Shankar Jaikishan

Shankar Jaikishan (also known as S-J), were an Indian duo who composed music for the Hindi film industry, working together from 1949 to 1971. Later, Shankar continued to function as a Music Director alone, still giving music under the banner Shankar-Jaikishan, till 1987. Shankar-Jaikishan, along with other artists, composed "everlasting" and "immortal melodies" in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s.^[1] Their best work was noted for being "raga-based and having both lilt and sonority".

Childhood & Early Life

· Shankar Singh s/o ram singh (15 October 1922 – 26 April 1987) was from Hyderabad. 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.

· As per latest knowledge un-earthed by SJ Fans Association International (SJFAI), contrary to the adverse propaganda that he was illiterate and never went to school, as per his surviving close relatives (families of his sisters), this is not true. In fact, Shankar had studied at Hyderabad and had passed 10th class, before moving to Bombay. A 10th class pass of pre-independence era, cannot be considered to be illiterate by any means.

· Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal (4 November 1929 – 12 September 1971) belonged to Bansda (Vansada), Gujarat. 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 Mumbai, he became a disciple of Vinayak Tambe.

Career

· Shankar used to frequently visit the office of a Gujrati director Chandravadan Bhatt who had promised Shankar a break as a Music Director when he produced a film. It was outside the office of Bhatt that Shankar saw Jaikishan a number of times. One day, he started a conversation and discovered that Jaikishan was a harmonium player, and that he too was visiting the same producer in search of work.

· Shankar later recollected that they developed a liking for each other 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'). 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 referring to them as 'Ram-Lakshman' ki jodi and by several similar-meaning nicknames. Apart from following their musical pursuits, they also used to play significant roles in various plays including the famous play "Pathan".

· Raj Kapoor made his debut as a director with the film Aag in 1948. Its music director Ram Ganguly was assisted by Shankar and Jaikishan. However, during the recording of a song for his new venture Barsaat, Raj Kapoor had some serious differences with Ram Ganguly and decided to assign its music to Shankar who insisted on taking Jaikishan as his partner. Thus came into existence the new pair of music directors named 'Shankar-Jaikishan' who composed the music for the film.

· Himself being a trained singer (he and Mukesh learned vocal music from the same Guru), Raj Kapoor thus took on board a 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.

Major Works

· S-J formed a core team with lyricists Shailendra (himself regarded as perhaps the greatest of his ilk) and Hasrat Jaipuri and with singers Mohammed Rafi Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. SJ had two other lifelong companions who worked as their assistants: Dattaram Wadkar and Sebastian D'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. They were steady as a team with Hasrat Jaipuri & Shailendra as their lyricists; but after the demise of Shailendra, they worked with a host of other lyricists such as Indeevar, Gulshan Bawra, Gopaldas Neeraj, Verma Malik, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Vithhal Bhai Patel and Rajinder Krishan, to name a few.

· S-J were the "house composers" for RK Films and were on their pay-roll till the end. Raj Kapoor used to maintain a music bank where he stored compositions of S-J. 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).

Awards & Achievements

· 1968 - For the song "Jhanak Jhanak Toree Baje Payaliya" of the film Mere Huzoor

· 1971 - For the song "Re Man Sur Mein Ga"of the film Lal Patthar

· 1968 - Best Music Director for the film Brahmachari

· 1971 - Best Music Director for the film Andaz^[

Personal Life & Legacy

· Shankar-Jaikishan's compositions broke new ground in Hindi film music. Apart from relying upon their knowledge of Indian classical music, they also employed 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 use of the orchestra and musical instruments (often dozens or hundreds of them) in their songs which consisted of the following format: The song starts with a `prelude' (preparatory music to create and introduce the 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 ("Ye mera deewana pan hai" is a good example), 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.

· While working as a team, Shankar and Jaikishan used to compose their songs separately. Generally, Shankar liked to work with Shailendra and Jaikishan with Hasrat Jaipuri though there are notable instances where Shankar worked with Hasrat and Jaikishan with Shailendra. Of course there are a number of songs done jointly in which both of them contributed.

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