SHAILENDRA-His Life Was a Song

Remembering SHAILENDRA(30th Aug 1923) the Lyricist on his 94th Birth Anniversary.
Poetry was his first love but family situation forced him to take up a job of a railway mechanic.His job in Indian Railways brought him to the city of Bombay.Here in a Kavi Sammelan Raj Kapoor heard him reciting his poems,Raj Kapoor got impressed with his poetry and offered him to write songs for him.Which he initially refused but due to some domestic reasons and responsibilities,  need of money he aproached Raj Kapoor after 6 months and agreed to his terms. His first project was 'Barsaat'. Shailendra wrote his first song 'Barsat Mein Tum Se Mile Hum Sajan..' for Raj Kapoor.His poetic genius was in his ability to convey deepest of thoughts in simplest of words. 
 Eventually, Barsat was also the first film for the emerging music director duo Shankar-Jaikishan. The film proved very successful and after the success of Barsaat Raj Kapoor, Shankar-Jaikishan and Shailendra always worked together.

No doubt, Shailendra gave his best with Shankar-Jaikishan, but he shared equally pleasant rapport with musical giants of those days, like Salil Chowdhary, S. N. Tripathi and S.D. Burman.
Here are my favorite songs of Shailendra

Song from Awara 1951

Song from Awara 1951

Song from Seema (1955)

Song from Jaagte Raho (1956)

Song from Madhumati 1958

Song from Anari 1959

Song from Kala Bazaar, 1960

Song from Bandini, 1963

Song from Guide, 1965

Song from Raat Aur Din.1966

Song from Teesri Kasam 1966

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.

Song from Barsaat 1949

Song from Awaara 1951

Song from Aah 1953

Song from Shree 420 (1955)

Song from  Main Nashe Mein Hoon 1959

Song from  Kanhaiya 1959

Song from Anari 1959

Song from Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai 1960

Song from Aashiq 1962

Song from Sangam 1964

Song from Teesri Kasam 1966

Song from Diwana 1967

Remembering DATTARAM -The soul Behind Shankar Jaikishan Music

Many of you may not have heard of Dattaram  (his death anniversary is on June 8) but you would surely have heard songs he either composed, arranged or played the dholak, tabla or dafli.He managed  Shankar – Jaikishan’s rhythm section.Dattaram is credited with hit Bollywood film songs like "Aansoo bhari hain yeh jeevan ki raahein" (from the film "Parvarish"), "Chun chun karti aayee chidiya" (from "Ab Dilli Door Nahi") or "Masti bhara hai sama" (also from "Parvarish"). His friendship with Shankar – Jaikishan led to opportunities to compose music for films independently. He was one of the few composers who made a successful move from being an assistant to a full-fledged music director. Despite initial successes as a music director, he continued assisting Shankar – Jaikishan, and never really broke out on his own.
Somewhere in the early 1940s, young Dattaram made his way to Mumbai and was working in the docks as a labourer. Obviously, he was poor and not exactly educated. He had learned the tabla for a few years mainly encouraged by his mother who was a local singer
Dattaram became an important member of the RK Group and worked closely with the likes of Raj Kapoor, Shankara-Jaikishan, Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri. 
He was assistant music director to Shankar Jaikishen from 1948 to 1974.This was the time when SJ were in their Peak , gave us Hit and Immortal songs.
He was the person who invented a unique Theka,Ask a pro from the Hindi film music fraternity in Mumbai and anyone will tell you about 'Dattu Ka Theka' (Dattu's beat),He worked on many films as a 'theka' player for rehearsals and finally did his first recording for the film "Nagina".
Raj Kapoor gave him the chance as an independent Music Director in his film Ab Dilli Door Nahi which he produced.Later on He recommended him for Parvarish.He did about 19 films as independent music director.
He did work with other music directors like Laxmikant-Pyarelal and was Raj Kapoor's trusted man when he worked on the music for "Bobby" with the duo. Later, he chose to retire and return to Goa.
Towards his end, he underwent two massive heart attacks.He died on 8th June 2007.

Song from Ab Dilli Door Nahin 1957

Song from Ab Dilli Door Nahin 1957

Song from Parvarish 1958

Song from Parvarish 1958

Song from Kala Aadmi 1960

Song from Shriman Satyawadi 1960

Zindagi Aur Khwab(1961)

Song from Qaidi No.911 (1959)

50 years of An evening In Paris

An Evening In Paris was released on 1st Jan 1967.It was  produced and directed by Shakti Samanta with story by Sachin Bhowmick. It revolves in the French capital city of Paris. The movie stars Shammi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore in a double role, Pran as the villain, and Rajindernath in the comic subplot.The foreign locations and its music were the highlight of this film.Beside these the appearance of Sharmila Tagore in a Bikini was also the talking point.it was a first time the Hindi Cinegoers saw a heroine in Bikini in Hindi Films. Wearing a bikini put her name in the Indian press as one of Bollywood's ten hottest actresses of all time,The film was a big hit.

The film begins with a monologue on how a rich heiress who has been in love thrice, moves to Paris to find the true love which she feels she cannot find in India. On one of her outings, Deepa meets Shyam/Sam (Shammi Kapoor), who immediately falls in love with her and begins to follow her around. After some initial resistance, Deepa eventually gives in to his charms.

In Paris she meets Shyam (Pran) who is her father's secretary's son,Who needs money to clear his gambling debts,he plans to marry her.Since Deepa does not love him, she refuses telling him that she only loves Sam.

Shekher finds a girl Suzy who looks similar to Deepa and shows her Deepa with Sam, so that she can learn her mannerisms.Later he kidnaps Deepa then puts Suzy in her place at her home.
 Deepa's father learns of Deepa's kidnapping and flies to Paris. He and Sam discover that Suzy is Deepa's lost twin sister, who had been kidnapped when she was very young and her real name is Roopa. Deepa's father is overjoyed that he has found his daughter, but Suzy refuses to accept herself as his daughter.

 In the mean time Suzy also started loving Shyam,He tells her that he loves Deepa he needs her help to find Deepa.This angers Suzy at first but later she realises that she should not come between her sister and her love.
Near climax real Deepa (pretending to be Suzy) escapes from.the clutches of Shekher but Shekhar reaches the boat where Deepa is waiting for Sam and drives off with her. Sam also reaches just after Shekhar drives off. He jumps in the boat from a helicopter and beats Shekhar up. Sam throws him overboard where he floats over the waterfall. Deepa and Sam escape to a small rock in the middle of waterfall from where they are rescued by the helicopter.

Audiance really enjoyed the helicopter chase and the song aasman se aaya farishta.We’ve had a lot to look at, after all, and that’s really all Shammi and the filmmakers promised.

Aisa Mauka Phir Kahan Milega

Raat Ke Humsafar

Aasman Se Aaya Farishta

Zubi zubi

Deewane Ka Naam To Puchho

Remembering SHANKAR of Shankar-jaikishan on his 94th Birth Anniversary

Shankar Singh s/o Ram Singh (15 October 1922 – 26 April 1987) was a native of Telangana, and spent his early years in 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.
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.
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 met Jaikishan Both used to visit Prithvi theatre and became good friend.

 While working in Prithvi Theaters, Shankar and Jaikishan 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.
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.

A Rare Photo of  Shankar with R K Team

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. Between the two, Shankar was the senior partner and hence, he would usually arrange the orchestra, even for Jaikishan's songs. There was a gentleman's agreement between them for not identifying the actual composer of the song.
Dance numbers, title/theme songs and soulful songs were Shankar's forte while Jaikishan was a master of composing background score, apart from romantic songs.

 They,specially Shankar didn’t just stick to established singers but made sure they found the right voice for the mood. For instance, they used an unknown Subir Sen for Dil mera ek aas ka panchi from Aas Ka Panchi (1960), Suman Kalyanpur for Dil ek mandir hai from Dil Ek Mandir (1963), Manna Dey for Yeh raat bheegi bheegi,  Chori Chori (1956), Asha Bhosle for Mud mudke na dekh from Shri 420 (1955), Mukesh (for Dilip Kumar) in Yeh mera diwanapan hai, Yahudi (1958) and made many more such off kilter choices.            

 Shankar and Jaikishan began to give music separately but few may be aware about their split Though the two never disclosed the separation, the fact is that the two did started working separately in the mid-60s. The reason is attributed to the fact that Shankar introduced a new singer Sharda (famous for her song Titli Udi... in the movie SURAJ) much against the disagreement of Jaikishan. Further Shankar's fondness for Sharda and Jiakishan's inclination towards Lata Mangeshkar created differences between the two and in the mid-60s the two split. They always credited their name on screen as music by Shankar Jaikishan. 

The impact of this separation was so severe that Jaikishan took to heavy drinking. In an interview, Shammi Kapoor, who was very close to Jaikishan, confessed that the prime reason of Jaikishan's untimely death was his consumption of excessive alcohol due to his separation with Shankar.

After the death of jaikishan gave the Hit music of Lal Patthar and Sanyasi but slowly& slowly  Shanker's career goes downhill.First Raj Kapoor opted for Laxmikant Pyarelal for Bobby then Loyalist Sohanlal Kanwar, who has been with him since 1970, leaves him..

Shankar died in the night of April 26, 1987 due to a massive heart attack as known from his family source. The world came to know about his death a day after the cremation was over.
, Shankar was a very private man and, thus, maintained a very low profile. He married a widow named Kunda with two sons. The two did not have any children of their own. Kunda also passed away a few years after Shankar. No one knows the whereabouts of the step sons.

RAJ KAPOOR & SHANKAR JAIKISHAN SONGS
Raj Kapoor & Shankar Jaikishan's association was one of the most successful and memorable music collaborations in Hindi Films. Other such collabrations were Dev Annand and S D Burman,Dilip with Naushad etc.S J and Raj Kapoor team worked together in 19 movies including 9 for R K Films.The first time they came together in Barsaat 1949.

Song from Barsaat 1949

Song from Awaraa 1951

Song from Aah 1953

Song from Boot Polish 1954

Song from Shri 420 (1954)

Song from Chori Chori 1956

Song from Anari 1959

Song from kanahiya 1959

Song from Main Nashe Me Hoon  1959

Song from Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai  1960

Song from  Aashiq 1962

Song from  Sangam 1964

Song from  Teesri Kasam  1966

Song from  Diwana 1967

Song from  Mera Naam Joker 1970