Flashback: How Raj Kapoor cut Shankar down to size

When Mera Naam Joker was launched, Raj Kapoor ’s and his muse Lata Mangeshkar were not on talking terms. Mera Naam Joker is the only RK directorial that does not feature Lataji’s magical touch. It is not clear what led to the temporary fallout with Lataji. She told me she found the lyrics of one of the songs (Ang lag jaa balma) inappropriate. They argued over this Raj Kapoor was very unhappy about her absence in _Mera Naam Joker_ . For composers Shankar-Jaikishan too this was a big blow. But Shankar who was heavily promoting singer Sharda at this point of time saw this as an opportunity to push her in the Big League. He insisted that Sharda sing for Mera Naam Joker. Two numbers with her vocals were recorded: one a solo Mere Alibaba and the other a duet Gao gao jhumke with Mukesh. But here is the thing: Raj Kapoor never shot the songs and they were not any part of the film. Already stressed with his fallout with Lataji, Raj Kapoor didn’t want to take on his music composer. He quietly allowed Shankar to have his way, determined to get rid of the unwanted music eventually. The masterpiece that nearly wiped out Raj Kapoor financially featured his youngest son Rishi as the adolescent Raj. Among Raj saab’s three sons Rishi was the born actor. And the Showman knew it. Which is why he immediately cast Rishi as his younger avatar in Mera Naam Joker. “No doubt I was chosen because I was the filmiest among us three brothers. Also because I was probably the one, only one willing to work for free,” Rishi quipped. He received the National award for best child actor. But always cribbed about being shortchanged by awards committees. The problems between Shankar and Jaikishan started when Shankar started promoting the voice of singer Sharda Rajan Iyer. In all his wisdom, Shankar thought Sharda was an outstanding singer, good enough to give Lata Mangeshkar a stiff competition. The whole industry was amused by Shankar’s sudden descent into tone deafness, And smirking remarks like, “We knew love was blind, but we didn’t know love was deaf as well” spread like wildfire in the closely-knit film industry. Shankar couldn’t care less what the industry thought. As one-half of the most powerful musical duo of the Hindi film industry, he had the clout to push his favoured voice into film projects. Shankar’s magical compositions ensured that Sharda’s Titli udi (Suraj), Chale jana zara thehro (Around The World), Duniya ki sair kar lo (Around The World) and Taron se pyare (Diwana) were able to crack the charts. Shankar’s faith in Sharda’s voice did not only crack the charts, but it also created irreparable cracks in his partnership with Jaikishan. The brewing crisis came to a head with Shankar insisting on Sharda’s voice for most of his female compositions in the mid-1960s while heroines insisted in being ghost-voiced by Lataji. Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.