Daily Times

In 1958, music composer SD Burman had developed differences with singer and composer Lata Mangeshkar and he worked with singer Geeta Dutt as main for his compositions rather than the upcoming singer Asha Bhosle, whose voice, he considered, was relatively raw.

The song ‘Aajaa Chhaye Kaale Baadra’ by Geeta Dutt from ‘Lajwanti’ in 1958 is an unusual rain song and the happy and fast paced melody belies the sadness of the lines in ‘Chham Chham Barse Nayan Kajraare’.

With the passage of time, however, due to personal problems, Geeta could not carry out her daily practice regularly and starting failing to meet S. D. Burman standards.By then however she had already managed to render many beautiful numbers for SD. A time came when both S. D. Burman and O.P. Nayyar started approaching Asha and helped Asha blossom as a singer. The latter was rumoured to be romantically involved with Asha.

SD Burman was known as evergreen music composer. Although Pandit Hanuman Parsad has discovered Geeta Dutt in 1946 when she was just sixteen years of age (born in 1930) but S. D. Burman groomed her voice and used her voice in all genres and styles of singing. As reiterated above, Geeta sang ‘Mera Sunder Sapna Beet Gaya’ when she was just 17 followed by thesong ‘Yaad Karo Gei’ for the film ‘Do Bhai’. The elongated notes on the word ‘Beet’ (gone, past) really expressed the moments gone. She sang for the film’Dil Ki Rani’ the same year. Notable feature of this film was Raj Kapoor singing for him the song ‘O Duniya Ke Rahne Walo Bolo Kahaan Gaya Chitchor’ and Geeta singing three duets for Madhubala. Nobody has information on the two songs for the film ‘Chittor Vijay’ (1947) composed by S. D. Burman.Another earlier film was ‘Shabnam’ for which Geeta rendered three songs; a duet with Mukesh ‘Kismat Main Bichharna Thaa’, and ‘Mera Dil Tarpa Ke Kahaan Chale’ both as a solo and a duet with Shamshad Begum. It was 1949 then.Film ‘Kamal’ was released the same year in which SD gave five songs to Geeta. Two songs ‘Meri Kashti Ko Muhabbat Ka Sahara Mil Gaya’ and ‘Kehne Ko Hain Taiyyar Magar Kaise Kahen Hum’ were noticed. Both were Geeta’s solo songs.Suraiya was a top heroine at that time. She was a singer too. Geeta bagged a duet with her ‘Preet Ka Naata Jorne Waale’. Qavi Pardeep used to write songs with religious or philosophical connotations. He wrote a song ‘Kitni Such Hei Yei Baat’ for Geeta in the film ‘Mashaal’. Film ‘Baazi’ in 1951 brought her totally in film style songs’ mold. Her song ‘Suno Gajjar Kaya Gaye’ was a super hit song. We have already talked above about the songs and situations in which these songs were filmed.

By now Geeta’s career was on the rise as a playback singer.

In 1951, she also sang for the films ‘Aik Nazar’ and ‘Bahar’ in which the song ‘Bhagwan, Do Ghari Zara Insaan Bun Kei Daikh’ left an impact. Another release in the same year was the film ‘Naujawan’. It had the sweet romantic numbers by Geeta Dutt. Notable one was ‘Panghat Pei Daikho’ with Muuammad Rafi. In the film ‘Laal Kunwer’ Geeta rendered a duet ‘Bach Kei Hum Sei Sarkar Kahan Jao Gei’, a teasing song with Asha Bhonsle. She sang four songs for SD in 1953, one each for the movies ‘Shahenshah’ and ‘Jeevan Jyoti’ and two for ‘Armaan’ of which ‘Jaadu Bhari Yei Fizaayein’ was a lilting, happy number. There was a lull for Geeta next few years as far as SD is concerned. She sang only a few songs till 1955. Film ‘Munim Ji’ gave her a break wherein she sang two songs for side heroine Ameeta. She sang another lovely song ‘Dil Ki Umangein Hain Jawaan’ with Hemant Kumar and Pran. Her voice conveyed the utter mischief of the girl prodding and poking the tuneless guy to sing along, the element of fun and mischief never taking on an unpleasant shade. Bimal Roy’s hiit film ‘Devdas’ with Dilip Kumar and Suchitra Sen saw Geeta Dutt singing a duet with Manna Dey ‘Aan Milo Aan Milo Shyam Sanwere’. The other songs were bagged by Talat Mahmud and Lata Mangeshkar. Movie ‘Society’ had three good numbers in the voice of Geeta till Guru Dutt’s hit movie ‘Pyasa’ was released in 1957.

Devang Pathak, in his submission, says, “The 1950s-60s, often referred to as the Golden Age of Hindi cinema, was a time when movies broke new grounds in terms of their stories and cinematic achievements.”

Continued