Untold fact about music composer duo Shankar Jaikishan’s split

	SURAJ

Jaane wale kabhi nahi aate… Jaane wale ki yaad aati hai….

42 years have elapsed and still the Yaad (Memory) of music legend Jaikishan of the famous music duo Shankar Jaikishan continues to haunt as aptly mentioned in his song which was composed by them for the hit movie DIL EK MANDIR.

12 September 1971 was the fateful day when the genius music director Jaikishan at the young age of 42 passed away. The void that he left is yet to be filled. While the readers may know that Shankar Jaikishan began their career together at Prithivi Theatre and later with Raj Kapoor’s BARSAAT (1949) the duo became partners and gave string of hits till the late 60s. But few may be aware about their split which made headlines in the media then.

SHANKAR-JAIKISHEN

Though the two never approved the separation, the fact is that the two did started working separately in the mid-60s. The reason is attributed to the fact that Shankar introduced a new singer Sharda (famous for her song Titli Udi… in the movie SURAJ) much against the disagreement of Jaikishan. Further Shankar’s fondness for Sharda and Jiakishan’s inclination towards Lata Mangeshkar created differences between the two and in the mid-60s the two split.

The impact of this separation was so severe that Jaikishan took to heavy drinking. In an interview, Shammi Kapoor, who was very close to Jaikishan, confessed that the prime reason of Jaikishan’s untimely death was his consumption of excessive alcohol due to his separation with Shankar. Shammi Kapoor said, ”Jaikishan could not digest the split with his partner Shankar. As a result his music deteriorated which can be seen from the failures of his movies in the early 70s.”

It may be noted that though both Shankar and Jiakishan were working independently, they never let the world knew about their separation. They always credited their name on screen as music by Shankar Jaikishan.

Jaikishan died in 1971 due to cirrhosis of liver.