We have also mentioned that the music of the film ‘Do Bhai’ became popular with the song “Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya”. I remember listening to this melodious song in my childhood. Geeta Roy’s fresh and melodious voice combined liveliness and tragedy in an exquisite manner.
Despite a pronounced “Bengali lilt,” the song touched the hearts of many music lovers. Another song of this nature in the same film was the haunting melody “Yaad Karo Gei, Yaad Karo Ge, Ik Din Hum Ko Yaad Karo Ge.” It was amazing that a young girl could putmuch emotion in these melodies. In 1947 Geeta rendered three more songs for Hunuman Parsad’s films ‘Raseeli’ and ‘Nai Maan’. Two songs from the earlier mentioned movie were ‘Nainon Ki Payali Sei Honton Ki Madira’ and ‘Neha Laga Kei Mukh More Gaye’ and for the latter ‘Aa Ja Ri Nindiya Aa Jaa’.
The versatility in Geeta Dutt made her rise above her contemporaries as she could sing any kind of song with ease. She offered genuine tone, feeling, passion and emotion as per the demand of the film situation and the musical composition. She could render a temple song (bhajan) with the same quality as she could render a cabaret song. She was an effortless singer. Her command to sing a haunting mournful melody to a lively romantic number displayed that she could navigate the range of music with the comfort level. That is why she could face the onslaught of Lata Mangeshkar’s entry into Bombay film industry through the song ‘Aai Ga Aana Wala’ from Khem Chand Parkash’s film ‘Mehel’ in 1949.Much later, her versatility was fully established when she sang SD’s haunting melody ‘Waqt Nei Kiya Kya Haseen Situm Tum Rahe Na Tum Hum Rahe Na Hum’ penned by Kaifi Aazmi from Guru Dutt’s ‘Kaghaz Kei Phool’ (1959). In this film, Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehaman were supported by Baby Naz, Pritima Devi, Mahmood and Johny Walker. This song had rich instrumental support with violins harmonizing the melody. We shall talk more about this film.
The movie ‘Kaghaz Kei Phool’ that many critics considered to have been made ahead of its time, starts in flashback telling story of Suresh Sinha (Guru Dutt), a famous film director. His marriage to Bina (Veena) is on the rocks because her wealthy family sees filmmaking as a job of low social status. He is also not allowed to meet his daughter Pammi (Baby Naaz), who is sent to a private boarding school in Dehradun. In this dejected state of mind, on a rainy night Sinha comes across a woman, Shanti (Waheeda Rehman), and gives her his coat to cover her shoulders. She comes to the film studio to return the coat, unintentionally disrupting the shooting by walking in front of the camera. While reviewing the rushes, Sinha recognizes her potential as a star and casts her in the role of Paro in his ventureDevdas. Luck favours Shanti and she becomes a successful star. Loneliness brings Shanti and Sinha close to each other. They become talk of the town. Gossip columns are written on their romance. Pammi’s friends torment in her in school. Pammi goes to meet Shanti to plead to her to get out of Sinha’s life and give her parents’ marriage another chance. Moved by Pammi’s plea, Shanti throws away her career and becomes a school teacher in a small village. Pammi decides to live with her father, who fights his in-laws in court but is defeated and is forced to let Pammi go with her mother. Sinha has now lost on two fronts. He takes refuge in alcohol. His career takes a downhill slide. He starts losing his money as well. Meanwhile Shanti is forced to return to films since she has a contract with the studio. Her producer agrees to hire Suresh because of Shanti, but Suresh’s ego does not allow him to return because doing so would tantamount tobowing before Shanti’s star status. She feels helpless and is unable to help him, as he is too far gone for redemption. In the final scene, remembering his glorious past, he dies in the director’s chair in an empty film studio as a lonely and forgotten man. That is where Geeta’s song is filmed with excellent light and shadow technique in which Guru Dutt was considered a master.This film was Guru Dutt’s magnum opus and was in a way reflective of Guru Dutt’s own views on life and the transitory nature of fame and success in the film world. Much later in her audio CD ‘Shardhanjli’, Lata paid tribute to her dead colleagues and she sang this song as a tribute to Geeta Dutt. Continued