 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Music composer Anil Biswas, who introduced playback singers Mukesh and Talat Mehmood and the concept of orchestra to the Indian celluloid world, passed away in New Delhi on Saturday morning.
He was 89 and is survived by two sons and a daughter. The cremation would take place on Sunday, his daughter, Shikha Vohra, told PTI.
The unforgettable music composed by Biswas for 'Dil jalta hein to jalne de' sung by Mukesh for Pehli Nazar in 1945 propped the latter as a singer. Mukesh went on to dominate playback singing for many decades to come.
It was Biswas again who gave a chance to Talat Mehmood in the film Arzoo in 1949 to sing 'Yeh dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal jahan koi na ho'.
Born in 1914 in a nondescript village Barisal in the then East Bengal, Biswas became a freedom fighter at a young age,
but his artistic talents drew him to Kolkata and he got associated with the famous Bengali poet Qazi Nurul Hasan and the Rang Mahal Theatre.
He went to Mumbai in 1934 to begin his career as a music composer with the wealth of experience he had amassed during his theatre days in Kolkata.
He did not have to wait much. He composed music for Dharam Ki Devi just a year after his arrival in Mumbai. There was no looking back for him after that.