Kanu Roy was an extremely talented music composer of Bengali and Hindi cinema during the 1960s and 1970s. Roy has also played a few character roles on the Hindi screen since the early 1940s. An unsung hero of Indian cinema, despite giving some wonderful songs to Geeta Dutt and Manna Dey, he got fewer opportunities from Hindi cinema. He composed songs for Basu Battacharya’s introspective trilogy on marital discord in an urban setting, ‘Anubhav’, ‘Avishkar’ and ‘Griha Pravesh’ in the 1970s, and is best remembered for giving the last but finest songs to Geeta Dutt – Meri Jaan Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho, Koi Chupke Se Aake and Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota. Ironically, she died 6 months after she made a comeback to playback singing for the last time.
Kanu Roy – Music Director, Belonging to Bollywood’s Classic Era
Kanu Roy hailed from West Bengal. He was born in a poor family on the outskirts of Kolkata. During his early days, he worked as a welder at Howrah Bridge, engaged in repairing work on the bridge. He joined the film industry as an actor in the early 1940s. Bollywood’s first biggest blockbuster, Kismet, marked his screen debut. He later appeared in brief roles in Barsaat, Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Ham Sab Chor Hain, Jagriti, Munimji, etc., before concentrating on his music career.
He worked as an assistant to Salil Chowdhury during his early days. As a full-fledged music composer, Basu Battacharya introduced him to Hindi cinema through Uski Kahani in 1966. He gave some of the finest songs to Geeta Dutt, such as three songs of Anubhav (her last and final recordings), Aag Ki Kali Ghata of Uski Kahani, etc. Read the stories behind the recording of Geeta Dutt’s swan song, Meri Jaan Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho.
He also composed music for Shyamla, Sparsh, etc. ‘Geeton Ki Duniya Mein Sargam’ and ‘Khali Pyala Dhundla Darpan’ of Sparsh, ‘Hasne Ki Chaah’ of Aavishkar and ‘Boliye Surilee Boliyan’ of Grihapravesh are memorable songs of Kanu Roy.
He passed away on December 20, 1980. His last film as an actor, Kissi Se Na Kehna, was posthumously released in 1983. A lesser-known but extremely talented music director, for whom less data is available on the net, a few contradictory and false statements are available. In his colleague Gulzar’s words, he was a simple person with a humming song always on his lips, and he never quarrels or mingles with others.
Kanu Roy – Some interesting and lesser-known facts
A screenshot from the classic ‘Meri Jaan Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho’ starring Sanjeev Kumar and Tanuja
1. Kanu Roy is best known for his association with Basu Chatterjee and Gulzar.
2. Legendary singer Geeta Dutt recorded her last and finest songs with Kanu Roy for ‘Anubhav’ and all those songs were filmed on Tanuja.
3. The iconic song Meri Jaan Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho was recorded in Geeta Dutt’s voice using a single music instrument – Vibrophone, with the backdrop of rain. Interestingly, it was due to financial constraints, though Kanu Roy wanted to add more musical instruments for the recording.
4. When many called his recording of Meri Jaan Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho a successful and wonderful experiment, Kanu Roy recalls it as ‘the only option available then’. He wanted to use the santoor and a few more instruments.
5. He was given only rupees 1000 for the recording of all songs of Anubhav. He used only 4 instruments for the whole recording of 5 songs – Vibrophone, Tabla, Flute and Taar Shehnai.
6. Though he received fewer opportunities from the film industry, he was satisfied with his achievements. He never ran behind opportunities or fame.
7. He mostly worked with Basu Battacharya, who directed films with a tight budget. For the same reason, he was forced to use fewer orchestras for recordings. Even the songs of Anubhav didn’t propel his career.
8. He used to struggle with Basu Battacharya to add at least one extra musician for recordings. In all cases, he had to be satisfied with six or eight musicians. Basu would suggest that he take money from his pockets to add extra artists, which poor Kanu could never afford.
9. There is an interesting tale behind the lyrics of Hasne Ki Chaah of Aavishkar. While the lyricist and poet Kapil Kumar was travelling in a crowded bus in Bandra, the lyrics struck his mind, and he penned those words on the back side of the bus tickets. Later, Basu Bhattacharya was impressed by those lines and recorded them with Kanu Roy’s tunes.
10. While his contemporary music directors used to use dummy words while creating tunes, Kanu used funny words like ‘ti ta ti ti’, which was unusual in those days.
11. Basu Bhattacharya’s Sparsh was his last movie as a music composer. Amjad Khan’s Sarod was used for the recordings. He died very soon.
12. As he lived as a lesser-known music composer and actor, and kept a low-profile life, his death was not reported by leading newspapers. He lived a lonely life in his flat in Mumbai during his last days, suffering from age-related ailments and financial issues.
13. He had only a few friends in the film circle and was an introvert. He was a bachelor too. Gulzar and Basu Bhattacharya were his close friends.
14. He, along with Kanu Ghosh are two ‘Kanu’ assistants of Salil Chowdhury. Though both had extreme talent, luck didn’t favour them to make a mark in the music industry. Yet both are remembered for a few memorable tunes.
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