Name and fame are very much related to luck. Even after having great amount of talent many people don’t get the fame that they deserve. It happened with Shankar Jaikishan in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Shankar Jaikishan is compared and associated with all the composers of that age including Anil Biswas, C Ramchandran, Ravi Shankar Sharma, SD Burman and others. It is sad.
Shankar Jaikishan should have got a special status. They were the composers who probably had the maximum variations possible in that age.
Majority of the composers in every age are associated with some renowned actors actresses or eminent production
houses. For example SD Burman was associated with Bimal Roy and Navketan Banner. So in majority of Dev Anand’s films SD Burman composed melodious songs. Vasant Desai was associated with V Shantaram. OP Nayyar was associated with Guru Dutt.In that perspective, Shankar Jaikishan contributed across different producers, different directors and different actors and actresses. The success story is beyond business terms and box-office terms, in many cases the actors’ or actresses’ career was galvanized by the music of Shankar Jaikishan.
If the contribution is categorized with the directors, then Shankar Jaikishan’s combination list is very long. They composed music in director Raj Kapoor’s Awaara, Barsaat, Shakti Shamanta’s Singapore, An Evening in Paris, Bimal Roy’s Yahudi, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anari, Aasli Nakli, Vijat Bhatt’s Hariyali Aur Raasta, to name a few.
In respect of block busters, Shankar Jaikishan were involved with at least 25 all time blockbusters between 1949 to 1971. They contributed in almost 19 films of Raj Kapoor. Out of them Raj Kapoor’s Barsaat, Awaara, Shree 420, Anari, Sangam remained all time blockbuster. Mukesh’s “awaara hoon”, Manna Dey’s “dil ka haal sune dilwala”, Lata’s “dum bhar jo udhar mu phere”, Rafi’s “meherban likhoon hassena likhoon”, were the greatest hits in their lifetime.
Shankar Jaikishan composed music in around 13 films of Jubilee Kumar Rajender Kumar. Out of them at least 3 were all time blockbusters, which include Dil Ek Mandir, Sangam and Suraj. They composed music in more than 20 films of Shammi Kapoor, out of which Brahmchari, Junglee and Janwar remained all time blockbuster.
In the careers of some heroes Shankar Jaikishan were associated with the greatest hit. The music was the main weapon behind success. For example Love in Tokyo was the biggest hit film of Joy Mukherjee. Shankar Jaikishan composed the music of the films. Rafisahab’s “Japan, Love in Tokyo”, “aaja re aa zara aa”, “o mere shahekhuban” remained runaway hits. Hariyali Aur Raasta and Gumnaam were two films of Manoj Kumar which cemented his position in Bollywood films when Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor were dominating Bollywood films. Mukesh and Lata’s “yeh hariyali aur yeh raasta”, Rafi’s “jane chaman”, Lata’s “gumnaam hai koi” were the greatest hits in the careers of the legendary singers.
April Fool was a blessing in the career of Biswajeet. In 1964, Shankar Jaikishan’s music and Rafisahab’s songs “aa gale lag ja”, “kehdo kehdo”, “April Fool banaya” became run away hits. In the career of Dharmender, Shankar Jaikishan’s music in the films Shikaar, Yakeen, Pyar Hi Pyar, Tum Haseen Mai Jawan. Rafisahab’s song “shikaar karneko aaye, shikar hoke chale”, “yakeen karlo mujhe muhabbat hai tumse tumse”, “gar tum bhula na doge”, “mai kahin kavi na ban jayun”, “tum haseen mai jawan” were all super hit songs. It came at a period when Dharmender required many hits to compete with Shammi Kapoor, Joy Mukherjee, Rajender Kumar, Biswajeet and others.
Shankar Jaikishan was a blessing in the careers of some of the villains of Bollywood who initially wanted to be heroes but late succeeded as villains. Premnath and Ajit were two examples. Shankar Jaikishan composed music in Premnath’s Badal which became super hit and Ajit’s Halaku which again became
big hit.If we look into the careers of heroines, Shankar Jaikishan composed brilliant music in at least 3 biggest hit films of Meena Kumari namely, Dil Ek Mandir, Dil Apna Aur Preet Paraya, Halaku. In Vaijayantimala’s career Shankar Jaikishan were a blessing. They composed music in landmark films of Vaijayantimala like Katputli, Amrapali, Sangam, Zindagi, Suraj, to name a few. She was a fantastic dancer and music played very important roles in balancing her dance sequences with high voltage singing of Suman Kalyanpur, Lata Mangeshkar, and others.
Shankar Jaikishan gave brilliant music in Nutan’s films like Anari, Dil Hi to Hai, Latt Sahab, Padmini’s films Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai, Aashiq, Nargis’s films Awaara, Shree 420, Chori Chori, Raat Aur Din, to name a few.
Business apart, music lovers will agree that majority of Shankar Jaikishan’s compositions were sheer masterpieces. Examples are Bhimsen Joshi and Manna Dey’s “ketki” song in Bharat Bhushan’s Basant Bahar, which was pure classical in nature, Rafisahab and Suman Kalyanpur’ “ajahu na aye balma sawan bita jaye” in Guru Dutt’s Saanjh Aur Sawera, Lataji’s “jayo re jogi tum jayore” in raag kamod in film Amrapali, to name a few. Shankar Jaikishan’s ghazals are still immortal like Rafisahab’s “chalke teri aankhose sharab aur ziada” in Rajender Kumar’s Aarzoo, Rafisahab’s “unke khayal aye to ate chale gaye” in Raj Kumar’s Lal Patthar, Rafisahab and Suman Kalyanpur’s “tumhe dekha tumhe chaha” in Uttam Kumar’s Choti Si Mulakat, Rafisahab’s “aye bahar banke” in Pradip Kumar’s Rajhaat, Mukeshji’s “apne hue paraye” in Manoj Kumar’s Apne Huye Paraye.
There is a tendency of considering Shankar Jaikishan as mediocre composer among the Indian masses, and many think that the popular music of Shankar Jaikishan catered to the masses reduced their depth in composition. But those songs like Rafi, Mukesh’s “ramaiya vasta maiya” in Shree 420, or Rafi’s “sawerewali gari se chale jayenge” in Latt Sahab were addressed to the folk group of the area where the story of the film was taken from.
They also gave brilliant break in the career of many other singers like Subir Sen, Sudha Malhotra, Sharda Rajan, Mubarak Begum, Hemant Kumar, Mahendra Kapoor to name a few.
Even if Shankar Jaikishan failed to gain the stardom they deserved in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, music experts still feel their combination with Shailendraji and Hasrat Jaipuri Sahab was grand and the creations in Dilip Kumar’s film Daag, Raj Kapoor’s Chori Chori, Balraj Sahani’s Seema, Sunil Dutt’s Sadhna, Bharat Bhushan’s Basant Bahar were as brilliant as the works of any versatile composer gracing the Indian silver screen.
