favourite singer despite having good reputation with other playback singers of the time. Most of S-J's films show Dattaram and Sebastian as their assistants. Dattaram handled the percussion section of the orchestra while Sebastian handled the rest. Dattaram met Shankar in a Gym when the latter was already working at Prithvi Theatre as a musician. After listening to Shankar's Tabla at the Gym and being highly impressed by his virtuosity, Dattaram became his disciple and remained with S-J throughout. As recalled by Dattaram, Sebastian used to write the musical notations of S-J's compositions and also conducted the orchestra. Composition style Shankar-Jaikishan's compositions broke new ground in Hindi film music. Apart from relying upon their knowledge of Indian classical music, they also employed western beats and orchestration. Shankar-Jaikishan were the pioneers in establishing the role of the orchestra in song compositions as a medium to express and enhance the meanings and feelings of songs rather than using it just as a `filler' as per the prevalent practice before their advent on the scene. They made use of the orchestra and musical instruments (often dozens or hundreds of them) in their songs which consisted of the following format: The song starts with a `prelude' (preparatory music to create and introduce the environment and mood for the beginning of the song), then the mukhda starts and is followed by 'interlude' containing music pieces on the orchestra. With very few exceptions ("Ye mera deewana pan hai" is a good example), they always used different interludes before each stanza. 'Multi-layered music studded with counter melodies' played by the orchestra accompanied while the mukhda or the antara of a song was being sung and finally came the `epilogue' – the music with which the song ended after the singer(s) had finished their singing. Shankar-Jaikishan made a significant contribution in promoting Indian classical music throughout their career. It was their established practice to have at least one song in a movie based on semi-classical style. These included songs like `Jhanak-jhanak tori baje payaliya' (Mere Huzoor), `Chham chham baje re payaliya' (Jane-anjane), `Radhike tune bansari churayi' (Beti Bete), `Manmohana bade jhoothe' (old `Seema'), `Koi matwala aya mere dware' (Love in Tokyo), `Ajahu na ayae baalma, sawan beeta jaye' (Sanjh aur Savera), `Lapak jhapak tu aa re badarwa' (Boot polish), `Ye barkha bahar sautaniya ke dwar' (Mayur pankh), `Re man sur mein ga' (Lal pathar), `Sooni sooni sans ke