On the 8th anniversary of the blog, I mentioned my plans of starting a new series in forthcoming months. It’s been almost 6 months now, since then! It was about a series of posts, each one dedicated to a film personality, on a suitable occasion. But the interesting aspect of it (or so at least I thought) was that the songs would be from a single film.
There used to be (perhaps still running) a program on Vividh Bharati that played all the songs from a single film, called ‘एक हि फिल्म से’.
On the similar lines, the series is labelled as
‘From Just One Movie’
The concerned day will be selected to fall on the birth / death anniversary of a prominent film personality connected to the film.
After this preamble, let’s start the post.
Today to commemorate the death anniversary of the composer, Kanu Roy, which falls on 20th December, let’s revisit the songs of his most popular movie, Anubhav (1971).
Image Courtsey – Wikipedia
Kanu Roy was a composer in Hindi and Bangla films, who started his career as an assistant to Salil Chowdhury. He was born on 9th December 1912 in West Bengal.
He composed mainly for the films by Basu Bhattacharya. Their first association was for the film, Uski Kahani (1966), which was Bhattacharya’s first venture as a director. Afterwards, he composed for Basu Bhattacharya’s trilogy on marital discord in urban settings, Anubhav, Avishkar and Grih Pravesh in the 70s.
In total he composed for, Uski Kahani (1966), Anubhav (1971), Aavishkar (1973), Tumhara Kallu (1975), Shyamala (1979), Griha Pravesh (1980), Sparsh(1980),
And Mayuri, which was perhaps released in the late 70s or the early 80s. The film Shyamala was re-censored as Wo Phir Naheen Aayi (1981). In Mayuri, Nutan sang a few songs under his baton.
Of these films, only the ones with Basu Bhattacharya are well known. The songs of these films also became popular. Though he composed good songs for Avishkar and Grih Pravesh, his name invariably evokes the songs of Geeta Dutt from Anubhav.
So for opening the series, I present all the songs from Anubhav (1971).
Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho – Anubhav (1971) Geeta Dutt / Kanu Roy – Gulzar
One of the most popular Hindi film songs by Geeta Dutt. Unfortunately, though the songs were appreciated by all, Geeta Dutt passed away within a few months of the film’s release and her potential chances of a successful comeback never materialized. The film track has Vibrophone for instrumental support and gives full scope to Geeta Dutt’s voice and the lyrics to get highlighted. The audio track however seems to have a subtle support of a percussion instrument at places, and is definitely different from the film soundtrack. The gentle laughter of Geeta Dutt’s is also different in both the versions. It’s said that Kanu Roy wanted to have a few more instruments, but couldn’t get any. This weakness however was well appreciated as a successful experiment of subtle but efficient orchestration. Throughout his career he most of the times faced the problem of inadequate instrumental support due to financial constraints.
The audio track,
Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota – Anubhav (1971) Geeta Dutt / Kanu Roy – Gulzar
A beautifully crafted melody, again with less instrumental support. It’s one of the bathroom songs from Hindi films, Tanuja bathing in a bath tub, with a shower and playing with the foam. She’s cheerful, hums and sings ‘la la la’ in between. That gives the song a most natural feel. Most of us if we sing, randomly hum and take non lyrical additions.
The song finds only a few instruments being played, if I have correctly identified, there’s piano in the beginning that continues during the verses, with beautiful santoor pieces and sitar in addition, filling the gaps between the sentences. No prominent rhythm support, the major attention seekers being Geeta Dutt’s expressive voice and beautiful lyrics.
Koi Chupke Se Aake – Anubhav (1971) Geeta Dutt / Kanu Roy – Kapil Kumar
There’s no video available of the song, as it runs in the background during the conversation between Tanuja and Dinesh Thakur. Geeta Dutt’s beautiful voice lingers in the air as the lilting tune unfolds in the background. This one mainly has the flute as the main instrument in the first half of the song, and there’s vibrophone as well.
It of course suits the situation. Tanuja’s old flame, Dinesh Thakur enters her life after a long gap as her husband’s colleague. I haven’t watched the movie, but the plot is intriguing.
Phir Kahin Koi Phool – Anubhav (1971) Manna Dey / Kanu Roy – Kapil Kumar
I must confess that I had not carefully listened to this song, being attracted to Geeta solos. It turned out to be such a meaningful melody! Selecting Manna Dey for the song was the genius of Kanu Roy. He catched the perfect mood and feel of the song. The song runs in the background as we see the interaction between Sanjeev Kumar and Tanuja and Dinesh Thakur. A simple tabla rhythm adorns the song, throughout with sitar and taar shehnai in the interludes. I think taar shehnai continues in the verses as well and follows the singing closely.
It’s said that he received only Rs. 1000/- for his songs in Anubhav. And he used only a few instruments like Vibrophone, Tabla, Flute and Taar shehnai for the songs due to financial constraints.
He in general, never got a full fledged orchestra for his songs and had to adjust with whatever he was provided with.
Unfortunately despite composing these beautiful songs and being talented, he never got his due. He wasn’t very popular and didn’t receive many assignments to showcase his talent.
He was an introvert, had few friends (Basu Bhattacharya and Gulzar) in film circles and was a bachelor. He lived alone and always had financial issues. The tight budget films of Basu Bhattacharya couldn’t help him despite composing melodious songs. Perhaps the songs couldn’t reach the mass, were only appreciated by a class. He died on 20th December 1981. A few sources also mention 1982 as the year of his death.
Like many other composers, he deserves appreciation, though he never made it to the first rung of composers. Perhaps quality and quantity always remain inversely proportional. At least it’s quite true for him.
Before ending the post, there are a couple of things that need a mention. The actor, Kanu Roy, who was mainly active from the 40s till the 60s was a different person than the composer, Kanu Roy. Secondly, Geeta Dutt was not his sister. Geeta Dutt’s brother was Mukul Roy, who also composed for a few Hindi films. I want to thank Mr Arunkumar Deshmukh for sharing details of Kanu Roy’s films.
A full post dedicated to Kanu Roy will feature on the blog next year.
Please share your thoughts about the songs and the concept of this series.
Disclaimer –
Mehfil Mein Meri, claims no credit for any image, screenshots or songs posted on this site. Images on this blog are posted to make the text interesting. The images and screenshots are the copyright of their original owners. The song links are shared from YouTube, only for the listening convenience of music lovers. The copyright of these songs rests with the respective owners, producers and music companies.
