Anil Biswas

Down the memory lane with ‘Anil Da’

Anil Biswas with Sharad Dutt December 25, 2014

Wishing Merry Christmas to all with guest article by Sharad Dutt concluding Anil Biswas Centenary Celebrations (SoY celebrated 2014 as the Centenary Year of Anil Biswas with a guest article by his daughter, Shikha Biswas Vohra on the New Year Day, remembering him as a father and a maestro. This was followed by singer-specific posts on […]

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Best songs of 1951: Final Wrap-Up 5

Anil Biswas-_Shankar-Jaikishan_SD Burman_C Ramchandra December 13, 2014

And the SoY Award for the Best Music Director goes to? This is the third series of detailed year-wise review of songs. Mid-way I had a feeling that this exercise might appear monotonous and uninteresting. I am very happy to note that my fears were unfounded. Rather, the readers’ participation has been more intense and […]

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Anil Biswas’s songs for Bombay Saigal: Surendra

Surendra and Anil Biswas November 11, 2014

A tribute to Surendra on his 104th birth anniversary as a part of Anil Biswas’s Centenary Year series I have mentioned a few times that because of contractual difficulties inherent in the Studio Era, Anil Biswas could not compose for KL Saigal, even though their careers overlapped for over a decade, half of which was […]

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The Swar-Saamraagyi and the the Sangeet-Maartand: Best of Lata Mangeshkar by Anil Biswas

Anil Biswas and Lata Mangeshkar September 28, 2014

Continuing Anil Biswas Centenary series, his best songs for Lata Mangeshkar as birthday greetings to her Anil Biswas occupies an important place among the music directors who played a major role in grooming and developing Lata Mangehskar. She was an artiste par excellence, but Anil Biswas taught her the craft of playback singing: the importance […]

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The Maker of Mukesh: Anil Biswas

Anil Biswas and Mukesh July 22, 2014

Continuing Anil Biswas Centenary Year celebration, a tribute to his most famous protégé, Mukesh, on his birth anniversary, July 22 And the rest is history. A worn-out cliché, but nothing describes Anil Biswas’s role in the emergence of Mukesh better. Mukesh was a struggling singer-actor in the period 1941-1945, when his brother-in-law, Motilal, took him […]

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Remembering Anil Biswas, The Singer

Anil Biswas July 7, 2014

A tribute on Anil Biswas’s Birth Centenary (b. 7 July 1914; d. 31 May 2003) Songs of Yore heralded 2014 as the Year of Anil Biswas with Inaugural post by his daughter, Shikha Biswas Vohra – Anil Biswas: The Maestro and My Father. We have since had three more posts dedicated to him with his […]

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The incredible brother-sister in music: Anil Biswas’s songs for Parul Ghosh

Anil Biswas and Parul Ghosh May 27, 2014

Continuing Anil Biswas Centenary Year celebration with his songs for Parul Ghosh as a tribute to her I can’t think of a weightier brother sister-duo in Hindi film music. Obviously, Mangeshkars’ dominance is unparalleled, but they are primarily ‘sisters’; Hridaynath’s footprint is very negligible on film music, whereas Anil Biswas is a Titan. Parul Ghosh […]

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The Mentor and the Protégé: Talat Mahmood songs by Anil Biswas

Anil Biswas and Talat Mahmood February 24, 2014

A tribute to Talat Mahmood on his 90th birth anniversary Anil Biswas was not the first composer for whom Talat Mahmood sang in films. He debuted as an actor-singer in Calcutta in Raj Laxmi (1945). While in Calcutta, he also sang (and acted) in Tum Aur Main (1947), Samapti and Swayansiddha (1949). During this period […]

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Door Papiha Bola: Suraiya by Anil Biswas

Anil Biswas and Suraiya January 31, 2014

A tribute to Anil Biswas in his centenary year and to Suraiya on her 10th death anniversary For many years after getting deeply attached to the vintage songs, I regarded Anil Biswas as peripheral to the music career of Suraiya. When I thought of Suraiya, the composers who came to mind most prominently were Naushad, […]

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Anil Biswas: The Maestro and My Father

Anil Biswas January 1, 2014

SoY heralds 2014 as the Year of Anil Biswas with guest article by Shikha Biswas Vohra (Anil Biswas is described as the ‘Bhishm Pitamah’ of Hindi film music, though he used to describe RC Boral as the Father, and himself, somewhat jocularly, as the Uncle (Chacha) of film music. Yet, did he get his due, […]

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