Shankar, the more versatile of the two, was a prolific musician with mastery over dozens of instruments, Indian classical music and dance forms. He was primarily responsible for building Shankar Jaikishan team with dedicated lyricists, music assistants, and jumbo-sized 60-pieces orchestra, and was the lead composer. On the other hand, Jaikishan was incredibly creative and legendary composer himself. He was genius of background music and romantic tunes though he too could compose songs in other genres.
During initial years, all decisions about musical engagements were made by Shankar; but both started taking up assignments separately in the late sixties.
They had sharp contrasts in personalities and physical appearances. Shankar was gym-savvy, non-drinker, and was a strict disciplinarian. On the other hand, Jaikishan was party-man and was very social. In fact, Jaikishan was mostly the point of contact for producers, directors and actors to incorporate their requests due to his friendly nature. Of course, both were great human beings, and were incredibly simple in spite of fame and richness.
