Rajendra Kumar's Loss, Shammi Kapoor's Gain

Tribute Series by Srigopal Shroti

a very polular song was already recorded by Jaikishan…because sometimes, when the tune was ready, he will ask Hasrat or Shailendra to write down the lyric…because in their heyday, i read that Jai used to make 20 to 30 tunes daily morning….and then selected 4 or 5 topper out of them. so in the same vein he recorded the beautiful song…..he was showing that song to Rajendra Kumar for his next film….hearing the song Rajendra Kumar did not like the song and asked Jai to compose other one. …As Rajendra Kumar went, Jaikishan was also ready to leave the studio…in the meantime Shammi Kapoor also came and met Jaikishan usually…Then Jaikishan in a dejected mood told Shammi Kapoor that in his life, for the first time his song was rejected…..Hearing this, Shammi asked Jai to let him listen the song….Jai went to his car and played the song and after hearing SHAMMI jumped loudly….’this is my song…thanks he has not taken it.”’…..Jai told in a normal way…u take it and he is sure that it will be a hit number……Shammi used it in Brahmchari and guess what was the song…….yes…;;AAJKAL TERE MERE PYAR KE CHARCHE HAR ZUBAN PAR, SABKO MALOOM HAI AUR SABKO KHABAR HO HAI”’….A MD cannot be wrong and no doubt, S-J MADE SOME SUBSTANDARD TUNES FOR CO-STARS MIXED WITH THE TOPS…AND AS RDB SAID ”SHANKAR JAIKISHAN WILL TELL ABOUT THEIR SONGS, WHICH WILL GO FOR HIT AND WHICH WILL BE LOWER”’, but well hummable….Such was Shammi’s enthusiasm and chemistry with SHANKAR JAIKISHAN.
ANOTHER incident i wud like to narrate…..the film ”PAGLA KAHIN KA” was in the making and their was a jail scene for which the set was ready and shooting was going on….somebody remembering David in BOOT POLISH, suggested that there shd be a song in the jail premises sung by the prisoners(half and full mad)…..Shammi was in the leading role. He immediately rang Jaikishan ”mujhe yeh gaana kal hee chahiye”…Jaikishan rang Hasrat Saab and fixed for next morning sitting and Shammi was duly informed…Next day all three sat….and looking out at the situation, Jai on the hand composed and Hasrat give words…ultimately the sond recorded was ”MERI BHAINS KO DANDA KYUN MAARA”….AND WITH time this became proverbial sentence in colloquial language…a humorous number.WHAT WAS THE BEST TUNE CREATED IN MINUTES…BY THE GENIUS MD….Shammi had no bounds to entrall and express his gratitude to his friend……….to continue….gshroti@gmail.com

JAIKISHEN'S STATUE UNVEILED IN HIS NATIVE VILLAGE

Friends

Here is another report of the trip - hopefully it adds some more details to the beautiful pictures
portrayed by Shastryji & Qamaalbhai!This is a fairly longish post. And it has been posted WITH PICTURES by Qamaalbhai on his blog at this address.
http://probollywoodnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/ek-but-banaoonga-tera-aur-pooja.html
Please do visit the blog post.

The proud residents of Vansada sing to Jaikishan - Ek But Banaoonga Tera Aur Pooja Karoonga!Hindi Film Music finally did itself proud! On May 21, 2009, the first ever larger than life statue of a Hindi Film Music Director was unveiled in Vansada - an obscure village of Gujarat, India."Jaikishan Dahyabhai Panchal" was engraved on the plaque - a man known the world over - as the latter half of the all time great duo named - Shankar Jaikishan!I took a train from Mumbai the previous day and reached Valsad in the thick of the afternoon. Dr.Padmanabh Joshi and Rajnikumar Pandya received me at the station. They had had a nice beer over lunch and I was in no mood to eat in that heat! Settled for some tea!A sedate, simple Gujju dinner and long conversations on SJ was the agenda for the night

We drove off for Vansada the next morning at 6.30 a.m. a journey that takes just about two hours!The name Vansada comes from Bansada - Bans which is the Gujarati word for Bamboo. This is part of a thick forested of South Gujarat and the was green even in that blistering heat!We reached the main ground in the heart of the city which was the venue for the function!An arch, banners in Gujarati with Jaikishan's photograph - an elegant mandap on the ground created a nice festive ambience. Clearly, it was a big day for the residents of Vansada! Sure enough in just about a hour the place was full of music buffs from all over Gujarat and animated conversations in Gujju filled the air!Our group members - Prashant Menon, Devendra Shastry and Qamal Mustafa were also en route and reached the venue exactly on time. Swami Sachidananda - the man who made this event happen arrived followed soon by Anandji and his wife. The function began and a large number of people were felicitated. The Maharaja of Vansada, Dr.Padmanabh Joshi, Rajnikumar Pandya et al. A quiet, very elegant looking woman in her 80s was felicitated too. She was Jaikishan's sister who lives in Vansada even today! I would have loved to hear her speak about her brother.And then came the speeches which thankfully were brief. With my limited knowledge of Gujarati let me report what I could pick up!

Swami Sachidananda made some telling points. He said many would wonder why is a Swami into Hindi Film Music! A Swami should sing bhajans and look down at Hindi Film Music! However, he added that times have changed and in today's world it is the music of the Golden Era which will keep the musical heritage of India alive!Swamiji was very forthright and stated that for over three years when he was in a depression and it was the music of Shankar Jaikishan that helped him overcome the depression! He also added that on a trip to Europe he was astonished by the way artists and their contribution was valued in society and how they remembered their heritage which was sadly lacking in India! He wanted to change this apathetic situation and what better beginning than to make a statue of a son of Gujarat his home state - and so Jaikishan! And this is just a beginning he added! In fact, he went on to mention that the next statue he was planning was in Billimora and the artiste he had in mind was another son of Gujarat - Mehboob Khan!

Rajnikmar Pandya's speech too was noteworthy. He told the residents of Vansada that their own Jaikishan had attracted so many people who are diehard music lovers and had travelled all the way! He mentioned some noteworthy folks like Prabhakar Vyas whose work on Radio Ceylon is simply mind boggling or Harish Raghuvanshi the co-author with Harmandir Hamraz of that consummate biography and song book of Saigal!The next part of Rajnibhai's speech gave us group members goose pimples! Rajnibhai mentioned that he was going to talk about something serious and said he would read out one SMS of a SJ fan, 'Revered Rajnibhai - it is a great thing that you are honoring Jaikishan but please do remember Shankar' - was the message! Rajnibhai said that this was a sentiment that all of us shared and how that message straight touched a chord in the heart! The audience responded with a thundering applause!

Anandjibhai spoke - in his own smiling, lighter vein. He wondered why all Music director Jodis had one fair partner and one not so fair partner! And why the fair partner departed first! He added that after he noticed this phenomenon he had made it point to bring it to the notice of Nadeem too! And Nadeem went off to London! Anandjibhai added that he knew Shankar Jaikishan right from their struggling days in Girgaon and how they would all get together in the day for a cup of tea in the grocery shop and in the night pull down the shutters, pull out the harmonium and play melodies through the nights! He also recalled how Jaikishan would speak in Hindi in Mumbai but when chided by Anandji would smile and slip to Gujarati!Dr. Padmanabh Joshi recounted some key aspects of Shankar Jaikishan. How both of them were creative geniuses who delivered consistently - he cited examples like how they scored two title songs for Hariyali Aur Rasta and both made it to the film. And also how they could create songs over night as in the case of Mere Bhains Ko Danda Kyon Mara! The Maharaja of Vansada spoke too - unfortunately I could not follow his speech and the only thing I picked up was he recalled the time he played cricket with Jaikishan!After that was unveiling time and the Vansada folks had arranged a stylish, rather high tech remote controlled unveiling! Anandji did the needful as starins of Dil Ek Mandir Hain filled the space and lo and behold a handsome, garlanded Jaikishan was looking at his home town! That was the big moment and everyone rushed towards the statue and it was the usual crowded photo opportunity time. Everyone wanted to be photographed with the statue and with Anandjibhai!Swamiji pointed out that lunch had been arranged for all and no one should leave the premises without having lunch! The Rangoli episode!Amidst all this a very touching event took place!Before he function began I noticed two young men carrying a beautiful Rangoli rendering of Jaikishan's photograph on a plywood plank! They placed it below the stage and it was admired by one and all! Someone in his enthusiasm tried to prop up the piece of plywood and whew - in a minute the entire creation was wiped out!"Excuse me, but did you guys take aphotograph of it?" whispered a vooice and Qamaalbhai and myself turned to see a flummoxed Manish the creator of the Rangoli portrait! "Of course we have" both of us chimed! We promised to send the photographs to Manish!Somewhere the little accident had a significance! Here was another artiste of Vansada proudly displaying his creation and in no time he had found it wiped out forever! Such a sad fate should never be the lot of any artiste or their creations! Somewhere Jaikishan's statue would certainly symbolize the beginning of such a time!

Courtesy : Shahrukh Khan (oshahrukhthegreat@gmail.com)

TRIBUTE TO SHANKAR JAIKISHAN-43 by: gopalshroti

SHAMMI KAPOOR

--Shreegopalshroti

”Hamne to pyar mein aisa kaam kar diya,pyar ki raah mein apna naam kar liya….pyar ki raah mein apna naam kar liya…AAJ KAL TERE MERE PYAR KE CHARCHE HAR ZUBAN PAR, SABKO MALOOM HAI AUR SABKO KHABAR HO GAYEE……mohd.rafi and suman kalyanpur…….SUMAN KALYANPUR had many hit songs under the S-J orchestration…..but few days back, in a local newspaper, her interview was published….i was surprised to know that she did not mention S-J’s name because of whom she became a household name in film music…..in the last she lamented, that a song was recorded in her voice, and next day she came to know that ”voh gana ek sangeetkaar jodi ne doosri gayika ki awaj mein record kar liya”….this was her disappointment…..may be because this was in the later years of S-J, WHEN A RIFT MIGHT be there between the duo……hard luck……but despite this, we heard the best songs in suman kalyanpur’s voice, tuned by Shankar Jaikishan and still her name comes with them on radios and we rejoice the tune, like the above i mentioned from ”Brahmchari”……

NOW I come to the super hero made by the duo, none other than Shammi Kapoor, on whom this episode is going on…..IT is very much evident that while some Shammi-S-J scores didn’t quite work their magic for the hit parade e.g. Janwar cud not do a Junglee and Prince was not certainly Rajkumar…..but their success story does not stop with still hit songs from Janwar and Prince…..Their spectacular successes made significant progress with” Chahe koi mujhe junglee kahe”…..yahooooooo…however it is worth mentioning that though Usha Khanna’s Dil Deke Dekho in 1959 and OPN’s Tum Sa Nahin Dekha in 1957 did create a semi-stir, it was JUNGLEE that really and truly did the trick….Shammi sang his way into super stardom with ”mere yaar shabba khair” and ”ehsaan tera hoga mujh par”….Saira Banu got comfortably ensconced in the velvet folds with Lata’s ”kasmir ki kali hun main” and Mukesh and Asha Bhonsle had a ball rendering ”Nain tumhare mazedar o janabe-a-ali” for Anoop Kumar and Shashikala.
Then came Professor in 1962 in which Shammi got into a hairy situation with Lalita Pawar and which made a hillarious comedy and again with the younger leading lady Kalpana (who was the only heroine to have launched her career unsuccessfully against Shammi)….The numbers ”awaz de ke hamein tum bulao, muhabbat mein itna na hamko satao” (Lata-Rafi) and ”lal chhadi maidan khadi”(Rafi) earned Shankar Jaikishan their career’s fourth Filmfare Award……..to continue……gshroti@gmail.com

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www.hindyugm.com

Shankar Jaikishan and Shammi Kapoor

by Srigopal Shroti

I feel Shammi Kapoor,s entry into the film industry wud hav been futile sans S-J..though he danced on OP,RD &Usha khanna’s tunes—-but working with Shankar Jaikishan was the joy of his life…..he will pull out the tune from Jaikishan and say it is mine…..On Sasural tune he was furious, why it was given to another hero…..it is mine….and it was ”TERI PYARI PYARI SURAT KO……”.AND HE MISSED IT becoz of lapse of time…such was the chemistry between S-J and Shammi……”’Lal chhadi maidan khadi”…”wonderfully he danced on Shankar’s tune”…
There it is said that the actors like Dilip kumar and Rajendra Kumar attended the music sessions….Shammi Kapoor presided over them…..of every film Shammi signed and S-J were MDs, any tune composed shd go through the ears of the Rebel Star….and it was Shammi who wud ask the producers and directors that the MDs will be his own ….and they were S-J only….S-J enjoyed Shammi’s rebel style on even signing the films……..and on their part producers and directors knew that these are 3 gems, they are going to encash. OP Nayyar acquired Shammi’s discriminating favour when the music of KASHMIR KI KALI tremendously drew chart favour in 1964…..However, Shammi temporarily developed a fondness towards Nayyarean style.
But the success of Shankar Jaikishan in Rajkumar the same year clinched the issue…S-J were to be Shammi’s life long associaste since then onwards…..AND TRUE to his musical vision, Shammi Kapoor made sure that his producers stuck by S-J right down to his very last film as a leading star in Preetam, 1971. SO ENAMOURED WAS shammi of duo’s composing compatibility, that when Nasir Hussain came for Teesari Manzil, Shammi blew a fuse…..however it took time for NH to convince that RDB’s STYLE WILL MATCH the rebel star’s style in the film(o haseen zulfon waali, deewana mujh sa nahin).

A grand statue of Jaikishan will be unveiled by Music Director Anandji (of Kalyanji-Anandji)

Friends ...This is LANDMARK BREAKING NEWS! Date: 21-05-2009 at 9:00AM

Venue: Jaikishan's native village VANSADA near Valsad in South Gujarat.
Event: A grand statue of Jaikishan will be unveiled by Music Director Anandji (of Kalyanji-Anandji) .

The whole project of honouring Jaikishan was initiated and fully supported by Pujya Swami Sachhidanandji of Gujarat.

Swamiji is not only a fan of Shankar Jaikishan but was inspired to do all this after he read Dr.Padmanabh Joshi's biography of SJ.

Attached are the photographs (click here to view them at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/shankarjaikishan) of the statue and title of the booklet on Jaikishanji authored by Dr. Padmanabh Joshi. These have also been hosted on our YAHOO group home page. All group members are hereby cordially invited for the unveiling ceremony and lunch after the function.

In SJ's Diamond Jubilee year - nothing more fitting or grand could have been conceived and created!
All credit to Dr.Padmanabh Joshi and Swami Sachchidananda for making this great landmark event happen!