 |
||||||||||||||||
| |
||||||||||||||||
Early years Shankar Singh Raghuvanshi (25 October 1922 – 26 April 1987) was a native of Hyderabad while Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal (4 November 1929 – 12 September 1971) belonged to Bansda (Vansada), Gujarat. During his formative years, Shankar played the tabla and learned the art formally from Baba Nasir Khansahib. For many years, Shankar studied as a disciple of the legendary composer Khawaja Khurshid Anwar, in whose orchestra he performed. Jaikishan was adept at playing the harmonium. Subsequently, he obtained his musical lessons from Sangeet Visharad Wadilalji and later from Prem Shankar Nayak. After moving to Bombay, he became a disciple of Vinayak Tambe. Shankar started his career with a theater group run by Satyanarayan and Hemawati, before shifting to Prithvi Theatre where he played tabla and performed some minor roles in plays. Shankar worked as assistant to the leading composer duo of Husnlal Bhagatram. Apart from workig at Prithvi theaters, Shankar used to frequently visit the office of a Gujrati director Chandravadan Bhatt who had promised Shankar that he would give him a break as a Music Director as and when he produced a film. It was outside the office of Mr Bhatt that Shankar saw `ek dubla patla sunder `ladka' also sitting a number of times. Although they never spoke to each other, one fine day, Shankar took the initiative of starting the conversation and then discovered that his name was Jaikishan and he too used to visit the same producer in search of some work related to music and that he was a Harmonium player. Shankar later recollected that their vibes were right from the very beginning i.e. right from their first meeting itself they develpoed liking for each other (rather than any feelings of rivalry which could have been natural since both were visiting Mr Bhatt for similar reason) and it was he who then and there assured Jaikishan of the job of a Harmonium player at Prithvi theaters (without asking Prithviraj Kapoor, fondly referred to as `Papaji'). Of course, later, Papaji honoured Shankar's selection and gladly accepted Jaikishan as a Harmonium player at Prithvi. Soon, the two of them developed very close friendship to the extent that the people started refererring to them as `Ram-Lakshman' ki jodi and by several similar-meaning nick names. It was during this phase that Shankar and Jaikishan developed a very deep bond of friendship, mutual understanding and regard for each other and made up their mind to work together as a musical team. Apart from following their musical pursuits, they also used to play significant roles in various plays including the famous play “Pathan”. While working in Prithvi Theaters, Shankar and Jaikishan, apart from working in the music department there, used to compose tunes and were in touch with Raj Kapoor, who was working as an assistant to the famous director Kidar Sharma and was aspiring to be an actor/director. Thus, the three had met at Prithvi Theater, run by Raj Kapoor’s father, Prithviraj Kapoor. `Barsaat': the First break Raj Kapoor made his debut as a director with the film “Aag” in 1948. While the film received a mixed response at the box office, its musical score (in which the music director Ram Ganguli was assisted by Shankar and Jaikishan) proved to be quite popular. However, during the recording of some song for his new venture `Barsaat', Raj Kapoor had some serious differences with Ram Ganguly, the music composer of the film and decided to assign its music to Shankar who insisted on taking Jaikishan as his partner and thus came into existence the new pair of music directors(MD) named `Shankar-Jaikishan' who gave landmark, path-breaking and trend-setting music for the RK production `Barsaat' in 1949. Himself being a trained singer (he and Mukesh learned vocal music from the same Guru) and having an ear for good music, Raj Kapoor thus, took on board, a completely new team of composers Shankar and Jaikishan and lyricists Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri (a former bus conductor). On the insistence of Shankar, he and SJ co-opted the upcoming singing talent Lata Mangeshkar, and repeated Mukesh as Raj Kapoor's ghost voice for the various songs of Barsaat. In due course, this team was to prove to be one of the most successful musical combinations of all times, perhaps second only to the combination of Shankar, Jaikishan, Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri, Lata Mangeshkar and Mohd. Rafi. Barsaat was a super hit, both commercially and more so musically. Among other things, it established Lata Mangeshkar as the undisputed queen of Hindi film music. It also had the distinction of giving two firsts to Hindi cinema – a title song (Barsaat mein hamse miley tum) and a cabaret (Patli kamar hai). The film propelled Shankar-Jaikishan on the road to musical super-stardom and to a stature that remains unmatched to this date. Early successes of SJ The success of Barsaat opened many doors for Shankar Jaikishan, popularly known by the acronym "S-J". Never the ones to rest on their laurels, they continued to improve upon their ever lofty standards and their association with any film generally was one of the most important factors in its success. Among their early hits, Awaara, Aah, Shree 420, Basant Bahar, Halaku, Patita, Kathputli, Anari, Chori Chori, Daag, Baadshah, Boot Polish, and Ujala are barely a few of the prominent ones. In the film Aawara, they successfully supported the first ever “dream sequence” by two stunningly orchestrated (It may be noted with interest that Sebastian De'souza had NOT joined them till then!) songs, viz., Tere bina aag yeh chandni and Ghar aaya mera pardesi, though the latter was inspired by a composition of Mohammed Abdel Wahab (considered the “father of the modern Egyptian song”) composition. The songs Aawara hoon from the film Awaara and Mera joota hai Japani from the film Shree 420 were big hits in the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries as well and helped turn Raj Kapoor (on whom the songs were picturized) into a cult figure in those regions.
S-J formed a core team with lyricists Shailendra (himself regarded as perhaps the greatest of his ilk) and Hasrat Jaipuri and with singers Mohd. Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. SJ had two other life-long companions who worked as their assistants: Dattaram Wadkar and Sebastian De'souza, the former supervising their rhythm section and the later writing musical notations for all SJ compositions (during SJ's musical sittings as can be seen in a number of photographs of such sessions) and then rehearsing all the musicians of the grand SJ orchestra according to SJ's compositions and directions. SJ also patronized the immensely talented singer Manna Dey, who sang his best songs with them and used Mukesh’s silken voice as playback for Raj Kapoor. Among the directors, they worked most closely with Raj Kapoor and were considered the kingpins of his legendary banner RK Films. S-J worked with almost all singers of their time. They had a good working relationship with all of them and were masters in extracting the very best from every one of them. After the demise of Shailendra, they worked with a host of other lyricists such as Neeraj, Verma Malik, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Vithhal Bhai Patel and Rajinder Krishan, to name a few. While they composed music for all the top heroes of their time, they enjoyed an excellent run with the films of Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar, apart from those of Raj Kapoor. S-J were the “house composers” for RK Films and were on their pay-roll till the end. Although it is said that SJ produced some of their best work for the RK banner but the fact is that they excelled outside the RK banner equally well. Raj Kapoor used to maintain a music bank where he stored compositions of S-J. This music bank was built over a period of time. Even after the termination of the professional association between Shankar and Raj Kapoor (Jaikishan had died by then), the latter had used a number of S-J’s earlier compositions (which were in his custody) for all his films though the credits were given officially to other composers, e.g., Laxmikant Pyarelal (Bobby, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Prem Rog) and Ravindra Jain (Ram Teri Ganga Maili).
Shankar-Jaikishan’s compositions broke new ground in Hindi film music. Apart from relying upon their considerable knowledge of Indian classical music, they also employed to great effect western beats and orchestration. Shankar-Jaikishan were the pioneers in establishing the role of the orchestra in song compositions as a medium to express and enhance the meanings and feelings of songs rather than using it just as a `filler' as per the prevalent practice before their advent on the scene. They made perfect use of the orchestra and musical instruments (in fact, quite often dozens and even hundreds of them) to decorate their songs which consisted of the following format: The song starts with a `prelude' (preparatory music to create and introduce the right environment and mood for the beginning of the song), then the mukhda starts and is followed by `interlude' containg music pieces on the orchestra. With very few exceptions, they always used different interludes before each stanza. `Multi-layered' music studded with counter melodies' played by the orchestra accompanied while the mukhda or the antara of a song was being sung and finally came the `epilogue'- the music with which the song ended after the singer(s) had finished their singing. Contrary to popular belief, Shankar-Jaikishan made a very significant (perhaps the best) contribution in promoting Indian classical music throughout their career. It was their established practice to have at least one song in a movie based on semi-classical style. The songs like `Jhanak-jhanak tori baje payaliya' (Mere Huzoor), `Chham chham baje re payaliya' (Jane-anjane), `Radhike tune bansari churayi' (Beti Bete), `Manmohana bade jhoothe' (old `Seema'), `Koi matwala aya mere dware' (Love in Tokyo), `Ajahu na ayae baalma, sawan beeta jaye' (Sanjh aur Savera), `Lapak jhpak tu aa re badarwa' (Boot polish), `Ye barkha bahar sautaniya ke dwar' (Mayur pankh), `Re man sur mein ga' (Lal pathar), `Sooni sooni sans ke sitar par' (Naina), `Kate na kate raina' (Mera naam joker) and numerous other songs are testimony to this. Who can forget their outstanding music in `Basant Bahar' and Amrapali both of which had each and every song based upon Indian classical music ! While “raga Bhairavi” remained their perennial favorite, SJ used a variety of Raagas in their compositions. Shankar Jaikishan also used the western classical-based waltz rhythm in a number of songs to telling effect. Though they were inspired by some popular western songs in some of their compositions, such instances were few and far between and the end results, more often than not, were distinctly better than the originals and quite `Shankar-Jaikishan'-ish. Leaving aside such very few exceptions, they were considered to be exceptionally original and full of widest possible variety in their compositions throughout their career. Shankar-Jaikishan gave a new style and meaning to the genre of sad songs by composing them on a fast tempo. Songs like `Main zindagi mein hurdum rota hi raha hun' (Barsaat), `Tera jana dil ke armanon ka lut jana' (Anari), `Haye tu hi gaya mohe bhool re' (Kathputli), `Aye mere dil kahin aur chal' (Daag) and `Andhe jahan ke andhe raaste' (Patita) amply demonstrated this. The last two songs, along with many others (notably `Awaara hoon' from the film Awaara), also demonstrate the composers’ outstanding use of musical instruments – a harmonium is used to produce the effect of a piano accordion. SJ ruled the song world for more than two decades, kept on continuously creating and re-defining new styles and formats of music (while continuing to remain distinctly `SJ'-ish). All composers of their time and those who came later, followed the formats of music created by SJ and were inspired and influenced by them in some form or the other. In their prime, Shankar-Jaikishan shaped the musical tastes of listeners to their own innovative will.
It is said that Jaikishan would count some numbers on his fingers before coming up with the background score for a particular scene on the spot! Two of S-J’s films, viz., Sangam (1964) and Mera Naam Joker (1971) are regarded even today as having some of the best background musical scores of Hindi films till date. Although Jaikishan alone used to work on background scores of SJ movies, it may be an over-simplification to presume that whatever went in background scores was solely Jaikishan's creation. Since SJ had a common pool of tunes in their stock, made by either of them or by both of them jointly during their numerous music sessions/sittings (Riyaz), it would have been perfectly legitimate and natural for Jaikishan to have used tunes created by either or both partners wherever needed. It is understood that in RK films, Shankar and Jaikishan both used to work on the background scores. On the other hand, both Shankar and Jaikishan were equally proficient in scoring western music based songs. Despite their distinct working styles and preferences, it is very difficult, if not altogether impossible, to ascribe most of their songs to only one of them. In most of the songs, they invariably contributed to one another’s creation, either in the form of improvisation of tune or of orchestration, thus, making their compositions truly a joint effort. Furthermore, each of the two could compose in other's style now and then thereby making the identification still more difficult. Contrary to the popular mis-conception that `it was Jaikishan who used to handle the public relations and business/financial aspects of the duo’s career', the fact is that it was Shankar who had the final say on all financial/business aspects of the SJ-team. Raaga-Jazz
Style Awards During their career, S-J won Filmfare Best Music Director Awards for a record nine times. The last three awards were won in three successive years, thereby making S-J the first composers to score a hat trick of these awards. S-J also came out tops in Binaca Geetmala, the legendary countdown radio program on Hindi film music, where their compositions were declared the most popular on six occasions (a record later equaled by Laxmikant Pyarelal). These songs were Mera joota hai japani in 1955 (Shree 420), Teri pyari pyari surat ko in 1961 (Sasural), Ehsaan tera hoga mujh par in 1962 (Junglee), Bol radha bol in 1964 (Sangam), Baharon phool barsaao in 1966 (Suraj), and Zindagi ek safar hai suhana in 1971 (Andaaz). In 1959, seven of the top ten songs for the year were composed by S-J, a sort of record that stands perhaps to this date, though the top honors for that year went to SD Burman. Government
awards Filmfare
Awards Winner Nominated The
Sur-Singar Awards Winner Bengal
Film Journalists' Association Awards Winner The `so-called' disputes/differences between Shankar and Jaikishan In a signed article in Filmfare, Jaikishan identified unwittingly the song Yeh mera prem patra padh kar (Sangam) as `his' composition. This led to a lot of bitterness between the two, as Shankar considered it a violation of the unwritten agreement between them. At about the same time, Shankar gave a break to singer Sharda and started promoting her as the new singing sensation in preference over Lata Mangeshkar. Jaikishan, however, stuck to Lata Mangeshkar for his compositions. In this period, Shankar and Jaikishan started taking individual contracts for films though every such film continued to show them together as the composers. Mohd. Rafi intervened and helped them settle their differences; however, it is conjectured that their relationship was not same as earlier and this impacted the quality of their compositions which had started exhibiting a decline (which is clearly noticeable in the movies released during the last phases of Jaikishan's life time and those released just after his demise). On the other hand, Jaikishan, Hasrat and Shankar all had denied, whenever quizzed on this topic, that there ever was any rift between them. In fact, according to Hasrat, the division of work was by mutual agreement to cope up with the heavy work load so that Shankar and Shailendra looked after one part of the work while Jaikishan and Hasrat on the other part but this division was not rigid; there was a lot of give and take between them even during this phase. Towards the end (just before Jaikishan's untimely demise), in several of their last movies such as Jane Anjane (1971), Andaaz (1971), Ankhon Ankhon Mein, Shankar and Jaikishan were known to be working together. In retrospect, it appears that the so-called rift between Shankar and Jaikishan was blown out of proportion by the media and vested interests and was used later to downgrade Shankar in his post-Jaikishan years. Since Shankar continued to support Sharda (post Sangam era) and even ghost-composed music for her film and non-film albums, it is said that Lata Mangeshkar became angry with him and discontinued singing for him. Whereas there may be some truth in this assertion, the other fact is that Lata Mangeshkar had stopped working with him after `Sangam' due to her anger against both Raj Kapoor and Shankar in making her sing `Budhha mil gaya' from Sangam which she was not keen as she did not feel comfortable with the lyrics of the song. Nevertheless, she continued singing for Jaikishan even after Sangam and till the end. Standing
in the industry S-J staged a show in Shanmukhanad Hall, Mumbai in 1970 under the aegis of the Indian Navy. In terms of attendance and grandeur, it remains unsurpassed to this day, thus providing a public seal of approval to their leading status in the industry. Jaikishan’s
death and SJ's post-Jaikishan era After Jaikishan’s death, Shankar carried on with the banner of Shankar-Jaikishan alone (as per their mutual understanding made during their life time that in case of the demise of any one of them, the surviving partner will continue to work with the same team name). He was clearly hampered by numerous reasons such as the departure of his soul-mate Jaikishan his favorite lyricist Shailendra, betrayal of Raj Kapoor, continued Shankar-bashing and false propaganda by his rivals and lack of motivation on his own part due to which his music appeared to suffer in comparison to S-J's own high standards. Also, in spite of his continued experimentation on music, the projects themselves for which he worked did not turn out to be commercial successes due to which even his good scores went largely un-noticed. According to Lata Mangeshkar herself, it was the late Mohd. Rafi who brought about a rapprochement between the two and she did started singing again for Shankar starting from Sohan Lal Kanwar's `Sanyasi' and several other films later. Although Shankar's creations during this period for Lata as well as other singers like Rafi, Kishore, Manna Dey were quite good, most of these went un-noticed due to non-descript status of such films which bombed at the box office. His most-successful musical hit was Sanyasi in 1975 for which he scored all songs and the entire background score based upon SJ's favorite Raag Bhairavi to prove the point that SJ' Bhairavi was as much Shankar's as that of Jaikishan ! After Sanyasi, although some of Shankar's later songs did exhibit flashes of the old maestro’s brilliance, overall, these films (Aatmaram, D-Jhooth, Garam Khoon, Papi Pet Ka Sawal Hai, Chorni, Eint ka Jawab Pathar etc.) did not succeed in endearing him to leading production houses, though there were some exceptions. For example, actor Dharmendra had signed Shankar to compose the score for his film Bichchhoo, however, since Shankar did not accept Sai's (who was more keen in having Raj Kamal as MD) intereference in his work, he opted out of the project. Eventually, the project itself was abandoned by producer-to-be Dharmendra. Shankar was in the running for Raj Kapoor’s film Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), but was overlooked in favor of Laxmikant Pyarelal whose candidature was supported vigorously by Mukesh. Ironically, Mukesh owed his standing in the film industry primarily to S-J’s compositions. Shankar was also considered for Raj Kapoor’s proposed film Param Vir Chakra (his case was supported by Raj Kapoor’s sons), but the project did not see the light of day and Shankar never returned to the RK camp. Shankar’s
death Raj Kapoor later paid glowing tributes to the colleague of his salad days in a televised interview. However, it was only after Raj Kapoor’s own death in 1988 that the significance of his association with S-J was brought out in great detail. Legacy Trivia Shankar played the role of a fisherman in the film Aag (1948). Jaikishan appeared in a small role as the drunkard husband of Nadira in the film Shree 420 (1955). Also, the song Aye pyaase dil bezubaan was picturized on him in the film Begunaah (1957). Jaikishan is featured in the film Main Sundar Hoon (1971) where he can be seen sitting next to the recording engineer playing with some levers on the sound board. The tune of the famous song Jaane kahan gaye who din (Mera Naam Joker, 1970) can be found in the background score of the film Aah (1953). The tune of the song Jhooth bole kaua kaate (Bobby, 1973) can be found in the background score of the film Aawara (1951). The currently available songs Aawara hoon (Aawara) and Pyar hua ikrar hua (Shree 420) are different from the originally recorded versions in terms of rhythm and orchestration. The opening stanza of the song Mud mud ke naa dekh mud mud ke was coined by Shailendra when he caught Jaikishan looking back repeatedly at a lovely passerby from their car. The song Chahe koi mujhe junglee kahe (Junglee, 1962) used the terms Yahoo! Yahoo! for the first time in the world. These words were ‘sung’ by Prayag Raj, who also wrote the dialogues of the film. Shankar lent his voice for making the catcalls Ayya ya suku suku in the song Ayya ya karoon main kya suku suku (Junglee). S-J made Mohd. Rafi sing in a falsetto in the duet Dilruba dil pe tu (Rajkumar) and he arguably did a better job than Asha Bhosle, his female co-singer in the song. In the song Dost dost na raha (Sangam), the piano was played by Shankar. In the song `Dil ke Jharokhe mein', Shankar also played the Piano, in addition to their regular Pianist. The synthesizer was used for the first time in Hindi films by S-J in the song Main gaaun tum so jao from the film Brahmachari. S-J composed the music for India’s first 70 mm and stereophonic sound film Around the World, starring Raj Kapoor. S-J composed the music for the film Seema made in the ’50s and for the film Seema made in the ’70s. One of the interludes of S-J’s famous composition Jeena yahan marna yahan (Mera Naam Joker) is loosely based on Raj Kapoor’s favorite Donauwellen (The Waves of the Danube), a waltz composed by Josef Ivanovici, the iconic Romanian composer. The same interlude had also been used earlier by SJ in `Chhod gaye baalam mujhe haye akela chhod gaye'. S-J used Mohd. Rafi as the playback for Raj Kapoor in Barsaat (Main zindagi mein hardam rota hi raha hoon) and for Kishore Kumar in Shararat (Ajab hai daastan teri yeh zindagi). S-J initially preferred to use Manna Dey’s voice for the songs picturized on Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor. They later settled for Mukesh and Mohd. Rafi, respectively, though they continued to use Manna Dey’s voice on an infrequent basis for Raj Kapoor’s songs. Raj Kapoor used to pick up more of Shankar’s songs than Jaikishan’s songs as he felt they were more suitable for his films’ situations. Lata Mangeshkar, while listing her preferred songs by various composers, said that 60% of all S-J’s compositions were her favorites. This was the highest ‘rating’ she gave to any composer. Manna Dey, in a published interview with The Gulf News in 2006, rated S-J as the best ever composers in the history of Hindi film music. O.P. Nayyar, himself a giant in the world of music, considered Shankar as the most complete music composer ever in the Hindi film industry. Filmfare magazine, in one of its anniversary issues, rated S-J as the numero uno composers in the history of Hindi film music. S-J’s longtime assistant, Dattaram, is credited with inventing a new rhythm/beat which is known as the “Dattaram theka”. After his marriage to Pallavi (who belongs to the business family of the Mariwalas), Jaikishan moved to a flat in Gobind Mahal, located on Marine Drive, Mumbai. S-J are honored by their adopted city of Mumbai in the form of a road junction being named after them (Shankar Jaikishan Chowk) near Churchgate station. They share this privilege with their dear colleague Mohd. Rafi in whose honor a road junction in Bandra (West) is named Padma Shri Mohd. Rafi Chowk. S-J bagged Filmfare award for nine times in their career which remains the highest ever count for any music director till date. Out of these nine, last three came as a hat trick. Selected filmography
Sourced from wikipedia and meant for information only. |
||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|