SJTribute (Courtesy Taranaa Tarang)

SJ Tribute

Andaz Teraa Mastaanaa

The year is 1949. The song starts in a dance club, where Premnath, the reckless lover flirts with a dancer singing patli kamar hai, tircchi najar hai. This, while Nimmi, his faithful love stands at the door of a cottage, her eyes lost in his quest singing aa, aajaa mere man chaahe baalam, aajaa teraa aakhon mein ghar hai. The interlude before the first stanza is typical of music one would hear in a club, before Premnath starts singing in Mukesh’s voice. Lata’s melancholic cry of tum bin nainon ki barsaaten rok na paaoon is preceeded by music and orchestration perfectly apt to show Nimmi’s plight. Two completely different emotions brought together in the same song with the words and music smoothly sailing between the two shores. A duet, which though not as popular as the other songs from the film, but which nevertheless manages to showcase the genius of two young composers composing in their maiden venture. Shankar Singh Raghuwanshi and Jaikishan Panchal started their careers with Barsaat, and literally drenched music lovers over the next two decades with a mesmerizing blend of melody and orchestration to create a timeless legacy of musical magic.
Shankar was born in 1922 and could play several instruments like the piano, dholak, tabla, pakhwaaj, accordion and harmonium. He had a strong grounding in classical music before he left Andhra Pradesh and came to Mumbai to live his dreams. He found the perfect Godfather in Prithviraj Kapoor and started working in his studio. Jaikishan was born in 1929 in Gujrat. He was musically inclined too and could play the harmonium well. He came to Mumbai too to become an actor and began working as a timekeeper in a factory, though the dreams of making it big in the world of films occupied most of his own time. The two met by accident and Shankar, seeing the young man’s interests and drive, took him to Prithvi studios. They worked with Ram Ganguly in Raj Kapoor’s first production Aag. The news soon reached Raj that SJ had played a significant role in the music of Aag and when he started working on Barsaat, he was convinced the two were the men for the job. Thus began a journey of several personalities, who would change the face of Hindi film music forever. SJ brought in two fresh lyricists – Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri to write for their compositions. Shankar had heard Lata sing once before and in spite of there being other established female voices, he decided Lata’s would be the voice for Barsaat. Mukesh too, was struggling to break free from the shadows of K.L. Saigal at the time. Mohammad Rafi was perhaps the only established name in the music cast. In Raj Kapoor, they had the perfect producer with more than a keen ear for music and they had little trouble getting the elaborate orchestra, which was unheard of in films of the time. Barsaat, an all-hit album pioneered the idea that music could be as important a commercial aspect as the film itself.
The years that followed confirmed that the SJ magic was far from a one-off phenomenon. Awaara and Nagina in ’51, Daag in ’52, Aah, Boot Polish and Patita in ’53 and then Seema and Shree 420 in ’55 firmly positioned the duo at the top of their trade. Music was the integral part of almost every RK Productions film, so much so that SJ had to keep several tunes ready for each situation and Raj would then personally handpick one for the picturization. Grand sets, dream sequences, theme songs, lost love – RK films had it all. Here was a generation pregnant with dreams in an independent India and here was a young director who could use extravagance to sell the common man his own dream. Shailendra penned the pulse of the common man with lines like muTThi mein hai taqdeer hamaari and us des mein tere pardes mein sone chaandi ke badle mein bikate hain dil. Shankar and Jaikishan composed tunes that were potent enough to portray the protagonist flawlessly, but easy on the ears to be hummed by generations to come.
Even given the number of talented composers in the business then, there was hardly anyone who could match SJ in terms of popularity and prolificity. If there were critics, they were ones who felt SJ could not handle classical music with the same finesse, as they could do the lighter stuff. All that was to change with Basant Bahar in ‘56, a film with which they proved they could not just effortlessly tread into the territory, which till then was Naushad’s bastion, but even conquer it effortlessly. Nain mile chain kahaan, duniyaa na bhaaye mohe, badi der bhayi, ketaki gulab juhi, bhay bhanjanaa, sur naa saje, kar gayaa re, main piyaa teri and jaa jaa re jaa baalamawaa made up an album as classical and as original as one could imagine. In the same year, they delivered Chori Chori, Halaku, New Delhi and Rajhath too. Chori Chori went on to win them their first Filmfare award and there was no looking back.
With several hits under their belt, the work started increasing manifold and the duo had to distribute the work to keep up. Shailendra, who had the penchant for writing sad melancholic songs, started writing mostly for Shankar and Hasrat, good at the light romantic stuff wrote for Jaikishan’s compositions. The aficionado could distinguish Shankar’s work from that of Jaikishan, though they always maintained to the last day that every song was nothing less than a SJ composition. They had Sebastian D’souza and Dattaram (who also composed music individually) as their music arrangers. Besides these two stalwarts, the SJ orchestra had many names that would go on to become popular in the times to come – Ali Akbar Khan, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pannalal Ghosh, Enoch Daniels, Prabhakar Jog, Arun Paudwal, Anil Mohile being a few of them.
SJ won their second Filmfare award for Anadi in 1959, another all-hit music score. The same year saw them come up with such hits as Chhoti Behen, Kanhaiyya, Love Marriage, Main Nashe Mein Hoon, Sharaarat and Ujaalaa. The audience would start dancing and would throw money when jhoomtaa mausam mast mahinaa started playing. More importantly, Ujaalaa formed SJ’s partnership with another star who would go on to rule the 60’s with his dashing looks and inimitable style. If the fifties had seen Raj Kapoor’s steadfast loyalty towards SJ, the sixties was to see his younger brother Shammi, also insist for the popular duo to compose for his films. After films like College Girl, Singapore and Boyfriend, the Shammi-SJ combination served a big hit with Junglee in ’61. They followed it with Dil Tera Diwaanaa, Professor, Rajkumar, Jaanwar, An Evening in Paris, Brahmachari and Andaaz among others. The transition from B&W to color cinema was seamless given Shammi’s persona and SJ’s lilting tunes.
From the early sixties, talks were rife about the strife between Shankar and Jaikishan. The weight of the SJ name however, was not lost on them and they put on a united front for the world. Insiders believed they distributed the work and composed tunes completely independently in the last few years of their association. The final straw probably came with Shankar’s insistence for Sharda, while Jaikishan was firm it would be Lata, who would be the singer of choice as she had always been. Even in this period of contention, the quality of their music never suffered. Success was still a loyal companion, till Jaikishan left us for another world in 1971 at the age of 39. Shankar, who had been paralysed just a few years ago by the loss of his chief lyricist Shailendra, could no longer conjure the same magic now. He continued to compose under the Shankar-Jaikishan name, but he had lost all but his own genius. The change in fortune only highlighted the fact that the weight behind that hyphen in the Shankar-Jaikishan label was far more than the hype created by the media, thanks in part to their larger-than-life images. The elaborate orchestra, which was a feature of SJ songs was withdrawn by most producers after Jaikishan’s demise. Even Raj Kapoor, who had built the RK dynasty with no mean contribution from SJ, turned towards R.D. Burman and Laxmikant Pyarelal for his forthcoming films. Shankar breathed last on April 26, 1987, exactly two decades ago.
I consider myself fortunate to have been exposed to great music at a very early age. Even to this day, many a tune easily brings me to tears, regardless of the composer. I cannot definitively choose between the great composers of that age, each was an institution in his/her own right. What strikes me though about Shankar-Jaikishan is the sheer versatality of their compositions. The Orient and the Occident blend magically in their tunes. Spanning all of four minutes, they could compose a manmohanaa baDe jhooThe, which flows more like a classical bandish than a film song, sans any fancy orchestration. And then they could compose an almost two-minute long prelude with trumpets, cello, violin, guitar, saxophone, ghungroos and what not to create the perfect atmosphere for Lata's divine voice to splash andaaz teraa mastaanaa, maange dil kaa nazraanaa, zaraa sochke aankh milaanaa, by which time, it's humanly impossible for the dil to not be diwaanaa. Whether it be the folk tunes in films like Teesri Kasam or the tunes to color the lush locales of Love in Tokyo or An Evening in Paris, it seemed like everything came just as naturally to the two.
aaj do phoolon ki khushboo se mehek uthaa chaman, gungunaatee hain fizaayen raks karti hai pawan
har kalee ke lab pe naghmaa hai mubaarak baat ka, ban gaye padmashree Bharat mein Shankar Jaikishan
This was written by the great composer Naushad when the Padmashree was conferred upon them in 1967. They won nine Filmfare awards, a feat unparalleled in the industry. More importantly, their music has lighted the hearts of many a music lover and continues to do so. When ajeeb dastaan hai ye starts playing, my daughter doesn’t want it to stop. I can only marvel and ponder kahaan shuru kahaan khatam, ye manzilen hain kaunsee, na wo samajh sake na ham
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A DHOLAK MASTER BECOMES MUSIC DIRECTOR…….

Chandra Gopal Shroti's Tribute to SJ (13th Episode)

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

Raj Kapoor was to launch ”AB DILLI DOOR NAHIN”, in which a boy goes to Delhi to meet CHACHA NEHRU, against the injustice done to his father. when the subject of music came before the team, SHANKAR AIKISHAN suggested themselves the name of their disciple/asstt.MD, DATTARAM. Raj had no doubts about the talent of Dattaram, but still suspicious and cud not announce the name of music director of the said film at that time.
IN between came HOLI and RK STUDIO’s holi was famous and most of the film stars, directors, producers used to play holi there. and SITARA DEVI’s performance was a great event. however, at that time dancers were there but Dholak player was singular and he played that sort of the ’saaz’, that Raj had nothing but full praise of the person in the words ”oh my friend, u did wonder today and i am very happy. ask, what u want”. it was Dattaram and without losing the chance he prayed Raj to allow him to give music independently. Raj saab called him next day in his studio, where S-J were also present. Raj agreed on his request, but told him that he will do this under the supervision of S-J. what more Dattaram wanted. S-J were his Guru. ……S-J told Raj Kapoor, that Dattaram has had several tunes with him, which he composed himself. Raj asked to let him listen any of his tunes. Dattaram played the Dhun of ”ye chaman hamara apna hai” and Raj liked the tune and he became sure that DATTARAM has the capacity to give music independently.
THE songs’ situations were selected and Shailendra and Hasrat were assigned to write the songs on those tunes for ‘AB DILLI DOOR NAHIN’. then and there Hasrat wrote on one tune ”chun chun karti aai chidiya, dal ka dana lai chidiya” and everybody liked the song. and Dattaram added the voices of the animals, which were named in the song. ”haati bhi aaya, mor bhi aaya, chooha bhi aaya, bandar bhi aaya” and the song the children liked so much with elders as well, that the radio played thousands of time and still it gives the freshness of the childhood………(to continue) …..(gshroti@in.com)….

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.