What Pyarelal-ji has to say about Shankar-Jaikishan in one of his interviews

What Pyarelal-ji has to say about Shankar-Jaikishan in one of his interview..few excerpts..

by

Arun Bajaj

 

“I love Naushad Saheb’s music, though I don’t agree with his point that one need not look beyond Indian classical music for good music. A composer has to give what the story or the situation of the film demands.

Q. Which composer would you rate as the best in the 1950’s and 1960’s..?

Look, I don’t believe in comparisons. Having said that, I would say that Laxmi-ji and I liked Shankar-Jaikishan the most. We were so fond of them that both of us used to copy all their mannerisms.

Q. What was it that Shankar-Jaikishan had which other composer didn’t..?

You tell me what they didn’t have. Is there a single flaw you can see in them as composers..? Is there any other composer who consistently gave good music in so many films..? Is there a single kind of music they have not made..? If Naushad Saheb composed Baiju Bawra, Shankar-Jaikishan followed with Basant Bahar. What superb music they gave for Raj Kapoor films! In fact, I’ll be honest and say that while we won the best composer award for Dosti in 1964, I liked Shankar-Jaikishan’s score for Sangam better!

And he concluded by saying that very early in their career, they had started composing separately. But in spite of their composing separately, they were able to give their music a distinct identity, a brand. That was their greatness.”