THE MUSIC OF AN EVENING IN PARIS (1967)

Shammi Kapoor had a fantastic ear for music.

- H.S.Billimoria

Although early in his career he had big hits with Usha Khanna ( Dil Deke Dekho ) and O P Nayyar ( Kashmir ki Kali), Shammi had decided that if he featured in a musical film, it had to have Shankar Jaikishan’s music. It all started with BOY FRIEND and UJALA. By the time Shakti Samant started ‘AN EVENING IN PARIS’, Shankar Jaikishan were the firm favourites of Shammi Kapoor. ‘Teesri Manzil’ with R D Burman was an honourable exception.

‘ÁN EVENING IN PARIS’ starred Shammi opposite Sharmila Tagore. The film was a romantic thriller and was embellished with a musical score that sounds fresh even today. Shammi had a great tuning with Jaikishan who was also his drinking buddy. However, the entire score of the film ( 9 songs) bar one number was actually composed by Shankar. We have this information from Prof Sudheendra Kulkarni who was very close to the duo. SJ worked so seamlessly at that time that nobody knew ( or cared) about who in the duo composed which number. Jaikishan’s contribution was the haunting