like, khayal, thumri and dadra, and had become an accomplished singer of devotional music, in Shyama Sangeet and Kirtan styles. He also worked as a singer, lyricist and composer, with the 'Hindustan Recording Company', where Kundan Lal Saigal and Sachin Dev Burman, before migrating to Bombay themselves. He got assignments from renowned Bengali poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam, all this got him into the notice of music director, Hiren Bose, and at whose behest he made his way to Bombay (Mumbai) in 1934. This was the period when playback singing was making its debut in Indian cinema, when Anil first joined Ram Daryani's, 'Eastern Art Syndicate', and was associated in composing music for 'Baal Hatya' and 'Bharat ki Beti', before making his debut as a film composer, with Dharam ki Devi (1935) for which he composed the background music, and also acted and sang the song, Kuch Bhi Nahin Bharosa.. In 1936 he joined 'Sagar Movietones' as a composer, first starting with assisting composers, Ashok Ghosh in films Manmohan and Deccan Queen and also Pransukh Nayak, and continued with Sagar Movietones, even after it merged with the Yusuf Fazalbhoy of RCA’s newly established National Studios in 1939. In the coming two years he did eleven films, mostly stunt films, until Mehboob Khan's Jagirdar (1937), a commercially hit, established him as a musical force in the film industry. Soon many more independent assignments came his way, most notably, 300 Days and After, Gramophone Singer, Hum Tum Aur Woh, Ek Hi Raasta, and Mehboob Khan's Watan (1938), Alibaba (1940), the classic, Aurat (1940), Bahen (1941), before working with him again, in Roti (1942), for which he also credited with the story and concept, and which featured many songs by film's actress, Akhtaribai Faizabadi (Begum Akhtar), though they were deleted due to a contractual conflict (the music was recorded with HMV, while she was in contract with Megaphone Gramophone Company). In following years he gave scores for Bombay Talkies films like Jwar Bhata (1944), Dilip Kumar’s debut film, and Milan (1946) also starring Dilip Kumar and directed by Nitin Bose, who made it in Bengali, as Naukadubi. He gave break to famed playback singer, Mukesh in Pehli Nazar (1945), singing 'Dil Jalta Hai to Jalne De', and to Talat Mahmood in Arzoo (1949), singing 'Aye Dil Mujhe Aisi Jagah Ley Chal' his first song in Bombay; he was also behind the success of many