Shankar-Jaikishan were the greatest musical duo to have graced the world of Hindi cinema. So great was the impact of their creative genius that it had a lasting impact on the music of the Hindi films.
Shankar-Jaikishan (SJ) are known to be the most versatile composer-duo, the Hindi film Industry was ever blessed with! SJ were the pioneers in popularizing Indian film music not only in India but also overseas. Who can forget the immortal songs like `Awara hoon’, `Ghar aya mera pardesi’ and `Mera joota hai japani’ ? These are the compostions that made Raj Kapoor a superstar and made every one to take notice of Hindi film music around the world. `Awara hoon’ and `Mera joota hai Japani’ are still a rage in Middle East, Africa, Russia and China
SJ were the first music-composers to understand, realize and demonstrate the important role which the orchestra can play in enhancing the overall impact of the song. They revolutionized the use of orchestra and interlude music of songs and made these as integral and inseparable parts of their compositions rather than using these as mere fillers, as was the practice before their advent on the horizon of Hindi film music. That is why prelude, interlude and background music of many of their songs is as notable, hum-able and melodious, as the tune of the main song. Quite often, their songs can not be reproduced impressively without playing their interludes.
Due to their vast knowledge and command over various forms of music (classical, folk, oriental, western, to name a few) Shankar-Jaikishan could do full justice to any film irrespective of the theme and subject of the film! They amply demonstrated this by creating memorable music for themes as diverse as `Basant Bahar’ and `Amrapali’ on one hand, `An evening in Paris’ and `Brahmchari’ on the other hand and like `Teesri Kasam’ on an entirely different front. Needless to say, irrespective of the success or failure of the film commercially, their music invariably came out a success.
While SJ are widely known for their memorable and immortal melodies for various films of Raj Kapoor (Barsaat, Awara, Sri 420, Chori-Chori, Anari, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti hai, Sangam, Mera Naam Joker) Shammi Kapoor (Jungli, Professor, Dil Tera Deewana, Brahmachari, Janwar, Budtameez, An evening in Paris, Pagla kaheen ka, Jawan Mohabbat, Prince, Jane Anjane) and Rajendra Kumar (Zindagi, Dil ek Mandir, Dil apna aur preet parai, Ai Milan ki bela, Arzoo, Sasural), they also gave hit music for several of the movies of other matinee idols like Dev Anand (Asli Naqli, Love Marriage, JPKSHH, Pyar-Mohabbat), Manoj kumar (Haryali aur Rasta, Pehchan, Sanyasi) and Jitendra (Mere huzoor), to name a few. They were the ones to give Shammi Kapoor the `Yahoo’ image with their revolutionary songs `Yahoo, chahe koi mujhe jungle kahe’ and `Ai ai ya karun main kya suku, suku’ and were the one big reason why Rajendra Kumar was called `Jubilee’ star, since all Rajendra Kumar films with music by SJ celebrated jubilees !
Contrary to the popular belief that SJ mainly created popular light-music-oriented songs, if one counts the total number of their classical-music-based songs, one realizes in amazement that they also played a very significant role in taking the Indian classical music to the masses. The success of their classical-music-based songs too is un-paralleled such as in Basant Bahar (`Sur na saje kya gaun main’: Manna Dey , `Bhay bhanjana vandana sun hamari’: Manna Dey, `Badi der bhai kab loge khabar more Ram’: Rafi, `Main piya teri tu mane ya na mane’: Lata), Seema (`Manmohana bade jhoothhe’: Lata, `), Amrapali (`Jao re jogi tum jao re`: Lata), Mere Huzoor (`Jhanak jhanak tori baje payaliya’: Manna Dey), Love in Tokyo (`Koi matwala aya mere dware’: Lata), Jane Anjane (`Chham Chham baje re payaliya: Manna Dey), Sanjh aur savera (`Ajahun na aaye baalma sawan beeta jaye’: Rafi-Suman Kalyanpur) , Beti Bete (`Radhike tune bansari churayi’: Rafi), Lal-Pathhar (Re man sur mein ga’: Manna Dey- Asha bhonsle), Anari (Rasik balma : lata ),, Mera Naam Joker (Kate na kate Raina: Manna Dey- Asha Bhonsle) and numerous others.
To say that Shankar-Jaikishan understood the taste of the masses, would be an understatement; on the contrary, they shaped the taste of the masses to their own innovative will, by their charming, age-less melodies. They created hit after hit so consistently that their films made silver/golden jubilees, quite often solely on the strength of their music. Their music catered to classes and masses alike; while most of their `popular’ compositions were `classy’ in content, their more `classy’ compositions had surprising `mass-appeal’. NO other music composers have so much variety as Shankar-Jaikishan. They hold the record for maximum number of (9) Film-fare Best music awards which remains an unconquered feat up till now!
A tribute to their artistry came when their song `Jaan Pehchan ho: sung by Mohammed Rafi from their 1965 movie `Gumnam’, was included in the opening scenes of the Holy-wood movie `Ghost World’ released in 2005 (i.e. full 40 years after the creation of the song by SJ !). Prelude of Baharo phool Barsao was used in song of English album by JEM. Hollywood movie “The guru “ too included a SJ song from Sasural.
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