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is the cruelest of all professions' and no one knows it better than
musicians fallen on bad days. These melody makers have reason to feel
disenchanted when, in the evening of their lives, fame, fortune and
adulation become a faint me- mory and the struggle for survival assu- mes
primary importance. They often wish to trade their life's work for the
basic means of survival.
The
fraternity, if any, amongst the arti- stes often ends when misfortune
begins. The industry which has pledged its alle- giance to the box-office
discards them without a qualm. The millions who were enthralled by music
often remain bliss- fully unaware or tragically unconcerned about the fate
of its maker.
Anil Biswas, the doyen of film music, even after withdrawing
from the gilded world of cinema is pursued by memories of it. Once a
letter in Screen caught his
letter in Screen caught his eye, The writer, a school teacher, had described the pathetic plight of the wife of music director Khemchand Prakash (Tansen', 'Bhartruhari', 'Mahal') living as a destitute on the streets of a Bombay suburb. Anill Biswas 'heart revolted. He wrote in a let- ter, "I wonder if the people in the industry know about it. If they do then we should blacken our faces with the soots of sha- me. There must be man more. Raj Kumari is a case in point, who served the industry
