It is not often that a music director is paid more than the leading heroes in Bollywood, but during the 50 's and 60's this happened with Shankar Jaikishan. The maverick duo had set a benchmark so high that mere mortals could not even dream of coming close to them.
Their trademark raga based tunes, Innovative compositions and music was lapped up by the common man and some movies would run only because of their music. Their name was a guarantee for a hit movie!
Shankar singh Raghuvanshi and Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal started their struggle in Mumbai making rounds to producers Office, one such Meeting made SJ friends. Shankar was working as Musician in Prithvi theatre playing Tabla and also enacting small roles in Some dramas. He pulled in Jaikishan to play harmonium. They met Raj Kapoor who was making His second film Barsaat. Raj Kapoor decided to give them a chance of composing music for his film Barsaat (1949).
Both the movie and the Music became hits and SJ became part of Raj Kappor's formidable musical team with Hasrat Jaipuri , Shilendra and Mukesh. They were called "Ram lakshman ki Jodi' in the film industry.
In the 50,s they scored music for films like Daag, Awara, Badal, Aah,Patita,Poonam, Yahudi and Chori chori.
The 50's saw them incorporating with Hasrath Jaipuri, Shailendra ,Mukesh and Lata mangeshkar to consolidate their positions among the topmost music directors . They had to compete with Gaints like SD Burman, Naushad, Madan Mohan and Hemanth Kumar.
Though they were the In-house music directors for Raj Kapoor Movies,they also composed music for Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar , Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar.
Apart from being trail blazers in Indian classical music they were also masters of orchestrations and western beats .
They have composed beautiful raga based tunes like "Ajahun aaye Baalma" from Saanj aur savera, "Manmohan Bade Jhoote" from Seema, "Koi Matwala aaya mere dware" from Love in Tokyo and the Iconic " Jhanak Jhanak tore baaje Payaliya" from " Mere Huzoor".
They composed music only with Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri as lyricists until their demise, a promise which they had made to Raj kapoor.
The sixtees, probably the golden period of Hindi film music saw them consolidating their position outside RK banner in films like "Asli Naqli", Suraj, "Aarzoo" " Dil ek Mandir" "Amrapali".
Though Shankar used Shailendra as lyricist and Jaikishan used Hasrat Jaipuri as Lyricist, they composed together as a duo. Shankar was adept at fast paced songs and Jaikishan was adept at soft romantic numbers. Though they had distinctly different styles of composing, it was impossible to differentiate their compositions. Though they have used voices of Manna Dey , Suman Kalyanpur , Sharda and Kishore kumar in less number of movies, their favourites were Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh ( as permanent voice of Raj kapoor).
The films in which they scored music like Suraj, Sasural,Andaz, Professor, Brahmachari became benchmarks for others to follow. They were nominated for Filmfare awards 11 times and won it 9 times! They were honoured with Padmashri and a stamp was released by govt of India comemorating their contribution.
One of their last compostions was for Mera Naam Joker, as Jaikishan expired in 1971 due liver cirrhocis. Many speculate that there was a rift between Shankar and Jaikishan , which led to untimely death of jaikishan.
Shankar composed music till his demise in 1987 in the name of SJ in films like Sanyasi ,Andaz, Resham Ki dori, but without Jaikishan and lyricist Shailendra the magic had waned from his Music. Even Raj kapoor opted for Lakshmikant Pyarelal for "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" thus drawing a curtain for one of the most glorious periods of Hindi film Music.
Shankar expired in 1987 leaving behind a treasure trove of unforgettable melodies ,which music lovers will remember forever. SJ etched their name in golden letters in the annals of hindi film music. When we listen to the songs of today, we lament the demise of such legends who gave us immortal music .
None came even closer to Shankar Jaikishan!
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