Music director duos are a unique Bollywood feature.
Names like Shankar-Jaikishan, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, Nadeem-Shravan and Jatin-Lalit hold pride of place among the most celebrated music composers in Hindi film music.
Yet, their popularity was intractably intertwined in their hyphenated jugalbandi.
Once the partnership disintegrated for whatever reason, the independent career of the surviving member immediately lost steam.
In this special series, Dinesh Raheja explores prominent music duos, and the dynamics that went into the making, and the unmaking.
Part 1: Shankar-Jaikishan
The Shankar-Jaikishan combination held sway over the 1950s and 1960s.
Being a team helped S-J compose for more films than their contemporaries, and that too without ever undermining their musical virtuosity.
Their association with Raj Kapoor (Barsaat, Awara, Shri 420, Sangam) and Shammi Kapoor (Junglee, Jaanwar, An Evening In Paris, Brahmachari) is legend for its haul of crowd-pleasing tunes.
But S-J also mined aural gold with definitive classical tunes like Manmohana (Seema) and Ketaki Gulab Juhi Champa Ban Phoole (Basant Bahaar).
And they were masters at harmonising melodies with orchestration to heighten emotion onscreen as in an Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Yeh.
This synergy between two gifted friends is said to have struck a discordant note once Shankar started promoting his protegee, singer Sharda, over their long-time favourite, Lata Mangeshkar. But there was never an official split.
When Jaikishen died suddenly in 1971 aged just 41, Shankar tried desperately to keep the S-J flag flying high. But solo success eluded him and offers started petering off.
A big blow was when Raj Kapoor moved onto Laxmikant-Pyarelal with Bobby (1973).
Shankar did deliver a hit soundtrack all by himself in the Manoj Kumar-Hema Malini starrer Sanyasi (1975), studded with several popular songs in his beloved Raag Bhairavi and sung by old associates Lata and Mukesh.
But even this couldn't stem the decline.
Thereafter, he continued composing for the occasional film, however, the efforts were not memorable.
In 1987, Shankar died suddenly at 64, completely sidelined by the industry that once thronged his doors.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
