Composer. Nationality: Indian. Born: Barisal, East Bengal (now Bangladesh), 1914. Career: 1930—moved to Calcutta: actor, singer, and assistant music director, Rangmahal Theatre, 1932–34; 1934—moved to Bombay; 1935—composed background music for Dharam Ki Devi ; 1936–42—composer for Sagar Movietones; 1942—joined Bombay Talkies; 1957—worked on two films in the USSR; 1963–65—director of National Orchestra for All India Radio (AIR), and chief producer of light Hindustani music from 1965; television work includes title music for popular serial Humlog . Address: K-11/12, South Extension Part-II, New Delhi 110049, India.
Dharam Ki Devi
Pratima ( Prem Murti ); Prem Bandhan ; Sher Ka Panja
Bull Dog ; Dukhiyari ; Gentleman Daku ; Insaf ; Jagirdar ; Kokila ; Maha Geet
Dynamite ; Gramaphone Singer ; Hum Tum aur Woh ; Nirala Hindustan ; Abhilasha ; 300 Din Ke Baad ; Vatan
Jeevan Sathi ; Ek Hi Raasta
Alibaba ; Aurat ; Pooja
Aasraa ; Bahen ; Nai Roshani
Apna Paraya ; Gareeb ; Jawani ; Roti ; Vijaya
Hamari Baat ; Basant ; Kismat
Char Ankhen ; Jwar Bhata
Pahli Nazar
Milan
Bhookh ; Manjudhar ; Nayya
Anokha Pyar ; Gajre ; Veena
Girls' School ; Jeet ; Ladali
Arzoo ; Beqasoor ; Lajawab
Aaraam ; Badi Bahu ; Do Sitare ; Taran
Do Raha
Aakash ; Farib ; Ham Dard ; Julianwale ; Baag ki Jyoti ; Mehmaan ; Rahi
Maan ; Mahatma Kabir Munna ; Naaz ; Waris
Farar
Heer ; Paisa hi paisa
Abhiman ; Jalti Nishani ; Afanasi Nikitin ; Pardeshi
Sanskar
Char dil Char rahen
Angulimaal ; Mira ka Chitra ; Superman ki Wapasi
Lucky Number ; Savitri
Hame Khelne Do ; Sautela Bhai
Raju aur Gangaram
Chhoti Chhoti Baten
Anil Biswas: Tribute—A Collection of Essays on the Occasion of His Fiftieth Year of Music Composition for Films , Bangalore, 1986.
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The music Anil Biswas has composed for films is a reflection of his active and eventful life. Born at a time when a wave of patriotism was sweeping the country, young Biswas became an active underground worker and a revolutionary. This patriotic militancy and stirring optimism came to be manifested in the music that he composed for Hindi films.
Biswas began composing film music in 1931, but the first film in which he was credited with composing the entire score is the 1935 Dharam Ki Devi. The memorable scores that followed bore ample testimony not only to a wide variety of songs but to an element of orchestration that accompanied each composition. By then, he had formed an orchestra of 12 musicians, a number considered "extraordinary" by the industry. Orchestration had always fascinated him, particularly the adaptation of Indian ragas within a Western discipline. When Biswas began work with the Bombay film industry, music-recording was in its infancy. Once when Biswas, an accomplished singer, played the role of a blind performer, the camera, mike, and orchestra had to be moved down the road with him as he sang.
Biswas's immense popularity is due not only to the songs that he composed but also to his background scores. He paid careful attention to instrumental scores for creating mood and ambiance. He also pioneered the adaptation of folk and classical forms within modern film music. He felt that only the "temple" and the "field," symbolizing the Indian classical and folk traditions respectively, could salvage contemporary Indian music from colonial fetters. His fame also rests on his ability to create music with which ordinary Indians can identify.
—Shohini Ghosh
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