Kanu Roy – Bollywood actor and music composer who tuned songs of ‘Anubhav’

Kanu Roy was an extremely talented music composer of Bengali and Hindi cinema during 1960s and 1970s. Roy has also done a few character roles on Hindi screen since early 1940s. An unsung hero of Indian cinema, despite giving some wonderful songs to Geeta Dutt and Manna Dey, he got only less 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 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 hailed from West Bengal. He was born in a poor family in the outskirts of Kolkata. During his early days he worked as a welder at Howrah Bridge, engaged in repairing work of the bridge. He joined film industry as an actor in the early 1940s. Bollywood’s first biggest blockbuster, Kismet marked his screen debut. He was later seen in brief roles in Barsaat, Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Ham Sab Chor Hain, Jagriti, Munimji etc before he concentrated on to 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. 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 less-known but extremely talented music director, only less data is available about him on net, a few are contradictory and false. In his colleague Gulzar’s words he was a simple person with a humming song always on his lips, and that he never quarrels or mingles with others.

Kanu Roy – Some interesting and less-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 its recording.

4. When many called his recording of Meri Jaan Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho as a successful and wonderful experiment, Kanu Roy recalls it as ‘the only option available then’. He wanted to use 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 recordings of 5 songs – Vibrophone, Tabla, Flute and Taar Shehnai.

6. Though he received lesser opportunities from 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 tight budget. For the same reason he was forced to use less orchestra 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 satisfy with six or eight musicians. Basu would suggest him to 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, its lyrics struck his mind, and he penned those words in the back of bus tickets. Later Basu Bhattacharya got impressed by those lines, and recorded it 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 those days.

11. Basu Bhattacharya’s Sparsh was his last movie as a music composer. Amjad Khan’s Sarod was used for its recordings. He died very soon.

12. Lived as a less-known music composer and actor, 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 lesser friends in the film circle, and was an introvert person. 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. Both owned extreme talent, but lucky didn’t favour them to make a mark in the music industry. Yet both are remembered for a few memorable tunes.