1 Door hatho ae duniya walo - Kismet (1943)
The music of Gyan Mukherjee’s Kismet is one of Anil Biswas’s biggest successes. Every song in this album was a huge hit, from the romantic duet ‘Dheere dheere aa re badal’ to the patriotic ‘Door hatho ae duniya walo’. Sung by Ameerbai Karnataki and Khan Mastana, the song was the first to introduce a full chorus in Indian cinema. The lyricist Kavi Pradeep snuck in a few lines against Indian participation in overseas wars. It passed through the British censors, but once they realized what was going on, they issued an arrest warrant against Pradeep. No matter, the song was on the lips of its adoring public.
2 Dil jalta hai to jalne de – Pehli Nazar (1945)
Biswas gave singer Mukesh his first big break in Mazhar Khan’s Pehli Nazar. Mukesh had earlier acted and sung in Nirdosh (1941), but began singing playback with Pehli Nazar. The classic and beloved song ‘Dil jalta hai to jalne de’ was picturised on actor Motilal. The lyrics were written by Aah Sitapuri and sung in the style of KL Saigal. As was the norm at the time, the song was credited to Motilal’s character Mushtaq in the film, not Mukesh.
3 Mast pavan hai chanchal dhaara – Jeet (1949)
In Mohan Sinha’s Jeet (1949), a young Lata Mangeshkar was given the opportunity to sing a couple of songs opposite the actor-singer Suraiya. Picturised on the second leads Madan Puri and Suraiya Choudhari, the song ‘Mast pavan hai chanchal dhaara’ is lovely romantic number filmed on a boat. The movie starred Suraiya as Jeet and Dev Anand as Vijay.
4 Aye dil mujhe aisi jagha – Arzoo (1950)
Yet another singer who got a chance to sing his first solo with Biswas was Talat Mehmood in Arzoo (1950). The lyrics were penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri while the song was picturised on Dilip Kumar, who played Badal who joined the army after losing his love, Kamini, to another man. Arzoo was directed by Shaheed Latif and written by his wife Ismat Chughtai and Asghar Jafri. Biswas himself sang a song on the soundtrack which was filmed on Gope.
5 Rasiya re man basiya re – Pardesi (1957)
This Indo-Russian co-production featured actors Nargis, Padmini and Oleg Strizhenov and was co-directed by KA Abbas. Based on the real-life travelogue, The Journey Beyond Three Seas, Strizhenov’s Afanasy sails to India where he meets and falls in love with Nargis’s Champa. Prithviraj Kapoor, Balraj Sahni and Bharat Bhushan also acted in the film. Meena Kapoor, the second wife of Anil Biswas, sung this delicate song of love and longing.