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.