Anil Biswas was the “uncle” of Indian film music, “if R. C. Boral was its father”. He was born in a small village in Barisal, now in Bangladesh in the year 1914. He grew up listening to the folk songs of the fishermen — bhatiyali. Yes, S. D. Burman’s famous “sun merey bandhu ray” was an honest rendition of the melody that the fishermen of Bengal instinctively produce as children of the water gods. At home it was his mother’s sweet and melodious voice that aroused in young Anil an interest for music — particularly bhajans.

The Bengal of the early 20s had a robust cultural ambience. Anil’s dream of singing the praise of the Creator took him to the various gurus. However, Mahatma Gandhi’s movement for freeing India from British rule made him give up music. As a young freedom fighter he was forced to flee home because of his anti-British activities. A term in jail made him give up the dream of dedicating his life to the freedom struggle.

He became part of a revolutionary political party and spent a significant amount of time in jail and then as a fugitive. He escaped to Calcutta and did various odd jobs until he finally got a job at the Rang Mahal Theatre, where he composed music for plays in which he also sang and acted. Like most great men his career as the “uncle” of Indian film music began from the pavements of The City of Joy. Hunger and want saw him do the rounds of the recording studios for a possible opening as a singer or a tabla player. Lady luck took him to the Hindustan Recording Company where Kundan Lal Saigal and Sachin Dev Burman had already established themselves as musicians. They took a fancy to the famished young boy with the voice of a koel.

He moved to Bombay as was convinced by Hiren Bose who was a director.Like most young people with big dreams but small means, too decided to try his luck in what is still the most happening city of India. After a short period of struggle he was able to establish himself as the king of melody of Indian cinema. He got his first big break ‘ Dharam ki Devi’ in 1935. That was followed by much success with over a hundred films, including the superhit, ‘Kismat’. Anil Biswas has been credited with being the first music director to be aware of the unique features of the film medium and making sure to let that transcend into his music. His music was touched with the sounds of folk and the introduction of classical music and Rabidrasangeet has been at times attributed to him.

Anil Biswas left Bombay, and made a home in Delhi where he first directed the National Orchestra at All India Radio till 1975 before taking up an advisory assignment with the Jawaharlal Nehru University. To Anil Biswas also goes the credit for composing the background music for Hindi television's first soap opera, "Hum Log". He was the man whose melody forced filmmakers to leave the shores of Bombay for the plains of Delhi.

Mehboob Khan and Devika Rani were among the first to recognise his exceptional talent. When he joined Devika Rani’s Bombay Talkies he could not claim credit for the musical score of National Studio’s “Basant” to avoid contractual complications. The credits showed Pannalal Gosh, the legendary flute-player, as having scored the music for this film. Incidentally, Pannalal was married to Anilda’s sister Parul, who too had a good voice like their mother. She sang a number of songs for Anilda. The success of “Kismat” in 1943 saw Anilda’s popularity reach the zenith of his career. The film that ran for over three years in a single cinema house in Calcutta, broke records and established Ashok Kumar as the first evergreen hero of Indian cinema. The three-plus-year record-run was broken by “Sholay” in the seventies. But that was because of the gripping tale and not the music.

Anil Biswas could claim to have launched the careers of many a superstar of his era. The music for “Juar Bhaata”, Dilip Kumar’s first film, was done by him. In 1945 he established Mukesh as a front-rank playback singer. Indeed, who can forget the soulful rendition of “dil jalta hai to jalney dey” by Mukesh in “Pehli Nazar”? By giving a break to Talat Mahmood in “Arzoo”, 1949, he gifted to the Indian film industry a truly golden voice — about which it could be said that “music, when soft voices die, vibrates in the memory”.

“Ai dil mujhe aisi jagha ley chal jahan koi na ho” turned Talat Mahmood into an icon. The tune had come from the soul of Anilda. Somehow, he could never relate to the commercial dominance of aesthetics and culture. He literally gave it all up at the peak of his glory in the Hindi film industry and accepted a low profile job in All India Radio, Delhi. He wanted lead a quiet faceless life away from the cacophony that is today applauded as music. A place in this world “jahan koi na ho”.

He gave music for memorable films such as Roti (1942), Kismet (1943), Anokha Pyaar (1948), Waaris (1954), Pardesi (1957) and Char Dil Char Raahein (1959) .He passed away after a brief chest ailment on 31st of May , 2003 not before establishing the celluloid of Hindi Music Industry and leaving an rock impression behind.