New Delhi, May 31: Music composer Anil Biswas, who introduced great playback singers Mukesh and Talat Mehmood and the concept of orchestra into the Indian celluloid world, passed away here this morning. He was 89 and is survived by two sons and a daughter. The cremation would take place tomorrow, his daughter, Shikha Vohra said.
The unforgettable music composed by Biswas for "dil jalta hei to jalne do" sung by Mukesh for the movie 'Pehli Nazar' in 1945 propped him as a singer who was to dominate playback singing for many decades to come. It was Biswas again who gave chance to Talat Mehmood in the film 'Arzoo' in 1949 to sing one of the best songs "yeh dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal jahan koi na ho'.
Born in 1914 in a nondescript village Barisal in 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. Like anybody trying a career in films, 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 the film "Dharam Ki Devi" the very next year of his arrival in Mumbai. And there was no looking back for him. Bureau Report