The ones we adored
Profile on Shanker-Jaikishen, C. Ramchandra and Naushad

Shanker-Jaikishan

Shanker-Jaikishan were talented and versatile Music Director duo that signified magic, success and excellence for over two decades from the late 1940's. Shankar and Jaikishen worked with a common name for a long long time though there were times where they shared strong differences. On September 12, 1971, Jaikishan passed away, following alcohol overdose.
Shanker was a master at playing several instruments. He could play the piano, the harmonium, the sitar, the pakhawaj with ease. Born in Punjab, he migrated to Andhra Pradesh at a very young age. He had been a dancer in Krishna Kutty’s troupe. Jaikishan was a master harmonium-player.
S-J gave Hindi film music a big boost after their arrival on the music scene. With their trademark touch, they came up with compositions whose popularity is unhindred to this day around the world. S-J, like their mentor Raj Kapoor, managed to come up with music that had both class and mass appeal.
Shanker-Jaikishan approached Raj Kapoor, who was on a look-out out for new composer for Barsaat. Kapoor had noticed them as musicians earlier. When they made their debut in 1949 with Barsaat, they created a kind of stir by introducing new sound of music. Barsaat brought a change in the pattern of orchestra prevalent then. They laid more stress on the orchestration and showed how it could create wonders when incorporated with the words of a song. Their music was instantly accepted by the masses, making them leading composers after a couple of years.
One of the gauging factors of S-J’s popularity was when distributors started insisting that producers sign the duo for their films. Their argument was that S-J were stars in their own right. Many producers had no choice but to bow to the demand, and the most talked about example of this was of the film Basant Bahar. The makers apparently wanted Anil Biswas or Naushad to compose a classical-based score for the period film. But owing to the distributors’ demand S-J were signed on, with the makers having doubts if the duo could deliver. What the makers didn’t know was that S-J had a classical foundation and they came up with some lovely classical-based compositions like ‘Sur na saje...’ and ‘Duniya na bhaye mujhe...’ for the film.
Thanks to their wide range and their ability to understand different styles of music, and adapt them, S-J gave hit after hit music scores in Awara, Teesri Kasam, Junglee, An Evening In Paris, Amrapali, Yahudi, Brahmachari, Arzoo, Chori Chori, Anari, Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi, Professor, Suraj and Mera Naam Joker to name some. In the 15 years of their career, they kept pace with the new trends besides setting some.
Needless to say that Music Directors who came later like Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Kalyanji-Anandji, built their careers with S-J as their ideals. Even today’s composers like count S-J’s music as their main inspiration. Till date one can hear a number of songs, which seem to be inspired by S-J compositions. So strong was the influence of S-J on Laxmikant-Pyarelal, that  leave aside the music, Laxmikant used to proudly emulate Jaikishan's style of dressing and wearing the wrist-watch as well!
The high-profile composer-duo, who were acknowledged by other musicians “as the only ones who were 98 per cent original,” had a unique style of working. Each one had thorough knowledge of music and each one was a complete composer, and it was a known fact that each used to compose a complete song individually. Later, whatever contribution Jaikishan had to Shanker’s tune and vice-versa was incorporated just a little before the recording. Of the two, Shanker was more classically-inclined and composed more raag-based songs. Jaikishan, who was a natural, composed the light, romantic compositions and was more versatile among the two. The two had an understanding that Shanker would do the classical dance compositions, while the background score would be handled by Jaikishan.
Success and opposite natures started causing a rift between the two partners, and in the later years of their career they had completely divide their work. It was rumoured that Shanker had toyed with the idea of parting from Jaikishan as early as 1952, when their post-Barsaat career took off. The final straw was Shanker’s liaison with singer Sharda, whom he promoted relentlessly. The final break-up came in 1965, after which Jaikishan began to operate from his house rather than their common music room. But the duo saw to it that their rift didn’t have an adverse effect on their career which is why though they composed separately, they never let their name appear solo. They were clever enough to implement that as a duo they were valuable and as separate entities they didn’t have a price.
Even after Jaikishan’s untimely death in 1971, Shanker maintained the name as a duo in the credits. But the music did not sell much and downslided during the 1970s when film distributors and producers showed more faith in newer talent. The only hit being Sanyasi  in 1975. Even Raj Kapoor by then had turned to Laxmikant-Pyarelal. At that time Shanker had even composed music for television music programs, before he passed away in 1977.
Whatever the differences, whatever the outcome, what counts is that the name Shanker-Jaikishan is always taken together, in unison and under the same breath. And when the listener listens to their evergreen compositions, he simply marvels at versatility of the pair.
 TRIVIA ON THE DUO
• Coming to their working style, the duo mostly composed the tune first, since they felt it prevented monotony, as poets tended to write songs most of the time to just two or three metres.
• Lyricists Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri were masters at writing in-depth lyrics to S-J’s tunes, and the composers worked with them mostly. For a couple of films they worked with lyricist Rajinder Krishan. Most of the time Jaikishan tuned with Hasrat, and Shanker with Shailendra.
• Shanker-Jaikishan were on the RK Films pay-roll even when another composer did an occasional film.
• They were awarded the Padmashri in 1969.
• As S-J they did 121 films, and later Shanker did about 30 films more.
• The duo released a non-film record, Raga Jazz Time in the 60s and composed Hindi songs and the background score for the English film Bombay Talkie (1971).
• Their music boosted the careers of Raj Kapoor, Nargis and Rajendra Kumar, and gave the ‘Yahoo’ image to Shammi Kapoor.
• Through their songs popularised instruments like the violin (‘Jaane kahan gaye who din...’ - Mera Naam Joker), the piano (‘Dost dost na raha...’ - Sangam, ‘Dil ke jharaonkhe mein...’ - Brahmachari) and the accordion (‘Awara hoon...’ -Awara).
• Way back in 1965, S-J charged a record-breaking rupees five lakhs making them the highest-paid music directors ever.
 

C. Ramchandra

Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar, also fondly called as Annasaheb, was born in 1918 in Punatambe, Maharashtra. He studied music under Vinayakbua Patwardhan at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya music school. His first movie as an actor was Y.V.Rao's flop Naaganand. After a short stint with Marathi cinema, then centered around Kolhapur, he veered towards Bombay and landed in a film directed by Sohrab Modi for his Minerva Movietone. Modi despaired over young Ramchandra's acting ability but recognised his ability as a harmonium player. A fateful shift to the music department followed. He became a harmonium accompanyist for Minerva composers Bindu Khan and Habib Khan in a 1939 film Pukaar. He debuted as a music director in Tamil films with Jayakoddi(1939) and Vanmohini. His first Hindi movie as an independent composer was Sukhi Jeevan (1942) for Master Bhagwan, which established a long-term association that culminated with the musical megahit Albela. He turned into a producer for a brief period with with New Sai Prod. in 1953 with JHANJHAR, LEHAREIN, and DUNIYA GOL HAI.

Influenced by Benny Goodman, he introduced e.g. the alto sax in combination with guitar and harmonica, also whistling in one of his most famous songs 'Aana meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday' in SHEHNAI. He also used a bongo, oboe, trumpet, clarinet and sax combination for 'shola jo bhadke' in ALBELA. He also introduced scat singing in AASHA. In SHIN SHINAAKI BOOBLA BOO, he featured his own voice along with Lata's to sing the title song, and incorporated the authentic blue note and rhythm. The raw blue sound seems not have been capitalized on by our composers. The Kishore- Rafi duet from OP's BHAAGAMBHAAG ("chhoD chaley pyaari duniyaa ko") and Asha's brilliantly rendered "tum jaiso.n ko to paayal mei.n baandh loo.n" from RD's GARAM MASAALA are by far the only ones that readily comes to mind.
He sang a number of songs using the name 'Chitalkar', mostly of his own composition. He was a tellingly effective match for Bhagwan (Albela) and for Raj Kapoor (Sargam), but did not quite do justice to this aspect of his music. For Azad, he had lined up Talat Mahmood to sing "kitna haseen hai mausam" but an emergency kept the singer from attending the recording. Ramchandra went ahead and recorded the song in his own voice, doing a fairly good imitation of the famed Talat tones.
Outside of the Hindi space, Anna worked on Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and Bhojpuri films. His style has inspired an entire generation of composers from the South. Quite a few of them have gone to school on the soft Chitalkar signature.
His fallout with Lata also signalled a major downturn in his music and his popularity. The Lata solo from the 1966 PAAYAL KI JHANKAAR ("tu aaye na aaye magar jaane waale") may well be her last song for CR. To overcome a fallow period in the late 60s, he relaunched himself as music director, producer and actor in successful Marathi films: DHANANJAY, GHARKUL. His autobiography in marathi called 'majhya jeevanachi sargam' (Melody of my life) was published in 1977.
On 22nd December 1981, he was admitted to the KEM hospital in Mumbai. He had been suffering from ulcers for some time. He was 72 when he breathed his last on 5th January, 1982. His death left behind a vacuum and a silence.
Always open and generous, Ramchandra created one of the strongest musical signatures in the business. The gentle orchestration, the clean melody devoid totally of unnecessary complications, a light approach to orchestration except when the situation really demanded it, total understanding of the Mangeshkar voices - the end result carried that unmistakable CR stamp.
He was not in the least embarrassed about borrowing the occasional musical phrase from his colleagues, as exemplified by the opening bars of "tum kyaa jaano", a Hemanta Mukherji orignial from the Bengali SOORYATORAN. Perhaps there was a special bond between the two contemporaries. Perhaps they shared their views on the virtues of simplicity. One doesn't quite know.
Notable Films : Anarkali, Azad, Albela, Asha, Jhanjhar, Navrang, Parchhain, Patanga, Sagai, Stree, Yasmin

Naushad

Naushad Ali is regarded as one of the greatest Music Directors of Indian Cinema. He was born in 1919 in Lucknow. Since early childhood, he was an avid listener to the live orchestras accompanying silent films. He studied under Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali and Ustad Babban Saheb. Before coming to Bombay, he repaired harmoniums and composed for amateur theatricals. He moved to Bombay in the late 1930s to try his luck as a musician but had to really struggle and saw days of acute deprivation. He even had to spend nights on the footpath. Later he worked as a pianist in composer Mushtaq Hussain's orchestra and joined music director Khemchand Prakash (whom he considers his teacher) as his assistant.
Prem Nagar (1940) was his first Independent break but he first got noticed with Sharda (1942) It was Rattan (1944) that took Naushad right to the top and enabled him to charge Rs 25,000 a film then. Ankhiyaan Milake and Sawan ke Badalon became the most popular songs of the day. Naushad churned out hit after hit in the 1940s mainly in the films of A.R. Kardar - Shahjehan (1946), Dard (1947), Dillagi (1949), Dulari (1949) and Mehboob Khhan - Anmol Ghadi (1946), Elaan (1947), Anoki Ada (1948), Andaaz (1949). Naushad was among the early composers who gave Lata Mangeshkar an opportunity to sing and Andaaz and Dulari were instrumental in her rise to the top along with Mahal and Barsaat that year.
Naushad was one of the first to introduce sound mixing and the separate recording of voice and music tracks in playback singing. He was the first to combine the flute and the clarinet, the sitar and mandolin. He also introduced the accordion to Hindi film music and was among the first to concentrate on background music to extend characters' moods and dialogues through music.
But perhaps Naushad's greatest contribution was to bring Indian classical music into the film medium. Many of his compositions were inspired by Ragas and he even used distinguished classical artistes like Amir Khan and D.V. Pulaskar in Baiju Bawra (1952) and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan in Mughal-e-Azam (1960). Baiju Bawra demonstrated Naushad's grasp of classical music. To quote India's greatest playback singer Lata Mangeshkar who sang for him in the film.
"The music he composed for Baiju Bawra surprised even me. It was entirely different from what he had done before. Different ragas were used for different situations and the purity of the ragas were maintained to the greatest possible extent."
Naushad has been criticized about the lack of variety in his music but that is unfounded. He could compose with a 100-man orchestra as he did in Aan (1952) and could go Western if the situation demanded it (Jadoo (1951)). Naushad used to study every aspect of his tunes thoroughly. In Naushad's own words, "In my 62 years in the film industry, I composed music for 66 films. What I'm saying is that, we used to agonise over every tune and phrase in music, spend sleepless nights over a song, and work on it until it was perfected. And I am still looking for perfection."
This reduced workload worked to his advantage as he went on to score the music for perennial classics such as Mother India, Mughal-e-Azam, Ganga Jamuna, and Mere Mehboob
With the 1960s and the decline of Dilip Kumar, Naushad who used to compose music for most of the thespian's film also suffered a reversal of fortune as film after film of theirs came unstuck at the box-office. Naushad completed Pakeezah (1972) after Ghulam Mohammed's death and continued doing an occasional film right up to the 1990s but the magic of old was missing.
Today Naushad leads a retired life in his Bungalow in Bombay.