Seema : A peek into the lyrical colossus of Shailendra and Hasrat
                               Shashi hegde writes on lyrics of  Seema  - a Shankar jaikishan movie !

Dear friends,

In the times when it is hard to differentiate lyrics from dialogues, the lyricists of 50’s and 60’s are a study in contrast. Rajendra Krishna, Majrooh, Sahir, Shakeel Badayuni along with Hasrat and Shailendra really packed a punch with their words.

Seema, a Mars and Movies film, apart from being a masterpiece film with soul touching music, is a classic showpiece of the lyrical genius of Hasrat and Shailendra – the names without which banner Shankar Jaikishan is incomplete.
If one listens to the songs with lyrics and its relevance to the story in mind, each song seems better than the other with each of it being a gem on its own.
I am sharing the lines of each of the songs that touches me and touches anyone who listens to it.

HASRAT JAIPURI:

1. Humein bhi dedo sahara - Such a simple song with so much depth in its lyrics.

“Bhara ho pet to sansar jagmagata hai
Sataye bhook to imaan dagmagata hai”

What a way to describe the bitter truth about the ways of the world.
Philosophers and saints might have preached something else, but what Hasrat saab
has written is the real truth!

2. Baat baat mein rootho na – A lyrical marvel.
“Dhalti hai raatein lekar andhera; layi baharein naya sawera; jeevan safar mein
dukh ho ya sukh ho karna hai phir bhi basera”
“Phool khushi ke har koi lele; koi na dekhe aansoo ke mele;
tum jo hase to haslegi duniya rona padega akele”

What a lovely way of bringing out the virtue of optimism and stoicness (Sthitha prajna) through beautifully weaved words.

3. Suno chhoti si gudiya ki lambi kahani – this perhaps will rate among the most beautifully written hindi film songs of all time! The words are SEAMLESS. The words flow like silk with each word gelling so beautifully yet emphasizing the previous word.

“Dil mein arman ka ek chhota sa bangla ho;
chandi ki dharti par sone ka jangla ho;
khel ho jeevan ke yahaan mel ho jeevan ke”

“Chand ki dola ho aur bijli ki baja ho;
dole mein rani ho aur ghode pe raja ho;
pyar ke raste ho aur phool baraste ho”

If anyone could draw beautiful pictures with words, it was Hasrat Jaipuri.

SHAILENDRA:

A poet like Shailendra will never ever happen again. Every song of his has a soul of its own! His words can emote – they make us laugh, cry, introspect and ponder about the ways of the world. He is an epic, he was an era and he is the Everest if the lyricists were the Himalayan range!

1. Kahan ja raha hai tu aye janewale:
The lyrics are in the league of their own. One can identify oneself so much with the words that he/she starts feeling as if it was written for him/herself.

“andhera hai man ka diya to jala le”
“Yeh jeevan safar ek andha safar hai;
 behekna hai munkin bhatakne ka dar hai”

“Jo thokar na khaye nahi jeet uski;
jo gir ke sambhal jaye hai jeet uski”

2. Manmohana bade jhoote:

When it comes to the genre of such songs as this one, Ja ja re ja balamwa, Jao jao nand ke lala, Jao na satao rasiya, etc – there is Shailendra and only Shailendra.

Shailendra showcases another forte of his – chaste, unadulterated Hindi!
Many such songs of Shailendra like this one will easily qualify as “Cheez” for Hindustani classical vocal performances.

3. Tu pyar ka sagar hai:

A bhajan like this one has never been written or may be a song like this one?
Each line is a classic like the man who wrote it!

“tu pyar ka sagar hai; teri ek boond ke pyase hum” .
What a way to describe the expansiveness of almighty!
“ghayal man ka pagal panchhi udane ko beqarar;
pankh hai komal aankh hai dhundli jana hai sagar par”

“Idhar jhhomti gaye zindagi udhar hai maut khadi;
 koi kya jane kahan hai seema uljhan aan padi;
kano mei zara kehde ki aaye kaun disha se hum”

That was Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri!

Regards,
Shashi Hegde

   Songs on Same raags
 Our  Yahoo grp member J M Pradhan ji  writes his views on SJ's songs

Regarding similarity of songs, I would like to share my views.

In Indian Classical Music the great Bhatkhande-ji divided ten parents of ragas i.e. Bhiravi, Bhairav, Todi, Asavari, Khamaj, Marwa, Poriya, Kafi, Kalyan, one more I just forgot. All the ragas are based on one of the above thaat. So if any song is composed in Bhiravi that, it will sound like same melody.
However point to be noted is that SJ composed hundreds of song in bhiravi which surprisingly did not seem much similar when I listened to them. I think SJ could compose with permutations and combinations of Bhiravi that, which itself can generate infinite numbers of tunes. When I read on this site that "Tu pyaar ka sagar hai" is based on Drabari (Asawari), I checked the notations by playing on instrument and found yes, it is theoretically based on Asawari. I was surprised how they could create such tune based on Asavari but very difficult to identify as it is very much different from their darbari based song like Jhanak-jhanak tori baaje payaliya.., Radhike tune bansari.... . So they really were the genius of this century.

I think Vasant Desai was also one of the composers whose compositions were based on classical ragas. But I find his compositions dull when I listen as a common music lover. His two songs - one from Guddi " Ham ko man ki shakti.." and another one "Darashan do ghanshyam... by Manna Dey & Asha are exactly similar. If I listen as a student of classical music, they are basically beautiful bandishes based on the Raga kedar.

I respect Naushad saheb as a great musician of India. I agree the version of some of the fans that his “Man tadpat..” is based on old bandish of Raga Malkauns. I have heard lot of similar bhajans & songs ... in malkauns.

SJ composed several songs based on Shivranjani like “Baharon phool”, “Awaz de ke”, “Dil ke jharokhe”, “Jane kahan gaye vo din”. But when I listen to these songs, I find lot of changes they have made and I don't feel that the songs are exactly similar. The rhythm of “Dil ke jharokhe” is quite typical, I think no music director has yet tried to compose with such type of rhythm. Similarly the antara part, Rafi saheb had to sing suddenly in high notes, then come back in low note and then comes beautiful piece of violin. I think these songs will be master piece of Indian music history in future similar to Beethoven, Mozart.... compositions, if media cooperates.

In “Awaz de ke” the Rhythm is Jhap taal-10 beats and it has combination of Saxophone (western instrument) and sitar (Indian instrument). So beautifully arranged.

So I would like to conclude my views as follows :

1. Songs are based on one of the 10 thaats.

2. If two or more songs are composed on the same that, they would sound similar.

3. It does not matter if they sound similar, but what matters is how the MD creates different types of product with the same thaat.

4. SJ are only genius MD in India who did great job composing plenty of songs based on one thaat, very difficult to identify. That may be the reason that though their songs are based on classical ragas, they are Great while compositions of Nausad saheb, Vasant Desai,...are some times dull for common music lover though theoretically they are of high class.

I have heard the definition of light music from Pt Jasraj that classical music is basically that in which one has to perform with perfect grammar while for light songs, the MD & singer have to entertain and impress common people within 3- 4 minutes. I think he has tried to explain that it is more difficult to create light music.

I am posting my views with elementary knowledge on classical music. Please correct me if I am wrong.

J M Pradhan

S-J in the 70's: Re-visiting their Gems

              Ali Rashid writes on  SJ's gems from 70s

I have been listening to a lot of S-J 70's songs of late, and re-visiting their gems during that period.
Why do some critics give S-J the short end of the stick when it comes to the 70's. These critics label S-J's music during that time as  "loud",  "low-quality", and so forth. It is true that S-J did  produce few sub-standard  songs during that period (as did others), but they also produced many great songs too. After listening to these songs, I am even more convinced that had Jaikishan lived, S-J would still have been a force to reckon with.

Even amidst their problems, S-J in the 70's could still come up with vintagemelody, fantastic orchestration, and soulful compositions. In fact, a good number of these songs were better than what others were churning out during this  time.The songs we have of this duo in the 70's are to be cherished.

Some gems I was listening to (YTube links provided for some which were available):

Jane anjaane log mile - Jane Anjaane - 1971 - Kishore

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1h0UTD2Ick&feature=related


RD used what I like to call a "piano accompaniment" technique where flourishes of the piano showed up in his compositions (I wrote an article on that earlierthis year). S-J have also used that technique in the bove Kishore solo.Ofcourse they did not copy this from RD, but it was their own unique creativity. One of KK's best early 70's songs.

Saanjh savere nain tere - Duniya Ka Jaane - 1971 -

Kishore/Asha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwgFKGm0klY


A beautiful Kishore-Asha duet. From the orchestration, it seems like a Jaikishan composition. Kishore had a different charm singing under S-J.

Ae badal jhoom ke - Nadaan - 1971 - Mukesh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtjC6v76yvk


Jhoom ke gaa yun - Patanga - 1971 - Rafi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsuwzrle6Zk



Wasta hi na jab raha - Chori Chori
One of the last Mukesh masterpieces composed by Jaikishan.

Ek tera sundar mukhda - Bhai Bhai - 1970 - Rafi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1E_6_ROeh0


Wah Wah Rafi-saab !.

Tumhare bin guzare hain - Atmaram - 1979 - Lata/Rafi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWGU3gV8L18&feature=related


A stunner...probably the last Lata/Rafi duet Shankar (Jaikishan) composed....beautiful melody and rendition.

Jab mohabbat jawan - Jawan Mohabbat - 1970 - Rafi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWWwSELMejk

Sooni sooni sans ke sitar - Lal Patthar - 1972 - Asha

------------

Also, try finding a better set of male songs (from a variety of singers) in the  early 70's:

Rafi - Jab bhi yeh dil udaas - Seema - 1971
Mukesh - Jaane kahan gaye woh din - Mera Naam Joker - 1970
Kishore - Bhanwre ki gunjan - Kal Aaj Aur Kal - 1971
Rafi - Tum mujhe yun bhula na - Pagla Kahin Ka - 1970
Manna - Re man sur mein ga - Lal Patthar - 1971
Mukesh - Jeevan bhar dhoondta jisko - Nadaan - 1971
Kishore - Zindagi ek safar - Andaz - 1971
Manna - Ae bhai zara dekh - Mera Naam Joker - 1970
Rafi - Humko to jaan se pyaari - Naina - 1972
And Many others.......

Cheers

Ali 

                             Sangam - The Memories
                                        N Sridhar   recalls the memories of watching Sangam !


Sangam brings back to me the memories of a Saturday around 30 years back. One of my elder brother (who instilled the love for Shammi Kapoor and SJ in our family as they became his favorites) took me out in the morning in his bicycle riding doubles and we reached the theater named Prasanna in our locality. Till the time, we reached the theater, I was not aware of where we were going. It was only on reaching the theatre that I realised that this was one of the ocassions to watch a movie - a morning show rerun of the old hit movie Sangam.  We were quite early for the show and the ticket counters had not yet opened. We waited for the ticket counters to open and the crowds as was usual with the morning shows were sparse.

The movie rolled out on the screen and gosh, what a movie it was. It made a deep impression on me and even to date I can vividly recall certain scenes from the movie. It was an excellent movie shot in colour and I think one of the first hindi movies which was shot in foreign locales. As mentioned by Devraj ji, I think RK fell in love with his shooting and this increased the duration of the movie to something less than 3 hrs.

I got the opportunity to view this movie again a few years back and while the film was unfolding on the screen, I could still recall the scenes as I had seen it decades back. It was a coincidence that last Thursday night, I had the opportunity to watch the climax scene of this movie which has superb dialogues for all the 3 actors in one of the TV channels here. As was usual with RK movies, this movie also had SJ giving their best, but it still was not able to get the Filmfare award and this privilege had to go to Mera Naam Joker, the last movie that RK directed and acted with SJ's music.

This film had great songs and the picturisation of certain songs - Yeh Mera Prem Patr, Dost Dost Na Raha, O Mehbooba O Mehbooba as well as Ich Liebe Dich (meaning I Love You in German language) were really out of the world.
I remember reading somewhere that Raj Kapoor wanted Dilip Kumar to one of the roles, but Dilip Kumar did not agree to it.  Of course Raj Kapoor had to settle for the so called poor man's Dilip Kumar instead - Rajendra Kumar. It is ironical to note the tag of poor man's Dilip Kumar since Rajendra Kumar used to earn more money than Dilip Kumar in the decade of 60's. Much has been written about  Rajendra Kumar's acting (or non-acting, the way you look at it) abilities, but still IMHO, he gave a good performance as a close friend sacrificing his love, also mouthing superb dialogues in the climax of the movie and finally giving up his life for the sake of his friend. This has been one of his performances which moved me quite a lot. Raj Kapoor of course himself was a great actor. However, in most of his movies he acts as a simpleton/comic/ buffoon (numerous movies like Awara, Shri 420, Jis Desh Main Ganga Behti Hai, Mera Naam Joker, Diwana, Sapnon Ka Saudagar, Chalia, Dulha Dulhan etc are the ones I can recall immediately) an image which he consciously and deliberately developed. There are very few movies wherein he has acted naturally. Some of those movies which come to my mind are Aah (an excellent performance by him in a real serious role) ; Dil Hi To Hai. In this movie also, as usual, Raj Kapoor comes across a simpleton in the first half wherein he is obsessed with his love for Radha and keeps expressing it all opportunities, while not caring for the feelings of Radha or Gopal. Somehow this is the only aspect of the movie which can be described as a weak point in the script. Thought Gopal and Sundar are very close friends, it beats me as how Sundar as a friend could not detect that Gopal also had love for Radha, maybe as they say, love makes a man blind.

This film also is of historical interest to fans of SJ as this was the movie which publicly brought out the differences between Shankar & Jaikishan with the composer's themselves identifying certain songs as composed by them. I think this was the only instance where in public, either S or J identified their creations. I have a feeling that in the team, they had an unwritten rule not to do this. This is th reason that you will find that in any of the interviews of SJHS, none of them publicly identify the songs as created by Shankar or Jaikishan.  Evan in the late 70s and 80s while Shankar was down and had few assignments, in none of the interviews has he tried to differentiate the songs as composed by S and J. For him, it was always an SJ creation. It was only some journalists like Raju Bharatan, who played the game of trying to identify certain songs as composed by S and others by J. As  an ardent SJ fan, for me both Shankar as well as Jaikishan were  one. Any music of their's will remain as SJ's music and not as individual S music or individual J music.

We had an interesting discussion on this movie on the Sangeet Ke Sitare forum a few years back, initiated by none other one of our moderators Kamaal Mustafa. During those discussions, we also discussed and voted on the most popular song of the movie - many people arguing for Yeh Mera Prem Patr (Kamaal bhai) or Dost Dost Na Raha (myself), but the final voting results in the group sprung a surprise at least on me. The top songs in the voting results also had O Mere Sanam and O Mehbooba apart from the above two songs. Of course this type of split vote among the songs of the movies will always be the case in any of the SJ movies you consider. The poll results are still available at

http://in.groups. yahoo.com/ group/sangeet_ ke_sitare/ surveys?id= 12238929

This shows that SJ as music director's catered to the needs of all types of songs - sad, romantic, pathos, comic, dance whatever be the type. They tried to give their best and it showed in the results of their creations.  This again shows that it does not make any difference to the listener on who the individual composer of the songs were. As long as the songs were good, which was the case with SJ, it always remains popular.

For me of course, the song Dost Dost Na Raha remains the top song of this movie. This song always moves me each time I hear it.  The anguish of a betrayed friend comes out naturally in this song through the excellent lyrics and the tune.  A small correction in what Devrajji has written regardign the song situation- This song does not come after Sundar knows that Radha was loved by somebody. Sundar hears this song sung by one of his colleagues in the mess at the air force - One of the close friends of this colleague gets married to his love during the absence of this colleague in the service of the country. The colleague bemoans his fate by singing the verses of this song. However, in the movie, this song comes when Sundar invites Gopal to come to Switzerland for Radha's birthday as a surprise. However, Radha is shocked on seeing Gopal in Switzerland and requests him to keep out their lives. After this, Sundar praises the friendship of Gopal and says that he is fortunate to have a true friend like Gopal, who was not like the friend of his colleague who betrayed him. However, he says that the song of his colleague made a deep impression on him - he says on listening to the song -  "Raungte khade ho jate hai" and sings the song. Little does he know that this song of course is going to reflect on his own situation. The song has some great filming with Raj Kapoor on the piano and shows the faces of Rajendra Kumar/Vyjayantimala while replaying the past scenes of their lives.

I think that I have rambling quite a lot and it is time for me to stop writing before people start realising what an Idiot I am. But what to do, sometimes the nasha of SJ's music is like that.

All in all, I would rate this score among one of the top 10 scores of SJ.

Regards

N. Sridhar

12 September : The Day to pay homage to Jaikishan
              Dr Senani  pays homage to  Jaikishan on his death anniversary 

Dear fellow SJ fans,

On this day(12 Sept), let us pay our homages to the late Jaikishan, the `ladla' of the SJ-team, who-
`Aaye bahar ban ke
lubha kar chale gaye'.

Going down the memory lane, it can be easily said that one of his all-time classic-
'Teri pyari pyari surat ko
kisi ki nazar na lage, Chashm-e-baddur'
very aptly fitted on this `Prince-charming' himself.

 Jaikishan, a friend of friends (Yaaro ka yaar), always maintained-
   'Ehsaan mere dilpe tumhara hai dost
   ye dil tumhare pyaar ka mara hai doston.'

He woo-ed his beloved and life partner Pallavi with the creation of the musical gem- 
'Tu kamsin ho nadaan ho nazuk ho bholi ho'
Although Hasrat wrote a love letter to some girl as'
`Ye mera prem patra pdh kar
  ki tum naaraz nahona,
  ki tum meri zinndagi ho
  ki tum meri bandgai ho'
he could never muster the courage to deliver it to the girl concerned. Interestingly, it was Jaikishan who famously tuned the lines impromto into an all-time-classic song for Sangam.

Similarily, while Hasrat Jaipuri wrote the lines  'Baharon Phool Barsao, mera mehboob aya hai'
one day when his wife was serving him tea, the way it has been musically composed it also appears to be symbolising Pallavi's arrival in Jaikishan's life.

Jaikishan musically-expressed his feelings for his lady-love through his composition-
`Sau saal pehle mujhe tumse pyar tha
aaj bhi hai aur kal bhi rahega'.

Also, when he composed-
`Dekha hai teri aankhon mein
pyaar he pyaar beshumar'
or
`Ek tera sundar mukhda
ek tera pyar se bhara dil, milna mushkil'
it appeared he derived inspiration from his own beloved !

His song-
`Zindagi ek safar hai suhana,
yahaan kal kya ho kisne jana'
was almost prophetic of his sudden departure on September 12, 1971, at a very young age.

And lastly, how well he predicted, through his music, that-
`Tum mujhe yun bhula na paoge,
Jub bhi sunoge geet mere
sung-sung tum bhi gungunaoge'

Long live Jaikishan, long live the all-time-great `jodi' of `Shankar-Jaikishan' and their time-less, age-less and immortal melodies, which will be cherished years after years, generations after generations !

-Senani

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 )

SHANKAR JAIKISHAN CONCERT

By Devendra V Shastry
11 July’09 evening.
Jam-packed Dinanath Mangeshkar Auditorium, Mumbai.Outside - heavy clouds but no rain. Inside the auditorium - heavy rain! No… nothing was wrong! The auditorium is well maintained. It was in fact the rain of Shankar-Jaikishan melodies. And the audience, right from teenagers to senior citizens were completely drenched in the melodies.

Thanks to the SJ forum member – Mr. Maruti Rao, who had informed about the concert well in advance and the members to attend were M/S Maruti Rao, Rajagopal, Sunil Pal, Kamat (Mr.Maruti’s friend) and yours truly.

The programme started at around 8.45pm. Mr. Prashant Rao was the compere. Though comperes have good sense of humour, his was outstanding. And he narrated some story or other related to the songs (& SJ) before inviting the singers on the stage.

The first song was SJs first known composition – Jiya Beqaraar Hai (Barsaat) sung by (???). Sorry, I can’t recollect the names of most of the artists who performed in the concert. If any of the attendees, remembers, please post the names.
Next was the turn of the Talat number - ‘Aye mere dil kahin aur chal’ (Daag) followed by ‘Ye mera diwanapan hai’ (Yahudi). This was followed by ‘Ajib daastaan hai ye’ (Dil Apna Prit Parayi). And when the compere announced about the name of the movie – Dil Ek Mandir & the singer Rafi Saheb, everyone in the audience literally sighed heavily. And yes, their expectations were well fulfilled when ‘Yaad na jaaye…’ was sung beautifully.

After this, it was the turn of few duets – ‘Dil Ki Nazar Se’ (Anadi), ‘Yaad kiya dil ne kahaan ho tum…’ (Patita), ‘Dhire-dhire chal chand gagan mein’ (Love Marriage), ‘Aaja sanam madhur chandni mein hum’ (Chori-Chori) .
These were followed by the solo song ‘Sur Na Saje’ (Basant Bahar). It was sung so beautifully that on the ‘once-more’ request from the audience, the last antara was sung again. After that it was ‘Tera mera pyar amar’ (Asli-Naqli) by the singer who had made stage appearance after a long gap. But she was outstanding. Then again there was a duet ‘Ye aankhein uf yumma’ (Jab Pyaar Kisi Se Hota Hai) followed by ‘Nakhrewali’ ( New Delhi ) after which there was the semi-classical duet ‘Ajahu na aaye baalama’ (Saanjh Aur Sawera). By all means a very difficult composition to sing, But the male singer, in particular, did fantastic job. After this, it was the turn of the magical ‘Ramaiyya vastaavaiya’ (Shri 420). And as the brief interval was announced, we were amazed that almost 2 hours had passed!!!

Due to very feeble sound of accordion, the songs ‘Aye mere dil’, ‘Dil ki nazar se’, ‘Aja sanam’, ‘Nakhrewali’, in particular, could not be enjoyed fully. During the interval, yours truly requested the sound in-charge to increase the sound of accordion. He gracefully agreed.

Part-2 started with ‘Kaun hai jo sapnon mein aya’ (Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan). After that it was the magical ‘ Kisi ki muskuraahaton pe ho nisaar’ (Anadi). Now the accordion was well audible. This was followed by ‘Ruk ja raat thahar ja re chanda’ (Dil Ek Mandir).


After these solos, again it was a duet ‘O shama mujhe phoonk de’ (Aashiq) followed by ‘Chalat musafir moh liya re’ (Teesri Kasam). The dholak accompaniment was outstanding. Next was ‘Har dil jo pyaar karega’ (Sangam) and the accordion produced mesmerizing effect. Then there were two dance numbers – ‘Badan pe sitare’ (Prince) and ‘Aaj kal tere mere pyaar ke charche’ (Brahmachari) . After these it was the duet ‘Dil ki girah khol do’ (Raat Aur Din) followed by ‘Tere bina aag ye chandni’ & ‘Ghar aya mera pardesi’ (Awara). The instrumentalists did outstanding job with this extremely complicated song, considering limited instruments available.

And to end the concert, it was yet again mind blowing accordion, on this occasion with ‘Jeena yahaan marna yahaan’ (Mera Naam Joker). And by the time audience reluctantly started leaving the auditorium with the haunting effect of 'Jeena yahaan marna yahaan...', still thirsty for more, it was 0015 hrs.

D.V.Shastry
PS : Pictures courtesy Musicolor

Tamil Music directors and SJ ! - Random thoughts

by Subramaniamviswanathan @ SJ yahoo grp

Viswanathan- Ramamurthy(V-R) were somewhat as brilliant and as prolific in TFM in the 60s as were S-J in HFM. But quantity-wise V-R bagged and scored for a huge no. of films, I would say bulk of the Tamil films in the 60s, their only able competitor being K.V. Mahadevan of ‘Shankarabharanam’ fame who was an accomplished genius of his own class. So you can imagine the equivalent combined work of S-J, SDB, MM, OPN, Naushad and half a dozen more top-grade MDs, V-R and KVM were handling themselves on the Tamil front. I believe there would have been as many Tamil films churned out in the 60s as Hindi films, give and take some. So it is a huge quantum of output we are talking about and the beautiful thing is that it hardly showed on the quality! KVM experimented in Hindustani classical as well, which he used in one mythological film ‘Karnan’ with outstanding effects. V-R combined successfully popular music with aesthetic appeal for more than a decade, until they decided to part ways in the early 70s. Ramamurthy went into oblivion, whereas M.S.Viswanathan or MSV, as popular known is still active and to date the most senior and well-known MD in Tamil cinema. So they were definitely not chhoti-moti cheez!

There were umpteen Tamil films, mostly family melodramas that were re-made in Hindi in the 60s, and most often than not, I dare to say, that the music in Hindi versions fell short of the quality that the Tamil originals had. Somehow, barring S-J, other stalwart MDs could not really re-create the magic of V-R and KVM’s original scores. Some glaring examples are Nazrana, Raakhi, Gauri, Khandaan, Mehrbaan ( all Ravi), Aadmi, Ram aur Shyam, Saathi ( all Naushad) and Pyar kiye Jaa (L-P) – I think in the last mentioned, Director Sridhar & L-P totally missed the bus even with Kishore Kumar in the lead, whereas the original hit ‘Kadhalikka Neramillai’ had an array of delightful songs by V-R that are still as fresh and popular as ever. There were more re-makes that followed which were damp squibs; ‘Lakhonme ek’ (RDB), ‘Teen Bahuraniyan’ (K-A) etc. RDB did not take a chance in another re-make, ‘Do Phool’. He straightaway lifted ‘Muthu kulikka vaarigala’ as it was in the original V-R version!

So was there a silver lining in the Hindi re-makes?
Yes, it was S-J’s music As Mr. Natarajan had noted in an earlier mail, it is difficult to judge whether ‘Dil Ek Mandir’’s music was better or the original ‘Nenjil Or aalayam’ by V-R was better. Both were classy and carried the respective composers’ individual styles. ‘Zindagi’ was as good as the original as well. If KVM’s ‘Iruvar ullam’ was a musical delight, then so was S-J’s ‘Hamrahi’, the Hindi version. I guess one of the most successful Tamil film-maker Sridhar banked on S-J for his Hindi re-makes like ‘Dil ek mandir’, ‘Dharti’ and ‘Duniya kya jane’ after occasional straying in ‘Nazrana’ and ‘Pyar kiye jaa’. S-J also did not disappoint in ‘Main Sundar Hoon’ which was a re-make of the Tamil hit ‘Server Sundaram’. (You can see the respective MDs composing music in a song sequence of these films!) . I must also mention that when Hindi films with S-J’s music were re-made in Tamil, the Tamil music lagged behind in quality! A classic example is ‘Brahmachari’. Its remake ‘Enga Mama’ which had MSV’s music, was a pale comparison to Brahmachari’s songs! During that period, Viswanathan and Ramamurthy had split ways, and Tamil music went on a descent, only to be resurrected by another up-coming genius in the mid- 70s by the name ‘Ilayaraja’! ( He has composed for few Hindi films like ‘Sadma’ and the recent ‘Chini kum’).

Regards,
S.V.Nathan.