Golden Era of Bollywood: The Trio of Mukesh,Shankar-Jaikishan and Raj Kapoor

On the 41st Death Anniversary of Mukesh I look back at the Magical Combination of this legendary singer with SJ and Raj Kapoor. Mukesh debuted as (actor-)singer in 1941 with Nirdosh,his association with Raj Kapoor took place in 1949 when he sang for RK in Aag,the song was “Zinda Huwe, Is Tarah Ke Hamen” composed by Ram Ganguli. Raj Kapoor realized that now he found his soul in the voice of Mukesh. In the very next film Barsaat 1950,Shankar Jaikishan made their debut as music director,from this film the trio of Mukesh,SJ and Raj Kapoor formed.After that they gave many immortal songs to Bollywood
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Barsaat’s music was dominated by Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh getting two duets with her. But their next venture, Awara (1951), had the title track which became a global sensation making Raj Kapoor-Nargis one of the most recognizable faces abroad, and India’s cultural ambassador.
In the same year, in a non-RK film Baadal, too, SJ created an outstanding solo, Main raahi bhatakane wala hun, and an equally good duet with Lata Mangeshkar, Ae dil na mujhse chhupa. RK-SJ’s next film Aah (1953) didn’t fire up the box-office, but what great songs Mukesh sang! The two solos, Raat andheri door kinara, Chhoti si ye zindagani, and the two duets with Lata Mangeshkar, Jaane na jigar pahchaane nazar, Aa ja re ab mera dil pukara are among the most loved songs for Mukesh fans.
With Mukesh becoming identified as Raj Kapoor’s voice, in almost all the films of Raj Kapoor whether under RK banner or outside, if SJ were the music director Mukesh was almost invariably the voice for him. And every film had great songs remembered till today:Here are some of the immortal songs of this Trio.