Shankar Jaikishan and Shammi Kapoor

Shankar Jaikishan and Shammi Kapoor.

Shankar Jaikishan was probably the most versatile musical duo that India had ever produced in the history of bollywood films. They had given music to probably all the leading actors of bollywood films from 40s to 70s including Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Rajender Kumar, Raj Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Joy Mukherjee, Biswajeet, Shashi Kapoor, Dev Anand, etc., to name a few. They had a special contribution in the films of Shammi Kapoor. Whenever they gave music in Shammi Kapoor’s films, both the music rocked and the film stormed bollywood.

In fact they created the rock and roll andaz of bollywood films and gave Shammi Kapoor his identity in the same lines as Rock Hudson and Elvis Priestley in Hollywood Films. Their music in the film Junglee where Saira Banu acted opposite Shammi Kapoor, was super hit with successful songs of Rafi and Lata including “ehsan tera hoga mujhpar”, “meri yaar shabba khair”, “Kashmir ki kali hoon mai”, etc. The songs of the film Janwar where Rajashree acted opposite Shammi Kapoor, were equally hit with songs of Rafi and Lata like “tumse accha kaun hai”, “lal chari maidan khari”,etc.

All the songs of Professor, where Kalpana accompanied Shammi Kapoor, became super hit like “o gulbadan, o gulbadan”, “awaz deke hume tum bulayo”, etc., again sung by Rafi and Lata. All the songs of Raj Kumar where Sadhna was the heroine of Shammi Kapoor, became super duper hit, like “tumne pukara aur hum chale aye”, “aaja ai bahar”, etc., sung by Rafi and Lata.

SJ and Shammi Kapoor bollywood films with the film An Evening in Paris, where all the songs of Rafi like “aji aisa mauka phir kahan milega”, “akele akele kahan ja raheho”, “raat ke humsafar”, “mera dil hai tera”, “aasman se aya farishta”, became super duper hit. Sharmila Tagore acted opposite Shammi Kapoor, and the locations of France and Niagra Falls in US and Canada amazed the Indian audience.

SJ and Shammi Kapoor were sublime in the film Brahmchari. Shammi Kapoor acted with many small children who were cared by him. Rajashree acted opposite him in the film. The hit songs of Rafi and others included “mai gayun tum so jayo”, “dil ke jharoke me tujhko uthakar”, “chakke me chakka”, “aaj kal tere mere pyar ke charche har jawan par”, etc., to name a few. Shammi Kapoor received filmfare award for the best actor in the film Brahmchari. Shankar Jaikishan received filmfare award for the best composer 9 times, and also got it for composition of music for the film Brahmchari.

The SJ and Shammi Kapoor combination again rocked bollywood films with their performance in the film Prince with Vaijayantimala. SJ’s powerful orchestration had encouraged the director to keep a dance competition where Helen performed western dance where as Vaijayantimala performed eastern dance. Shammi Kapoor showed his own style of rock and roll. The successful songs included “muqabla hum se na karo”, “badan pe sitaren lapete hue”, “thandi thandi hawa me urta jaye”, etc.

The other successful films of SJ and Shammi Kapoor included Latt Sahab with Nutan. The successful songs included “sawerewali gari se”, “ai chand zara chup ja”, etc. The other hit film included Tum Se Accha Kaun Hai with Babita. The hit songs included “janam janam ka saath hai”, “kisko pyar karun”, etc.

The last film of SJ with Shammi Kapoor was Andaz in 1971. Jaikishan died in 1971, and Shammi Kapoor added weight and stopped acting as a hero after andaz. Even in that film the songs of Rafi, Suman Kalyanpur and others were super hit like “haina bolo bolo”, “re mamma re mamma re”, “dil use do jo jaan deden”, etc. Hema Malini acted opposite Shammi Kapoor and the film became hit.

With the death of Jaikishan in 1971, it marked the end of an era with exotic locations and rock and roll music. Shammi Kapoor and Shankar Jaikishan had a very unique relationship and the films and music should be restored to acknowledge that relationship.