/a...