It was clear from the start that ours was a different movie industry from those which existed in other countries because of one glaring aspect which was staple in almost all our movies – music. And a movie from that era which understood the inherent power of music was Guru Dutt’s 1957 hit “Pyaasa”. A homage of sorts to Orson Welles and the story of Christ’s resurrection, Pyaasa has been named one of the Times Top 100 movies of all times, one of the Times top 10 romantic movies in 2010, and Sight and Sound chose the soundtrack as one of ‘The Best Music in Films’, in 2004. Then how come it is not on television as much as god-awful movies like “Sooryavansham”? Reasons are twofold – the apathy of our film industry which has seen the original negatives of the movie lost, often screening the movie out of dupe negatives, and secondly because of its theme and treatment. The present rut in Bollywood lies not only in its inability to innovate from formulaic molds, but the insistence to harbor a myopic view of the human condition. The theme of traumatic pain is left largely untouched and a serious and uncompromising look scares many distributors and producers. This was the case even in 1950s and even after compromising on the ending, actor-director Guru Dutt managed to bring to us one of the most tragic mainstream movies of all time”. Since the message the story of ‘Pyasa’ has transmitted successfully through its cinematography and music, we may refer to the songs which were mainly rendered by Geeta Dutt. Each song played has a strategic role in the narrative, with their soulful compositions. From the famous ‘Champi Song’ filmed on Johny Walker to ‘Hum Aapki Aankhon Main’ by Geeta and Muhammad Rafi, or “Jaane Wo Kaise Log” by Hement Kumar, “Jaane Kya Tune Kahi” by Geeta and the insurmountable “Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye” by Muhammad Rafi, each song left its mark on our minds.If Geeta extolled teasing romance in the duet with Muhammad Rafi, she gave herself up in utter submission and lent an ethereal quality to the bhajan ‘Aaj Sajan Mohe Ang Lagaa Lo’ and transformed it into a sublime yearning for the beloved. She also recorded ‘Rut Phire Par Din Hamare’ for this movie. This song never saw light of the day due to reasons best known to the producers. It has been reported that the song was a beautiful piece of melody and lovingly sung. Film ‘Pyaasa’ truly represents the definition of Bollywood – where song and dance aid the movie rather than being disruptive distractions and tricks to mask mediocrity. The perennial nature of the movie’s themes, its words and acts are hard for anyone to shrug off. The world may claim to have changed drastically in six decades and yet, it’s eerily still the same. In the next few years, S. D. Burman had already started giving more attention to the phenomenal voices of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle, and Geeta Dutt’s work in his films had started dwindling. Among the beautiful and acclaimed scores of ‘Nau Do Gyarah’, ‘Paying Guest’ and ‘Sitaron Sei Aage’, all released in 1958, she was given only two songs in the first film, and one song each in the last two; and those were not the most popular either.The same year also gave us ‘Jaanu Jaanu Ri’ sung with Asha Bhonsle for ‘Insaan Jaag Utha’ which was a sweet teasing duet between two friends. She sang two memorable duets as late as 1960 for ‘Kala Bazaar’, the first being ‘Ma Main Dhan Chaahoon’ with Sudha Malhotra and the second ‘Dekho Rimjhim KeiTaraane Laike Aayi Barsaat’ with Muhammad Rafi. Movie ‘Manzil’ (1960) had her singing a romantic duet with Muhammad Rafi ‘Chupke Sei Mile Pyase Pyase’ where she started off speaking the lines with a musical lilt and then sings the last few sentences. Her last song for SD was for the film ‘Ziddi’ in 1964, ‘Main Tere Pyar Mein Kyaa Kyaa Naa Banaa’, a duet with Manna Dey. In my book Melody Makers, I have written on OP Nayyar, “From 1957 onwards, OP Nayyar started grooming Asha Bhosle. Geeta Dutt’s phase gradually started fading. Geeta Dutt naturally was upset and made a phone call to Nayyar asking, “What have I done to you that you now don’t send for me at all?” In July 1957, Nayyar praised Geeta Dutt in the words, ‘A lovely lady, whose appearance proclaims that she has good taste in clothes and jewellery.’ Continued