The Golden Quartet of Shankar -Jaikishan, Shailendra & Hasrat Jaipuri
Shankar Singh Raghuvanshi (15th October 1922 to 26th Apr 1987)
Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal (4th Nov 1929 to 12th Sep 1971)
Shailendra(Shankardas Kesarilal) (30th Aug 1923 to 14th Dec 1966)
Hasrat Jaipuri (Iqbal Hussain) (15th Apr 1922 to 17th Sep 1999)
A Punjabi, born in Madhya Pradesh and brought up in Andhra Pradesh masters the tabla and kathak dance but doesn’t have any conventional education. Moves to Bombay (as known earlier) in search of work, mainly driven with a passion for music and lands up as a musician in the Prithvi theatre and also as an assistant to the music composer duo Husanlal-Bhagatram.
His future partner, younger by 7 years, born in Bansda, Gujarat , also does not have any proper education but learns and becomes an expert in playing the accordion and harmonium. Later, fate would bring these two wizards of music at the office of a Gujarati director, Chandravadan Bhatt.
The third in the quartet, born in Rawalpindi in the undivided India, moves to Mathura, loses his mother at a very young age, and goes through a difficult childhood . The harsh realities of life would make him write about life in simple words that would connect with the masses so easily. Somehow, he completes his Diploma in Electrical & Mechanical engineering and lands up with a job in the Indian Railways as a welder- Grade B mechanic. But fate is planning something grand for him as one of the greatest poet and lyricist Hindi film music industry had ever seen.
To complete this quartet, the last player, born in Jaipur, Rajasthan in a family that had a famous poet (his maternal grandfather), would turn out to be an incorrigible romantic at heart, to the extent that after landing up a job as a bus conductor with the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking( BEST) would lose the job for having allowed pretty girls to travel without ticket!!
These four disparate personalities, Shankar Singh Raghuvanshi, Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal, Shankardas Kesarilal and Iqbal Hussain would one day come together as Shankar-Jaikishan-Shailendra-Hasrat Jaipuri for a Raj Kapoor film Barsaat in 1949 and start their ‘barsaat’(rain) of thousands of immortal golden melodies for the next 17 years till the cruel hands of fate would snatch Shailendra in 1966 and Jaikishan in 1971 at the peak of their creative lives. Shankar would slog along as a bitter man after all his close associates ditching him permanently (even the person whom he though would help him till the end but didn’t- Raj Kapoor) and still compose music for another 16 years, retaining his partner’s name, and would die almost unknown to the industry. That leaves only one among the four, Hasrat to survive till the age of 77 years and compared to the other three lead a happy and longer life.
Their story, like their music was painted on a large canvas. Their meteoric rise and the tragic end could even be a theme for a film. What great music they gave during those fabulous years of 1950’s and 60’s. In all they composed approximately 1300 + songs for 180 odd films, of which a majority are hits to this day. They were the most successful team of music directors and lyricists and films became silver, golden & platinum jubilee hits mainly on the strength of their music & lyrics. Of course, the legendary singers Rafi, Lata, Manna Dey and Mukesh were also an integral & constant feature of their music.
Many dismiss Shankar’s music after the passing away of Jaikishan as mediocre, but personally I always felt it was more due to the films for which he composed were so mediocre. The old spark did show up in many gems like “ Geet gata hoon mein”, Tumhare bin guzare hain, Chal Sanyasi mandir mein, Chalo bhool jayen Jahan ko yahan, Tumhein mein agar apna saathi bana loon ,etc. . With most of the producers cutting down on cost and not allowing him the usual 60+ orchestra, Shankar’s music lost the old charm. His intense introvert very outspoken nature might have added to his isolation.
To compress their phenomenal twenty years of reign as the undisputed emperors of Hindi film music in few pages is something next to impossible. Let me see how far I succeed in this!!
If we have to understand why this quartet was able to bring out hits after hits with no dilution in the quality, we can only credit it to the way in which they could understand the pulse of the common man who always would like to hear a good melody with brilliant orchestration and at the same time with simple lyrics that they can easily comprehend and sing along . Among the two lyricists, Shailendra was a master in writing about even complex life philosophies in very simple language and Hasrat was always a romantic at heart and his romantic songs would give the audience their escape into a dreamy world. Though we do not know for sure, it is generally believed that Shankar worked more with Shailendra and Jaikishan with Hasrat but again there were many exceptions to this, as far as I could gather from some articles. Their working style was divided almost 50:50 to composing tunes first and then write the lyrics and vice-versa. Generally, it was Jaikishan who composed the back ground score while Shankar’s forte was composing songs that had strong dance element & intense orchestration. One more specialization of Shankar was that the title songs of films made by Raj Kapoor under the RK films banner were always composed by him.
Shankar Jaikishan’s (for simplicity called as SJ) USP was their very attractive tunes, embellished with superb interludes, preludes, counter melodies and rhythm patterns. They could compose even a sad song with a fast tempo and induce beautiful counter melodies and it would never sound odd (examples: Tera jana dil ke armaanon ka from the film Anari or O Basanti pawan paagal na jaa re na jaa from the film Jish desh mein ganga behti hai). They had great assistants Dattaram for the percussions and Sebastian for orchestration arrangement and these two were also major contributors to the success of their music. They were one of the pioneers in HFM to use counter melody (example: Ae mere dil kahin aur chal from the film Daag). The violins, accordions, pianos were integral part of their orchestra and even the simple harmonium would have a fresh burst of life in their hands. That does not mean the Indian classical instruments were left behind. They used the sarod, sitar, sarangi etc. and even many rare instruments like the bagpipe. Their music embraced many genres like the classical, jazz, rock & roll, folk music, dance numbers, ghazals and even few qawwalis. Bhairavi was their very favorite raag and in spite of composing some 40+ songs in that raag, each one had a different flavor.
Shankar Singh was basically from Punjab but spent his early years in Hyderabad. Having learnt tabla and kathak dance (most of the excellent dance predominant songs were composed by him), he became an assistant to the veteran duo composers Husanlal-Bhagatram. He was also interested in wrestling and had a good physique and unlike Jai was a non-drinker and strict disciplinarian, more introvert and some say a bit short tempered (maybe that’s why Jai remained the more affable, social face of the duo and producers & directors interacted with him more). In the later years his introvert nature would go against him. Despite having ruled the music industry for two decades he remains one of the least understood persons. It is so tragic to note that his[s1] death was not known till the next day even to the person who had worked so closely with him-Raj Kapoor. No one from the film industry attended his funeral! The same producers and directors who were ready to pay the highest ever fees in their heydays and used to wait for months to get their time, ditched him after Jaikishan’s death, with that unkindest cut coming from the person for whom they had given the best. Yes, even Raj Kapoor ditched Shankar when he needed him the most.
Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal belonged to a family of musicians in Gujarat and was initially trained by his mother in classical music. He came to Mumbai to pursue his musical interest and happened to meet Shankar in the office of a Gujarati director, Chandravadan Bhat. After having learnt that Jai could play the harmonium, Shankar recommended him to Prithvi raj Kapoor and then both started their journey as musicians in the Prithvi theatre. Soon they met Raj Kapoor and when the latter wanted to make a movie independently, they became assistants to the music director Ram Ganguly for the film Aag. Later on, when Raj Kapoor was making his next film Barsaat, it is said he had some issues with Ram Ganguly and this gave the great opportunity for SJ to work as independent music directors. As the cliché goes, rest is history. Barsaat film was not just a barsaat (rain) of music but a tsunami that changed the music scene for the entire Hindi film industry and can be loosely said to be a turning point from the vintage era to the golden era. It brought in another legend into the forefront, called Lata Mangeshkar. This film also marked the coming together of the great lyricists -Hasrat & Shailendra and together with SJ can be called as the golden quartet.
There was no looking back for these four till the untimely death of Shailendra in 1966 and then Jaikishan in 1971.What magical compositions they had created! It is said that there were times when the film poster would prominently mention only the names of Shankar-Jaikishan and that was enough to make the film a silver or golden jubilee hit. Film financiers used to blindly give their consent if they are shown a letter stating that SJ would be the composers. O P Nayyar was the only other music director who could make even a C grade film successful just because of the music.
It is impossible to select say 20 or 25 songs from the thousands as in case of SJ almost all were good and hit songs. But let me try to list out some outstanding among them. Since the number of songs selected for this blog from this great team are much higher than the usual, I shall provide a very brief description about each-in some cases I have included multiple songs from a single film as it is too difficult to ignore them!
The sequence of the details mentioned are: Film/Year of release/Song/Lyricist/Singer(s) and are listed without any particular logic. I have listed out as I remembered the songs.
- Barsaat/1949/Chod gaya baalam/Hasrat/Lata & Mukesh- Barsaat was their debut and what a grand entry! They stormed into the Hindi film music with a big bang! Among the many super hits in this film, this song stands out for the scintillating counter-melodies, simple but intricate orchestration and superb singing by Mukesh and a very young Lata.
- Patita/1953/Andhe Jahan ke andhe raaste/Shailendra/Talat Mehmood
Kisine apna banake mujhko/Shailendra/Lata.
Talat’s song is a very popular one with one of the most memorable interludes with Shailendra’s immortal lines like:
Jeene ki chahat nahin, marke bhi raahat nahin
Is paar aansoo, us paar aahen, dil mere bezubaan
Humko na koi bulaye, na koi palkne bichhaye
Ae gham ke maaron manzil wahin hai, dum yeh toote Jahan.
Aagaz ke din tera anjaam taih ho chuka
Jalte rahen hai jalte rahenge yeh zameen aasmaan….
The other song, Kisi ne apna banake mujhko, is one of Lata’s masterpieces . The solo violin in the first interlude is something out of the world and what an energy burst out from the dholak of SJ’s assistant Dattaram!
3. Aah/1953/Raja ki aayegi baraat/Shailendra/Lata
One of the unique and unconventional aspect of SJ’s music was that even in a very sad song filled with pathos, the tempo of the song used to be so fast. It seems totally contrasting, but when you hear those songs, it will never be jarring. That could be their secret to rule the music scene like emperors for two decades.
4. Boot Polish/1954/Lapak jhapak tu aaye badaravaa/Shailendra/Manna Dey
Manna Dey got his career best songs with SJ, especially Shankar supporting him to the core. This song is not that popular with the mass but what a great composition. Also, the way the great character actor David enacted this on screen is something even the top heroes couldn’t have done. Orchestration is almost nil except for some tabla & dholak. Shailendra’s witty lines like this gives a humorous touch to the prisoner’s plight in jail:
Ban mein koel kook uthi hai
Sab ki man mein bhook uthi hai….
5. Daag/1952/Ae mere dil kahin aur chal/Shailendra/Talat
One more immortal Talat song with SJ. The interlude has one of the best counter melodies with the accordion, harmonium, mandolin playing at an intricate level along with Talat’s voice and elevates this song. The veteran V Balsara had played the harmonium so brilliantly in this and there is a video in YouTube in which he had demonstrated this so nicely.
6.Seema/1959/Tu pyaar ka sagar hai-Shailendra/Manna Dey/
Kahaan ja raha hai-Shailendra/Rafi/
Suno choti si Gudiya ki lambi kahani/Hasrat/Lata
Seema had some fabulous music by SJ and I really cannot pick one song from that.
Manna da’s Tu pyar ka sagar hai is an eternal song that may survive even centuries! Shailendra’s profound lyrics are evergreen:
Ghayal man ka paagal panchi
Udhne ko beqaraar, udne ko beqaraar
Pankh hai komal, aankh hai dhundhli,
Jaana hai sagar paar, jaana hai sagar paar
Rafi’s kahan jaa raha hai is another one that has Rafi’s pathos at the peak. In the line “ Jo baandhe thei bandhan , who kyun tod daale” he literally breaks his voice in the word “ tod”.
If Manna da & Rafi could deliver their best, will Lata remain behind? She renders one more gem of a song with Suno chotisi Gudiya ki lambi kahani..with two versions sad and a short happy one. It is said that Amjad Ali khan played the sarod for this song and it remains one of the best examples of use of Sarod in any film song.
7. Basant Bahar/1956/Sur na saje kya gaaon mein/Shailendra/Manna Dey
Duniya Na bhaye mohen/Shailendra/Rafi
With Basant Bahar, SJ silenced those sceptics who felt that they cannot compose for a film based on classical music and proved their caliber beyond any doubts. Ideally one should mention all the songs from this film! However, I have selected the classic Manna Dey song Sur Na saje and Rafi’s soulful Duniya na bhaye mohe ab to bhula le.
One of Manna Dey’s best songs-Sur na saje , loosely based on raag Pilu, shows what great music SJ created in this film. Shailendra captures the character’s pain in just few lines:
Donon Jahan mujhse roothe
Tere bina yeh geet bhi jhoote
Jalte gaya Jeevan mere
Is raat ka na hogaa saveraa
Sangeet man ko pankh lagake
Geeton se rimjhim ras barsaye
Swar ki sadhana parameshwar ki….
What more tribute can one give to music other than saying, swar ki sadhana parmeshwar ki…one attains salvation by practicing music. Conveying profound philosophy in simple words that a lay man can understand was the greatness of Shailendra.
Rafi had only two songs out of the total nine songs in this film. But he steals the show with just those two -Badi der bhayee and Duniya na bhaye mohen. In all the songs of Basant Bahar, we can hear a totally different style of SJ, with strong classical base and less of their usual orchestration.
8.Shree 420/1955/Ramayaa vastavaya/Shailendra/Rafi, Mukesh, Lata
Pyaar hua ekrar hua hai/Shailendra/Lata & Manna
Shree 420 , like any other RK films of those times had fabulous music and the Ramayya Vastavayya song is still popular not only in the northern part of India but even in the South. Triad of Rafi, Lata & Mukesh with a strong folk-based tune and starting with Telugu words ( Shankar’s contribution!!) and Shailendra’s evergreen lines and not to forget the evocative singing by all the three legends-what more is needed?
Pyaar hua ekraar hua hai always comes at the top of any old romantic song album. It is really Shankar’s genius to have made Manna Dey sing an eternal romantic duet, usually stereotyped for singing only classical raag based songs.
The swift violins that play after the humming of Manna Dey & Lata, the interludes with accordion, violins, flutes are vintage SJ style.
9. Aawara/1951/ Aawara hoon/Shailendra/Mukesh
Ghar aaya mera pardesi /Shailendra/Lata
If we talked about Ramayya Vastavayya being a pan-India song, Awaraa hoon is an international song, even finding a mention in the novel “ Cancer Ward” written by the Nobel laurate Alexander Solzhenitsyn and is popular in Russia, Middle East etc. Once, in an interview the famous Pyarelal of Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo commented that we can define SJ’s music by that small harmonium piece that plays immediately after Mukesh singing ‘Awara hoon’. Without that piece one cannot imagine that song! That is the quintessential SJ. The title music of this film that has this song played instrumentally is a sheer delight to listen to.
Ghar aaya mera pardesi is a mandolin-dholak delight and what a great orchestration at the later part of the song!
10. Halaku/1956/ Aaja ke intezaar mein/ Shailendra/ Lata & Rafi
Dil ka na karna aetbaar koi/Shailendra/Lata & Rafi
In films like Halaku, SJ proved that even outside the RK banner and even for lesser-known banners/actors, they can produce the same magic. In fact, I would go one step further and say some of their non RK film songs were even better!! The two duets from this film are text book songs for someone studying film music orchestration. The dholak beats and mandolin in the song Dil ka na karna aitbaar would make even a stone come to life and start dancing!!! Sebastian D’ Souza and Dattaram must be equally complimented along with SJ.
11. Kathputli/1957/Bol ri kathputli dori/Shailendra/Lata/
Manzil wahi hai pyaar ke/Shailendra/ Subir Sen
One of my very favorite SJ-Lata songs is ‘Bol ri kathputli dori’. A very simple tune but what a great magic they weaved within that and fabulous singing by Lata and even more fabulous dancing by Vyjantimala. Normally I always like to listen to the songs and very rarely like to watch them, but this one song is a treat to watch just for the simplicity of picturization and great dancing.
SJ are to be credited for bringing to Hindi film music, the singer Subir Sen from Bengal. Many would think this song , Manzil wahi hai pyaar ki rahi badal gaye was sung by Hemant Kumar as he sounds so similar to him. As usual, the orchestration with great piano interludes of SJ make this a sweet song.
12. Love Marriage/1959/Dheere Dheere chal chand gagan/Hasrat/Lata & Rafi. Only the magicians SJ can think of composing such a fast number with the words “ Dheere Dheere chal”. Though the hero is asking the moon to travel slowly across the sky , there is nothing slow in this song. The super-fast, bullet train speed of this song makes it an eternal romantic number. With the great legends Rafi and Lata going hand in hand, we can only close our eyes and enjoy this.
13. Chori Chori/1956/Yeh raat bheegi bheegi/Shailendra/Manna & Lata/
Aaja sanam Madhur chandini /Hasrat/Manna & Lata/
Jahan mein jaati hoon/Shailendra/Manna & Lata
Rasik balma/Hasrat/Lata
It is impossible to select one or even 2-3 songs from the blockbuster musical film,Chori chori . If Shankar & Shailendra gave Yeh raat bheegi, Jaikishan and Hasrat gave Aaja Sanam madhur chandini. Every song is so fresh to listen to even today.
Apart from the three evergreen duets, Rasik balmaa is a raag Shudh Kalyan based classic number from SJ , with Lata singing it in her own exquisite style. Sitar & violins complement the song so well in the interludes.
14.Junglee/1961/Chahe koi mujhe jungle kahe/Shailendra/Rafi
Ehsaan tera hoga mujh par/Hasrat/Rafi
The song that gave both Shammi Kapoor and Rafi a jazzy style. The last line in the song “ Mein yahan se wahan, jaise yeh aasman” could be attributed to SJ, Shailendra and Rafi as during the 60’s they were simply ruling the musical world.
From a boisterous ‘yahoo’ to a sober Ehsaan tera hogaa mujh par…what a range SJ had composed. Oozing with romance, Hasrat ‘s mastery in these types of songs is in full flow.
Chahe bana do, chahe mitha do
Mar bhi gaye toh , denge duaen
Ud ud ke kahegi khaak sanam
Yeh dard-e-mohabbat sehne do
Mujhe tumse mohabbat ho gayee hai
Mujhe palkon ki chhaon mein rehne do
15. Love in Tokyo /1966/Aaja Re Aaa Zara, Leharake aa zara/Hasrat/Rafi
A somewhat difficult song and a rare example of Rafi singing almost with a false voice and in a vibrato. The piano and violins are amazing in this. SJ were really pioneers in composing tunes with a western touch.
16. Jish Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai/1960/Aa ab laut chalen/Shailendra/Mukesh & Lata
O basanti pawan paagal/Shailendra/Lata
The song Aa ab laut chalen is said to have been recorded with one of the largest ever orchestra for that time, with some 60 violins, 12 cellos, 4 double bass, 2 mandolins, 12 rhythm instruments, 2 sitars, 10 brass trumpets, etc and with a huge chorus of 60 odd singers!! SJ were truly had a grand style.
The way Lata takes the high pitched—aaa jaaa re…is phenomenal.
If Aa ab laut chalen was a power packed song, the next one that I can mention in this list is the evergreen O basanti pawan paagal na jaa re na jaa. Set in the Basant Mukhari raag , the Tabla rhythm in rupak taal makes this a classic one, with Lata again reaching the high octaves in the lines “ roko koi….”
17. Sangam/1964/Yeh Mera Prem Patra padkar/Hasrat/Rafi & Lata
Rafi mostly used to get one song in all the earlier RK films and in Sangam that one song turned out to be a masterpiece. Though other songs like Dost dost na raha , Bol radha bol sangam, Oh Mehbooba are also good songs, but Yeh mera prem patra turned out to be a real masterpiece. Most of us might have listened to this thousand times but one can never get bored. A magical composition but at the same time, tragically , became a bitter issue between Shankar & Jaikishan when Jai, by revealing he had composed it , broke their long unwritten pact not to reveal who composed which song.
18. Raat Aur Din/1967/Aawara ai mere dil jaane/Shailendra/Lata
Very rarely we get to listen to Lata singing a song of this type and whenever she does, she does it with style. A fast-paced jazzy club dance song and Lata excels in elaborating the word ‘Awaara’ in many ways. There are two versions of this song: fast and slow with same lyrics. The main character in this movie ( Nargis playing her last film and also getting a national award for best acting) has a split personality syndrome and the way SJ had composed both these version shows their immense talent. The sad version uses the chorus so nicely and the fast one the typical orchestration of SJ.
Raat aur Din had many other great songs and as with most of the SJ’s films, it is impossible to select one or two songs: Raat aur din diya jale ( sung by Mukesh and Lata separately) , Duet of Manna Dey & Lata-Dil ki girah khol do, Rafi’s only song Phool sa chehra , chaand si rangat, Lata’s other solos like Na chedo kal ke afsaane,Jeena Humko raas na aaya. Also, a very rare , may be the only one, Bhupinder singing for SJ –Jagat mein koi na tera mera is a totally forgotten song. I came across this only while researching for this blog. Only SJ could make even Bhupinder sing at such a high pitch!
19. Gumnaam/1965/Jaan pehchan ho/Shailendra/Rafi
This Hindi film song became so popular in western countries but strangely remained neglected in our own country. This was taken for the Hollywood film Ghost World in the titles, a commercial ad for the beer brand Heineken and was also performed by many other music bands in US & Europe. SJ-Shailendra-Rafi became international but it was all after these three legends had long departed from this world, never to see their great creation becoming so popular. The sheer pace of this song is so contagious that one would feel like getting up and dancing to the tune. Choreographed and picturized on the famous choreographer Herman Benjamin and brilliantly danced by Laxmi Chhaya, this is a song that one can never get bored of. SJ’s name will remain etched in golden letters with this one song. I really wish the radio; TV channels come out of their ignorant slumber and play this song. Till this day, I have never heard this song in any radio or TV shows and could watch it only in YouTube.
20. Mera Naam Joker/1970/Jaane kahan gaye who din/Hasrat/Mukesh
Everyone must be aware that Raj Kapoor’s magnum opus Mera Naam Joker flopped commercially at the time of release but personally for me the music of Mera Naam Joker was one of best from SJ, especially the back ground music. I do not know how far this is true but it is said that at the time of MNJ , SJ were not in the best of their friendship and composed the songs totally independently, but let us ignore that and look at the songs they composed-most of them were superb. As such the film was so lengthy that few songs like Rafi’s best heer, Sadque heer tujhpe hum fakeer were cut out from the film. As this film took almost 6 years in the making, Shailendra passed away in 1966 having written only the few lines of Jeena yahan , marna yahan leaving the rest of the task to his son Shaili Shailendra to complete the same. What prophetic lines that he wrote for his father-
Kal khel mein hum ho na ho
Gardish mein tare rahenge sada
Bhooluge tum, bhoolenge who
Par hum tumhare rahenge sada…
Rahengi yahin apni Nishan
Iske siva jaana kahaan….
Two songs from this film were written by Neeraj-Ae bhai zara dekh ke chalo and Kehta hai joker sara zamana and one-Sadqe heer tujhpe was written by Prem Dhawan Rest of all the songs were written by Shailendra and Hasrat.
Set in the raag Mishr Shivaranjani, Jaane kahan gaye who din is one of the most poignant songs from the team of SJ & Mukesh. The violins in the song are so much in synchronization with the mood of the song. Usually, one would associate Shailendra with such philosophical songs but surprisingly it was written by Hasrat. One of the most difficult tasks for any music buff is to identify whether it is a Shailendra/ Hasrat song just by listening to the song and not referring any source. Many a times we will fail!
21. Asli Naqli/1962/Kal ki Daulat/Shailendra/Rafi
Tera mera pyaar amar/Shailendra/Lata
Both the songs from the film Asli Naqli mentioned are outstanding. The breathtaking speed of the interlude music in “Kal ki Daulat, aaj ki khushiyan” and the very soothing waltz rhythm synchronized so beautifully with the counter melody in the “Tera Mera pyaar amar “ are special touches of SJ.
22. Amrapaali/1966/Tumhen yaad karte karte/Shailendra/Lata
Somewhat like Basant Bahar, the music of Amrapali was more classical based. Except for the song “Nach gaao nacho” for which SJ did a unique experiment of using no lead singer and only the chorus, all the songs of this movie were sung by Lata. Tadap yeh din raat ki, Jaao Re Jogi tum jaao re, Neel gagan ki chhaon mein and the last Tumhe yaad karte all were great songs. Unlike many of SJ’s songs, the Tumhen yaad karte song has minimum orchestration and Lata had sung it with so much of sensual softness.
The predicament of guessing the lyricist continues; one would normally think these romantic lines would be Hasrat’s, but they are written by Shailendra!
Biraha ki is chita se tum hi mujhe nikaalo
Jo tum na aa sako to mujhe swapn mein bula lo
Mujhe aise mat jalaao, meri preet hai kunwaari
Tum le gayo apne sang neend bhi hamaari
23. Andaaz/1971/Zindagi ek safar hai suhana/Hasrat/Kishore
After the demise of Jaikishan, Shankar individually composed many good songs for Kishore but if one has to pick the best, it would be without any doubt this super-duper hit from Andaaz. The yodeling done by Kishore in this song of SJ became a sort of definition of Kishore’s style of singing and to this day remains as popular as ever. The prelude of the song is also amazing.
24. Ek Dil Aur Sau Afsane/1963/Kuch sher sunata hoon mein/Hasrat/Mukesh
In some of the songs, Mukesh excels so well that one can just keep listening again and again. Kuch sher sunata hoon is one such a song, which seems to be a composition just tailor-made for Mukesh. The way he starts off from his trademark low octave , being one of the very few singers who were adept in handling the lower octaves, and goes on to the higher notes is simply excellent.
Only an incorrigible romantic at heart , Hasrat , can think of lines like “ makhmal pe tum chalo toh chile paaon gulbadan”.
25. Teesri Kasam/1966/All songs listed below
Whenever I listen to the songs of the film Teesri Kasam, there is always a mixed emotion. The music of this film remains one of SJ’s best, but then it is so sad to know that Shailendra’s decision to produce this film ruined him financially and ultimately made him so depressed that he departed from us at such a young age.
Rather than selecting one or two songs, I am mentioning all the songs of the film-that could be the best tribute to this great poet and also the other three of this great quartet.
Of the nine songs, Duniya bananewale and Mare gaye gulfaam were written by Hasrat and rest all by Shailendra.
Aa Aa Bhi Jaa/Shailendra/Lata
Chalat Musafir/Shailendra/Manna Dey
Duniya Bananewale/Hasrat/Mukesh
Haye Ghazab Kahin Tara Toota/Shailendra/Asha
Maare Gaye Gulfaam/Hasrat/Lata
Paan Khaaye Saiyaan Hamaaro/Shailendra/Asha
Sajanwa Bairi Ho Gaye Hamaar/Shailendra/Mukesh
Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo/Shailendra/Mukesh
Lali Doliya Mein Lali Re/Shailendra/Asha
Each one of the above songs are a testimony to the great talent these four had and I think the best way to conclude is with this immortal album.
Acknowledgement & Disclaimer
I sincerely thank the publishers of following blogsites & Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
- You Tube
- Wikipedia
- www.shankarjaikishan.org
- Yesterday’s Melodies Today’s Memories book by Mr. Manek Premchand
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been mentioned here only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
Music Unrestricted 