1949 was a significant year in the lives of Shankar, Jaikishan and Lata Mangeshkar. Shankar partnered with Jaikishan to create the illustrious Shankar Jaikishan banner that created history in the music world. Before SJ became full fledged composers, Shankar was working as an assistant to Husnlal Bhagatram. Lata was rejected by the composer duo. When RK decided on Shankar for Barsaat, the composer remembered the disappointed young singer and took the risk against all odds of having her sing for Barsaat, their maiden venture. RK was very impressed and became her fan and the rest is history. She had play backed for all the three female characters in the movie. Lata sang ten of the eleven tracks, two of them as duets. The stupendous success of the movie became a turning point in their lives. Lata became a major singer and, thus, marked the beginning of her domination in the world of Hindi film playback singing that lasted for several decades. It was also the year that the debut making composer duo, Shankar Jaikishan, became one of the most successful and famous musicians in the entertainment industry. During their association that spanned over three decades, Lata and SJ collaborated on over 450 songs, many of which became the most memorable of their careers.
During the first decade of their association, Lata was the main singer for SJ. This was the period when SJ were at their creative best and Lata was at the pinnacle in terms of voice quality. She sang more than half of the total compositions by the composer duo. They had Lata sing every track either as a solo, duet, trio or with chorus for Kali Ghata, Poonam, Parbat, Aas, Patrani, Aurat, Halaku Mayur Pankh which no other composer did. Shankar Jaikishan had Lata sing in every genre possible and it is not an exaggeration to say that she owes a major portion of her success to SJ.
