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

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

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).