CRICKET: THE SHANKAR JAI KISHAN XI

by Krishna Curam

SJ yahoo grp member - Krishna curam clubs two of his passions - Cricket and music in one FINAL XI. Check out his XI choices !

(In picture : Jaikishan with Legendry cricketer Gary sobers )

Since both Shankar(laterz) and Jaikishan were big cricket fans ... I am taking the liberty of forming Shankar jaikishan Cricket XI.

Shankar Jaikishan XI !!!!!
Openers: Both these songs are out of the world. IMHO they are the bestopening pair. "Aaja aye bahar"(Raj kumar) has that excellent pace, balanceof offsense (fast) and defence (slow). Latha sings each worldwith a pause in between with caution ... similar to the cautionone has to adopt while playing swing bowling !!! Jis desh mein ganga behati number is similar in its spirit.

1. Aaja ayi bahar dil(Raj kumar) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMTymuIMYPY .

2. Kya Hua ye (Jis desh mein ganga behti hai) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB2mDk7XpYA

(Chandrasekar mentoined in SJ forum that "Yahoo" could be another one ... I am all for it ... This remainds me of Srikkanth ... and what a combination woul d that be !!! )

Middle order: The next 3 are classic duets which has everything. "Dil Ki nazar se"(Anari) remainds me of Dravid's batting. Has that seriousness at the same time, very romantic."Ye masoom chehra"(Dil tera diwana) is a song which can win you any day like GR Vishwanath."Ye mera prem patra padkar"(Sangam) is all time classic whichstands like Sachin. This particular version which I have listed here is divine.Music in this composition is above clouds. (Just listen to Sitar in the beginning ...Interestingly SJ used the same tune in Rajkumar movie also.)

3. Dil Ki Nazar(Anari) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC8-r7vuCKE

4. Ye mera prempatra padkar(Sangam) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohEIWdIGXCo

5 Ye masum chera(Dil tera diwana) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li4sTOVXbmM

Now comes the pick for the WK cum batsman. "Aye bhai zara"(Mera naam joker) is an excellent song... is like an "all" catcher. The lyrics are very difficult to compose a tune.See how the tunes twist and still the music and the composition catches itwell. And henec my Wicket Keeper

6. Ae bhai zara dekh(Mera naam joker): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHpWtrPVhls.

The Spinners. I have only two spinners in the team. The followingtwo are so good semi classical songs and has the art of spin bowling in theircomposition.

"OO jadugar" is like BSChandra's bowling. Chandra always used to have a surprise element in his bowling. This song is a classic in that aspect.Just see how many surprises are there in the tune. LIsten to "Kya kardia"/"marhaba" ... which kinds of bridges two non connected parts of the tune. SJ were excellent in using catchy music as a bridge between lines ( great example is "Sabkuch seeka hamnei" ), this is a song in which they use interesting to phrases to c onnect two lines to make things smooth. BS Chandrashekar always has that kind of surprise in his bowling. When you think all is going well he will bowl a wild one ... similary when everything is going wrong, he will take the well settled batsman out ... completely clulss to the batsman ( as well as the bowler. )As the first lines of the song indicates, Chandra was rightfully called Man with a "jadoo( magic) hand", and it is appropriate to call Shankar Jakishan as men with "magic wand"
7. OO jadugar : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR99gjILldA

"Aye phoolon ki rani"(aarzoo) reminds me of EAS Prasanna's teasing spin. For me "Ye phoolon ki rani" is just a classic in the way in which Mohammed Rafi saab sings this great tune of SJ/Hasrat. The way in which the song changes the tempo remainds of EAS Prasanna's teasing flight. You notice in the song that Rafi has sung this with a clear plan and he eaxctly knows that he will get this wicket !!!.

8 Aye phoolon ki rani(Aarzoo) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvAmlbolF8

The next 3 are best seamers. First two are out and out classical swing bowling where as "Be chain dil"(Yahudi) is the fast bowler of my pick.I chose "Ketaki gulab"(Basant Bahar) as the the swing bowler cum medium pace bowler (like the great Sir Richard Hadlee ) as the song is based on one of the best raags : Basant Bahar, Basant Bahar is a combination of Basant and Bahar ... Like Richard Hadlee was a master in both in swing and medium pace bowling. Noone matches Sir Richard Hadlee in this regard ... similarly this song. Composing and singing a classical raag based for films is really like mastering art of swing bowling. You can see the perfection of SJ in this great song. One of the greatest compositions of all time.

9. Ketaki gulab phool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcqmOaQSPDA

The second choice was aother swing bowler ... I should say as a selector I showed favouritism :(. There are so many classical raag based songs of SJ, it is really difficult to pick one. Every SJ movie has at least one or two great classical numbers. But ... My favourite Classical raag is "Baghashree". This raag is divine and some of our Hindi music directors have done a great service to this raag. This Raag interestingly can bring the best both in happy or sad songs (Listen to C. Ramchandra's "Na bole na bole" in Azad or Kundan Lal Saigal in "Chaa barbad" in Shahjehan. ). SJ brought the best out of Latha in this hidden gem "Jao Jao" in Rangoli.

10.Jao Jao nand(rangoli) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOUAII1bB4o

There are so many fast numbers I could have picked in SJ's composition when it comes to the third seamer. I picked "Bechain" from Yahudi as it remainds me of the great WestIndian bowler Malcom Marshall. Marshall had this great ability to go all out from the delivery one ... most of his wickes are either bowled or LBW ... never gave batsman a chance to settle at all !!! (I still remember how he took Sunil Gavaskar and Vengsarkar in succession in 1984 series. )In this great song, You can feel Malcom Marshall right from the beginning ... the moment umpire say "let us play" ... SJ goes in full pace. Wow what a music it is !!!

11. Be chain dil(yahudi) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cATyeuTkaBA

Sharukh bhai asked about the 12th man .... In fact he first song I selected was actually 12th Man !!!. It was a slam dunk for me. I felt My pick was Zindagi mujko dekha de raasta(Sanjh aur savera) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya5rncx1FqI .

This song remainds me of S. Venkatraghavan. He was a great off spinner of the 70's, but was very unfortunate. One test he the captain, the next he is relegated to 12th man !!!. This song is an excellent ( Malkauns raag based one ) ... and the lyrics speaks itself of Venkatraghavan's "haalat" as he becomes a 12th man just after leading the side the previous day !!! ( I thought it would be too harsh on my side and hence did not include )