Gopal Shroti's Tribute to SJ (Courtesy : Shri Gopal Shroti's blog http://gopalshroti.wordpress.com

TRIBUTE TO SHANKAR JAIKISHAN–9•September 14, 2008 •

”WHAT the music going on today, Shailendra in the tune of S-J has forecast in ”LOVE MARRIAGE” in 1959, that ”teen kanister peet peet kar gala phad kar chillana, yaar mere mat bura maan yeh gana hai na bajana hai”….this is what is going on today….where are the classical Indian RAGs…..i think they are sounding in the atmosphere since decades, tuned by Shankar Jaikishan and their contemporaries….now only ”dabba music” remained following the fast tunes of Bhangra and no heroin and no hero……their are 50 heroes and 50 heroins…..such easy to become a hero and heroin? remember in ”NAI DILLI”(1956).LATA sings for Vyjayantimala ”tujh sang preet lagai rasiya, maine jan ke jan ganvai rasiya, hai main mar gai bedardi tere pyar mein”(a gidda) tuned by S-J, next in ‘Aai milan ki bela’….’nee baliye rut hai bahar ki, sun chanve rut hai bahar ki, kuchh mat puchho kaise beeti ghadiyan intezar ki’…
in between comes a person, a Bulgarian resident, Dimitar Trifonov, who plays on Accordian, in Venetian hotel in Las VEGAS, USA, all songs of Raj & Shankar Jaikishan’s immortal film SHRI 420 (God he may live long, i came to know this in 2001). he saw Shri 420 many a times at the age of 11and recalls that these songs were sung by every youth of Bulgaria at that time. he relates that these songs came from the hearts of the creators, not from the instruments. strange enough that almost after 50 yrs of their tuning, they are remembered somewhere in the world, and nobody knows there may be more places…..
IT is a less known fact tha Raj and Jai were having knowledge of western classical music while with Raj, Shankar tuned SONGS based on INDIAN classical music, but the orchestration was having the effect of western symphony…..a strange union of Indian classical Rags and the western symphony….the reason is clear for their popularity till now and will go on years to come……new generations too listen those songs, and the ”teen kanister” songs go into air after few months of survival.

TRIBUTE TO SHANKAR JAIKISHAN–8•September 11, 2008 •

IT WAS IN 1965, THE YEAR WHEN THE LATER HIT FILM ”ARZOO” was made…..the music was of Shankar Jaikishan…..the shooting of the film was almost complete and one imp song was to be recorded which was being postponed since last 2 months. here let me mention that Ramanand Sagar sent Hasrat Jaipuri to visit KASHMIR, where most of the shooting was done, to see the atmosphere and write the song according to that atmosphere.
it just happened in famous studio, that the recording of some other film’s song was postponed due to unavoidable reasons……it was to be recorded by Jaikishan. then it came to Jaikishan’s mind the ‘arzoo’ song to be recorded…..the song was ready written by Hasrat. Jaikishan immediately phoned Lataji and Ramanand Sagar for the recording of that song. Ramanand Sagar was surprised and asked…where is the tune. Jai told him that the tune is ready and u pl come. (it was a tradition in films that the song was recorded in the presence of producer/director/hero/heroine at the sitting of rehearsal and at the time of final take). THIS WAS THE FAMOUS 10 MINUTES TUNE, which Jai composed in 10 minutes on his harmonium. then LATAJI and Ramand Sagar also came and Jai got them to listen the tune…..and Lataji after 3-4 rehearsal was ready for recording of the song. and within 2 hours the song was recorded…..and later it made a history and u still listen it in orchestras….in the beginning a high pitch ‘aalap’ by Lataji and starts the song:
” BEDARDI BALMA TUJHKO MERA MAN YAAD KARTA HAI, BARASTA HAI JO AANKHON SE VO SAWAN YAAD KARTA HAY” AND THE SEXOPHONE, VIOLINS AND DHOLAK MADE IT IMMORTAL FOR POSTERITY…..AND IN INTERLUDE LINES DESCRIBED THE KASHMIR HASRAT VISITED.
TRIBUTE TO SHANKAR JAIKISHAN–7•August 25, 2008 •

It was in late 50s, mr. nassir hussain was making ”jab pyar kisi se hota hai”. he was sitting with S-J in their rehearsal room in famous studio. he wanted a ”dhansoo”, provoking type song when hero Dev anand returns in the beginning of film, from his studies abroad..and in a romantic mood sings a song for a girl of his dream. Shankar-Jaikishan, offered him the latest tune they composed….”teri pyari pyari surat ko kissi ki nazar na lage, chashme baddoor”. after listening to the song, nasir saheb refused and asked for a more enthusiastic and provocative song. they told him that ”nasir saheb u r missing an imp song, think again”, nasir hussain refused again.
there was sitting L.V. Prasad, the producer, who also wanted a song for his forthcoming film ‘’sasural”…….he asked S-J to let him listen the song….and after hearing he immediately booked it for ‘’sasural”…….and the history is that the film was super-duper hit due to that song ”teri pyari pyari surat ko” and was filmed on hero Rajendra Kumar (credit goes to S-J for his upliftment in coming films for which they composed music) and B.Saroja Devi from south.and the public saw the film again & again for this song, throwing coins on the cinema curtain……….story also goes that when Shammi Kapoor saw the song, he lamented that this song will fit on him, how it went to Rajendra Kumar. it was too late for him…………….later the song composed for nasir husain’s ”jab pyar kissi….” was…..”bin dekhe aur bin pehchane tum per hum qurban, mohabbat isko kahte hain” and was flimed on Dev anand….a super-hit too.

TRIBUTE TO SHANKAR-JAIKISHAN–6•July 29, 2008 •

THE best use of the voice of Manna Dey was made by the duo S-J. ………AND MANNDA ON HIS PART TERMS THE SHANKAR JAIKISHAN, THE BEST MUSIC DIRECTORS OF INDIAN HINDI FILM INDUSTRY………they extracted the best of Manna Dey, in AWARA, SHRI 420(dil ka haal sune dilwala, pyar hua iqrar hua hai, pyar se phir kyon darta hai dil, mud mud ke na dekh mud mud ke(with asha), CHORI CHORI (AAJA SANAM, MADHUR CHANDANI MEIN HAM, YEH RAAT BHEEGI BHEEGI, JAHAN MAIN JATI HUN)……….YOU listen YEH RAAT BHEEGI BHEEGI and it will give u a sound sleep……..so romantic, so soothing the violins and lata and manna dey(wonderful)………UJALA(jhumta mausam mast maheena, ab kahan jayen ham, ye bata ai zamin……….SEEMA(tu pyar ka sagar hai, teri ek bund ke pyase ham)………….BASANT BAHAR (KETKI, GULAB JUHI champak ban phulen—–with Pt BHIMSEN jOSHI (THE GREAT CLASSICAL SINGER), …sur na saje kya gaun main, sur ke bina jeevan soona, with LATA-nain mile chain kahan, dil hai vahin tu hai jehan), ANARI–1956,1957,1958,1959, duniya ka dhhanch badla, kismat ka saancha badla………IN THIS SHAILENDRA TOLD THE FUTURE IN HIS VOICE, kapde ghatenge, maalik hi jane kitane rahange, fashion ka ye khel….and it wan 1959 and now 2008, kitne kapade bache hain aurat ke sharir pe,(fashion ka ye khel)………..he sang 78 songs for S-J and all were hits, including last one perhaps in MERA NAAM JOKAR……..ai bhai zara dekh ke chalo, aage hee nahin peechhe bhi………………..AND yet to come several anecdotes, which made film history and yet to come MOHD RAFI, LATAJI, MUKESH, ASHA BHONSLE, SUMAN KALYANPUR AND KISHOREDA, WHO sang for S-J IN NAI DILLI in the year 1955 itself………(SONG……NAKHARE WALI, WOH TO KOI AUR THI JO AAKHON SE SAMA GAI DIL MEIN, ,,..yedli hooo) and followed immediately by lata and chorus the super romantic……….ZINDAGI BAHAR HAY, MUHABBAT KI BAHAR HAI……….FOLLOWED BY MELODIOUS PIANO ACCORDIAN, PERHAPS BY GOODY SIRVAI, who played ACCORDIAN for their tunes/songs……….

TRUBUTE TO SHANKAR JAIKISHAN—5•July 21, 2008 •

NOW i am remembering the immortal song of FILM ”DEEWANA”===Raj Kapoor, Saira Bano starrer made in 60s: TUMHARI BHI JAI JAI, HAMARI BHI JAI JAI, …..NA TUM HAARE NA HAM HAARE,……………..SAFAR SAATH ITNA TO HO HI CHUKA HAI, NA TUM HAARE, NA HAM HAARE………….now see the interlude wordings written by Shailendra…………….WAQT KAHAN RUKTA HAI, TO PHIR TUM KAISE RUK JAATE, (see wordings)…..AAKHIR KISNE CHAND CHHUA HAI, HAM KYUN HAATH BADHATE……………JO US PAAR HO TUM, TO HAM IS KINARE…………..NA TUM HAARE, NA HAM HAARE….the heroine is going in the train, and after seeing off, Raj, with a broken heart sing this song…….and the rushing train music is vibrant with wordings.
MANNA DEY : in comparison with Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore, was less popular………..but the songs composed by SHANKAR JAIKISHAN immortalised him……….and it started from AWARA in 1951 with the song(which is in two parts) which starts from Lata……………TERE BINA AAG YE CHANDNI, TU AA.A JA….TERE BINA BESURI BANSURI YE MERI ZINZAGI, DARD KI RAAGINI,TU AA.A HA…………..THEN THE BROKEN HEART RAJ SINGS IN MANNA DEY’S VOICE…………………MUJHKO YE NARAK NA CHHAHIYA, MUJHKO CHHAHIYA BAHAR, MUJHKO CHHAHIYA BAHAR………………and start the superlative song composed by Jaikishan:……..GHAR AAYA MERA PERDESI PYAAS BUJHI MERI ANKHIYAN KI (MENDOLIN AND CHORUS)……………then TU MERE MAN KA MOTI HAI, IN NAINAN KI JYOTI HAI…….YAAD HAI MERE BACHAPAN KI …….GHAR AAYA MERA PERDESSI…..AND FOLLOWS ONE MORE GREAT INTERLUDE SONG(ANTARA).( MANNA DEY TO CONTINUE……………)

TRIBUTE TO S-J–4•July 6, 2008 •

THE last word i wrote in previous blog is ‘Shailendra’………born 0n 30 Aug 1923. because of the economic condition, he joined in railway workshop. basically he was a poet. he used to sing his poems to the people and in ‘kavi sammelan’. on one occasion when a poetic symposium was organised under the guidance of Prithviraj kapoor, where Shailendra sang his poem on partition ”jalta hai punjab saathiyon”. raj kapoor happened to be present there and influenced by the young poet, he offered to write songs for his forthcoming film. Shailendra denied the offer, because as a general notion, to enter into films was not considered good . Raj told him that whenever he comes he will welcome him. after some time Shailendra was in urgent need of money (because his wife needed urgent treatment), he went to Raj kapoor. Ral was very happy and immediately he gave him the money(Rs.500/-). ……….by that time, Raj got the songs written by Hasrat Jaipuri (a footpathy ’shayar’), whom also Raj summoned when he heard that Hasrat sings his ’shayari’ to anybody on the foopath and after hearing his ’shayari/poems was impressed and on tunes composed by S-J, Hasrat wrote the ‘BARSAT’songs………when Shailendra met Raj he gave him the situation and Shailendra wrote ‘barsat mein hamse miley tum o sahjan tumse miley hum’. however he also wrote one more song ”patli kamar hai, tirchhi nazar hai, khile phool si teri jawani, koi bataye kidhar kasar hai’…………..and the film was unexpectly hit and the songs tuned every road in India.. and it is said that Raj also got S-J’s photos on publicity banners to know people who composed the music. ……..and there was a TEAM OF RAJ,MUKESH,SHANKAR-JAIKISHAN, SHAILENDRA AND HASRAT….was formed to change the trend of MUSIC of Indian hindi cinema. AND THERE WAS RAIN(BARSAT) OF hit songs from this team for continuously 2 decades.
once BR CHOPRA, the then famous producer and director,who made hit films like ‘dhool ka phool’ asked S-J to compose music for his forthcoming film, with one condition that the songs will be written by ‘SAHIR LUDHIANAVI’ of BR camp. S-J politely refused the offer saying that the song writers will be SHAILENDRA & HASRAT. such was the team spirit maintained…………IT was in 1951…..and came another HIT ‘AAWARA’ which changed the old trend of ORCHESTRATION in hindi film music/cinema.
FEW ‘BARSAT’ SONGS: ‘hawa mein udta jaaye’, ‘jiya beqrar hai’, ‘ab mera kaun sahara’ etc total 10 and 9 sung by Lata(mukesh), and one by Rafi’main zindgi mein hardam’…………………..
TRIBUTE TO S-J–3•June 28, 2008 •

SHANKAR JAIKISHAN…………YES THESE NAMES REFLECT the MELODIOUS era of hindi film songs in 50s and 60s because still daily 10 to 12 songs are in the air from VIVIDH BHARTI and people like me who were born even after 60s and who had touch with music loved raj kapoor, shammi kapoor, rajendra kumar, raj kumar, saira bano, meena kumari, vyjayantimala etc.etc. to sing those golden songs and the lyrics written by shailendra and hasrat jaipuri exclusively for S-J. …….Raj kapoor kept the recorded tunes composed by the duo for his future films. that is whY LAXMI-PYARE had to leave the raj-camp, because of the insistence of raj kapoor to compose music according to those recorded tunes by S-J…….THEN CAME RD Burman, ravindra jain.
in lyricist, SHAILENDRA was most talented and HASRAT WAS NO LESS.. HERE I MAY MENTION THAT SHANKAR got the songs written by Shailendra and Jaikishan by Hasrat jaipuri(A DIVISION OF WORK) because in nature, shankar loved Indian classical music and Jai loved semi-classical music affected by western instruments. however both used western and indian semi clasical and clasical music and ‘ragas’ with blend of folk tunes. that is why Jaikishan gave his daughter the name ‘BHAIRAVI’ A MELODIOUS RAGA FROM indian classical music. therefore, it was difficult at that time to recognise who tuned which song…..so similar were the minds. AND Shailendra wrote ‘poetry’ while Hasrat wrote ’shayari’. Jai was romantic in nature……..so he composed ‘ye mera prem patra padhkar, ke tum naraz na hona…..ai phoolon ki rani, baharon ki malika, tera muskurana gazab ho gaya,’ for example. next in film ‘BASANT BAHAR’ , A FILM BASED ON CLASSICAL MUSIC, shankar scored on pure classical tunes, ”ketki gulab juhi champak ban phoolen.” sung by Manna dey and Pt Bhimsen JOSHI, ”’DUNIYA NA BHAYE MOHE AB TO BULA LE CHARNON MEIN”(MOHD RAFI), ‘’sur na saje kya gaun mein”(manna dey)…………….and Jaikishan composed ”nain mile chain kahan”(lata-mannadey), ”badi der bhai, kab loge khabar more ram”(mohd rafi).
here i wud like to mention MANNA DEY’s confession in an interview some two year’s back on a tv channel, that when Shankar rang him to sing with Pt bhimsen joshi (ketki gulab), he was so nervous and hesitent that he told his wife to move to Pune”’how i am a small singer and where is Pt bhimsen joshi. na baba na main to nahin gaunga”’……….later he was summoned and rehearsed the song, then after recording he felt relieved. he also recalled that one fine day Shankar asked him to sing ”ye raat bheegi bheegi, ye mast fizayen” and mannada told that he liked the lyric or song’s ‘bol’ very much written by Shailendra.



TRIBUTE TO S-J - 2•June 25, 2008 •

HERE in this 2nd phase, i wud like to talk about the younger one of the duo-Jaikishan and how they met. ………Jaikishan was born in 1932(ref AIR) and lived upto 1971 and he alongwith his elder Shankar left the legacy of innumerable melodious film songs. was he not a prodigy…..who became a hit at the age of 18-19 years only in the hindi film music, where tough competition was to follow? so thousands of his fans still hum the songs he composed alongwith Shankar. Vividh Bharti daily tunes many of their songs to refresh the memory of older as well as younger ones. after his departure, the ‘Barsat’ stopped which started in 1949. ………..JAIKISHAN Dayabhai Panchal was born in Gujrat(Balsad). his father was a royal singer in the palace of ‘Raja of Dharampur’. so the music was in the blood of Jaikishan. he went to BOMBAY to try his luck in films as a hero. though it was not in his luck. however to satisfy his desire he appeared in 2 or 3 films(Shri 420, Begunah….which was banned, but the hit song was picturised on him–was….’ai pyase dil bejuban, dard hai teri dastan’). he did a time-keeper’s job also to do something to sustain. during this time he also tried to meet produced and directors for a chance in films. one day, he met Shankar in a director’s office (Shankarsingh Ramsingh Raghuvanshi -SHANKAR full name). Shankar told him that he plays ‘tabla’ in PRITHVI THEATRES(OWNED BY Rak kapoor’s father, PRITHVIRAJ KAPOOR) and that he learnt dance also by renowned Dancer Krishna Kutty. JAI told Shankar that he plays good harmonium and is interested to enter in films. Shankar introduced to Jai to Raj kapoor and his father. then they became the assistants of Ram Ganguli, music director of raj’s debut film AAG(though raj wanted to give them the break in AAG itself, but his father insisted to wait). RAJ saw their talent while assisting Ram Ganguli, and he gave full responsibility of BARSAT to SJ later on. however before giving this responsibility, he heard the tunes composed by the duo and was petted them to be OK……………….and Raj never failed in his search. At the time of his death in 1984 - Raj was asked by a journalist that could he repeat the DREAM SEQUENCE of AWARA—GHAR AAYA MERA PERDESI, now. Raj replied from the death bed ”YES, BUT BRING ME BACK MY SHANKAR JAIKISHAN AND SHAILENDRA, and i will do better than that. SO MUCH CONFIDENT AT THE AGE OF 64 IN his earliest choices, afret making many hits with other music directors……..so was the talent and genius of SJ.











WORLD MUSID DAY JUNE 21- A TRIBUTE TO SHANKAR JAIKISHAN•June 23, 2008 •

21st JUNE was the WORLD MUSIC DAY. IT STARTED IN FRANCE in 1982 to celebrate the 21st june with songs,dance,music etc whole night, because on this day the day and night are equal and from 22nd June onwards the days start becoming shorter and nights longer.. i pay my tribute to music duo SHANKAR-JAIKISHAN whose heydays in indian hindi film music were the ‘golden era’ of hindi film music in 50s and 60s. In the words of Laxmikant Pyarelal, their junior strong contemporary,who also worked in SJ’s orchestra.
”keep the remote control in hand. the story (of film -Kanhaiya)is unbelievably absurd. Nutan is in love with Kanhaiya, the God Krishna. but Kanhaiya (raj kapoor)a boozard mortal assumes she loves him, like the rest of the village…………….Fast-forward the scenes and stop just before the songs–each one is a musical treat. Romance,devotion,self-pity—the simple lyrics by Shailendra inspire Shankar Jaikishan to give their soothing best. S-J’s musical genius is evident in every song of the movie. The flavour of Punjabi folk music is excellently brought in the song ‘NI BALIYE’. Lataji and Mukesh surpass themselves. we are great fan of Shankar Jaikishan. in fact when Jaikishanji passed away we did not record for 10 days.” …..an unparellel genius.
few songs of KANHAIYA–rook ja o janewali ruk ja…./O kanhaiya aaj aana khwab mein/kahan hai kahan hai kanhaiya/yaad aayi aadhi raat ko kal raat ki tauba/ni baliye rut hai bahar ki……and more.