Comments on: Rafi’s relationship with Shankar Jaikishan had not been glorified in bollywood history

By: Shyam Vyas

Shyam Vyas — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:32:54 +0000

If one is familiar with Hindi Films songs down the years since 1948 and noting the variety of songs of Mohd Rafi saab sung for the great SJ clearly reflects their variety and versatility. Other composers may find difficult to reach their talent.

By: manu lalwani

manu lalwani — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:44:33 +0000

I though that I was the only SJ fan, but going thru all comments I am so much pleased that SJ has so many followers. I am their fan since last 50years, I would buy any magazine just to see if any SJ write up is there or listen to songs on radio just to hear SJ’s name, it is only last week I googled their name and I was surprised to get all the information about them. I went on twitter and yahoo and all that I missed all these years, I was updated. In early 1969 I was outside Gobind Mahal at Marine Drive, just to get glimse of Jaikishan but unfortunately could not see him. I remember in early 60′s SJ used to post their phographs to their fans, I was also lucky to receive one. On Binaca Geetmala I used to keep track of their songs for years. Todays music directors are lucky as they can be seen everywhere on the tv programmes, we really miss SJ. Their team with Raj/Shammi kapoor and Rajendra Kumar was the best. I really enjoyed going thru all the comments. God Bless all

By: kumar S

kumar S — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:15:38 +0000

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By: aniruddha patwardhan

aniruddha patwardhan — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:20:03 +0000

I am one of the greatest fans of SJ.and do not rate anyone above them.Shankar in one of the interviews quoted about S.D. Burman praising the duo’s work.S.D. infact had said IS INDUSTRY ME HAR COMPOSER KI KUCHH TUNES CHALTI HAIN KUCHH NAHI CHALTI LEKIN SHANKAR JAIKISHEN KI YEH KHOOBI HAI KI WO JO TUNES BANATE HAIN SUB POPULAR HOTI HAI.The space is too short for expressing my feelings.Whenever I visit Mumbai (I stay at Bhopal ) I invariably visit Shankar Jaikishen Chowk.

By: Shriram

Shriram — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:05:15 +0000

SJ ,undoubtedly the greatest of all the duos gave Rafi some of his best.
How long did Jaikishen live after 1969 ?He died in 1970 and perhaps had the opportunity to compose only for few films like Tumse Achcha kaun hai,Andaz ,Mera Naam Joker ,and Patanga which were all released in the early 70s.
And in all these filsm except Mera Naam Joker they gave Rafi his due.
However, after 1969 they also experimented successfully with Kishore Kumar. It is absurd to say that RK ditched SJ and opted for LP ,which is not true .In fact, Raj Kapoor mentioned in one of his interviews on the TV that he gave up hero roles because Jaikishen,Mukesh and Shailendra had all passed away and no one can replace them.
It is important to mention here that Raj Kapoor also gave up Lata for SJ in Mera Naam Joker ,that was the kind of loyalty he had towards them.
SJ were also greatly responsible for giving Lata her own recognition.
But it seems that towards the end their relation had strained and SJ stopped using Lata .
It should be noted that Jaikishen died in his early 40s in the year 1970 only after which people seriously started recognising LPs music.But the fact remains that LP compromised on the quality of their tunes and never really came anywhere close to SJ .In fact it is ridiculous to even think of comparing LP with the magic wizards SJ.
However, Shankar’s music after his partner Jaikishen’s death steadily deteriorated and went something like aiyo na maro in one of his last movies.
The 70s saw the end of the golden era with deaths of S.D Burman,Jaikishen and Madan Mohan .Also Naushad could not recreate the magic of the 60s. O P Nayyar , another big name in 50s and 60s became helpless without Asha and his composotions were never again the same.

By: arghya

arghya — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:38:02 +0000

The reason why SJ’s relationship with Rafi is not glorified is because they dumped Rafi after Aradhana and switched vehemently to Kishore..”Main sundar hoon”,”Aankhon aankhon mein”, “Kal aaj aur kaal”, “Beimaan”,”Jungle mein Mangal”- SJ in 70s were entirely changed from SJ in 60s..Although the quality of output came down a lot, but still, at that time of crisis in Rafi’s career, SJ could have helped him better-rather they shifted to kishore full fledgedly like SDB and Kalyanji Anandji-once Rafi loyalists.

By: sudhir chavan

sudhir chavan — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 06:31:15 +0000

Shankar -Jaikishen were the divinely inspired musicians. They were the victims of politics in the Bolliwood music industry. In the later half of their career they were completely sidelined by Lata Mangeshkar who allegedly promoted Laxmikant & Pyarelal whose whole career was built upon plegiarism of SJ’s tunes. It is said that Lata Mangeshkar had demanded an unfair share from the royalty of their musical compositions. Without SJ Rajendra Kumar would never have become successful.But he also became selfish and forgot his benefactors and signed a contract with R.D> Burman for his home production starring his own son Kumar Gaurav. Dharmender had also gone back on his words when he did not keep his word to Shankar that he would sign him for his film Bicchu directed by Sai Paranjape. To cap it all Raj Kapoor deserted the great musicians when he invited Laxmikant Pyarelal to score music for Bobby. It was a very humiliating experience for them when during the Premier of Kal Aaj Aur Kal they had to see their mentor signing with LP. It is alleged that at the behest of Lata Mangeshwar a number of SJ’s musicians were encouraged to join the camp of Laxmi-Pyare. A number of such behind-the-curtain evens , politics in the bollywood affected. However. it would not be an exaggeration to say that they would be the First and the Last musicians who exhausted all the possibilities of experimentations in the field of film music. They will continue to inspire minds of posterity through their immortal compositions.Rafi’s association with them is unforgettable. Unde the guidance he sang in different voices for Rajendra kumar , Shammi Kapoor, Dilip kumar,and others.

By: G B Singh

G B Singh — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:08:50 +0000

Dear All,

SJ were one pair of Music directors who knew their job and were judicious in using the singers. Unlike Naushad Sb who gave song after song in Rafi Sahib’s voice and ignored Mukesh ji, Manna Da, Kishore Da and literally dumped Talat Sb. This perhaps is the reason how their music sounded fresh. They shared exceptional relationship with most of the leading singers be it Rafi Sb, Mukesh Ji or Manna Da. That was the reason for churning out gems after gems. One dear friend has written in his post that Mukesh ji was hopelessly outclassed in Dost Dost na raha (Sangam) by Rafi Sb’s ye mera prem patra. I think personal opinion must not be made a rule. Both the songs are great and it will lead to a conflict between the fans of two legends. No one can ignore a fact that Rafi Sb has sung about 2600 songs (Although his ardent fans claim it to be 26000. I advise them to refer Mr Harminder Raj Singh’s Hindi film Geet Kosh). Mukesh ji on other hand has sung 1100 songs. The uniqueness of these legends never made them competitors and they both remained admirers of each other and great friends too besides being the humble human beings. The present lot of singers have alot to learn from them as singers and humans. SJ no doubt were out of this world. No one can replace them. With the help of media and sponsored publicity present day composers can make big claims but I challange if any one can touch the following gems of SJ all in different voices.
1. Jane Kahan gaye woh din.
2. Yad na Jaye beeto dino ki.
3. Tu Pyar ka sagar hai.
4. Ruk Ja raat thehar ja o Chanda.
5. Zindagi ik safar hai suhana.
6. Unhe tu bhool ja aye dil.
7. Parde mein rehne do.
8. Rula kar chal diye ik din.

Regards to all

GB Singh

By: myk

myk — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:58:09 +0000

Kapil,

From 1949-1960, I’d rate S-J in the Top 3 of MD’s along with SD, Naushad, CR. There is absolutely no doubt that the other three produced gems during this period, but in my view S-J were no less. Looking at S-J, during 1949 to say the mid 50′s, they catered more to Lata, and made more female based songs, probably because the films they worked for needed only those types of songs. What is astonishing is that even from 1949 to around 1960, Rafi still sang slightly more than Mukesh for S-J (I have done some research and came to an interesting conclusion). So while its true that the Rafi-SJ combo flourished in the 60′s, they gained momentum in the 50′s, and have quite a number of gems during the 50′s too. Lata and Mukesh ofcourse received great songs from S-J during this time too (and after).

I rate S-J as good as the others in the 50′s, because of their revolutionary aspect, just like RD in the 60′s and 70′s, S-J virtually changed film music and set new standards and trends combined with quality, that others had to match their consistent output.

If we look at the excellent trio of Lata, Rafi, Talat, we will see that S-J used them all very nicely in the 50′s as well. Talat has beautiful songs with the duo during this period including many of my favourites from Daag, Aas, Patita, Shikast etc.

By: Kapil

Kapil — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:52:21 +0000

myk,

i would like to ask you a question regarding your most favourite mds of all time– Shankar-Jaikishan:

Where would you rank S-J in the period of 1949-60? well, it’s a well known fact that from 1960 onwards S-J became more regular with Rafi Sahab and together they ruled there onwards commercially and their quality was great as well, i love all those dance numbers, romantic numbers,classical numbers of S-J-Rafi combo but in the period of 1949-60 musical tastes were different, those days the highly classy MDs such as–Naushad,Roshan and C Ramchandra were commercially successful too, no doubt that S-J came with superb qualtiy there also but in quality i would rate Naushad,dada and CR slightly above than S-J. now if you look at Naushad, his 40′s output is no way inferior to his 50′s, he was mind blowing in 40s too, just to recall few of his albums–Shehnshah, Ratan,Anmol Ghadi,Dard all of them were superb and divine albums. year 1949 was 1st peak of excellence for naushad-Rafi, remember those 3 Rafi solos– “Is dunia mein aey dil walo”, “Tere kooche mein armano ” and “suhani raat dhal chuki” . Lata’s career also flourished under Naushad, Naushad extracted something different out of Lata(Like Anil b,Cr and LaterMM and S-J)–perfect example is “Uthaye ja unke sitam aur jiye jaa”. i love the era of 1949-60 as my 3 most favourite sigers(Rafi,Talat and Lata) were most active and spread the magic through their vocals….. so, where would you rate S-J here?