When Shankar Jaikishan debuted in Barsaat, no one ever knew that these two young men would become the leading composers of their time. With their maiden movie Barsaat creating history by being a runaway hit, Shankar Jaikishan’s career was established with them being the most sought after of all composers.
Signing up SJ for music ensured the producers that their movies would surely become successful. Therefore, they did not mind the high remuneration that was worth every rupee paid. Their music helped boost many an actor’s career. Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Manoj Kumar, Jeetendra are some of the actors who benefited with their movies having SJ music. As a matter of fact, it was SJ music that helped popularize RK movies globally. A maximum number of Rajendra Kumar’s films had Jubilee runs through SJ music as well, earning him the nickname, “Jubilee Kumar.” Shammi Kapoor had a majority of his movies with SJ music and his only Filmfare Award was for Brahmachari, also with SJ music. Thus, it can easily be said that no other music director had such a high success rate to date.
Seen in the picture (L-R) are: Jaikishan, danseuse Kamala Laxman’s sisters Vasanti, Radha, Shankar and Deb Mukherjee, at the Silver Jubilee celebration of Junglee.