It was Hanuman Prasad again who introduced the girl to Sachin Dev Burman, who was then making music for the film ‘Dou Bhai’. Going against the advice of friends in the music circle, music composer SD Burman made singer Geeta Dutt the principal singer of ‘Dou Bhai’.
Of the nine songs in the film, the newcomer in the industry was given six songs; four solo numbers and two duets and history was made with “Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya”, filmed on Kamini Kaushal. “Mere Piya Tou Base Pardes Hai Basant Ritu Kyon Ayi” was another of Geeta Dutt’s songs in the film.
Very soon, other music directors like Anil Biswas, Bulo C Rani, Khemchand Prakash, Vasant Prakash, Gyan Dutt, Ram Ganguly, Sajjad Hussain, Hansraj Behl, Robin Chattopadhyay, Avinash Vyas, Shaukat Hussain, Datta Korgaonkar, Ghulam Haider, SN Tripathy, Vasant Desai, Husnlal-Bhagatram, Ghulam Mohammad, Shyambabu Pathak, Balkishan Kalla, Shankar Shastri, Shankar Rao Vyas, Hiren Bose, Hement Kumar Mukherji and others started using her voice, making Geeta Dutt a busy singer. Sachin Dev Burman and Pandit Hanuman Prasad continued to give her work. Sachin Dev Burman gave Geeta Dutt her first opportunity to sing in a Bengali film ‘Samar’; the song was “Khela Bhangar Khela”. ‘Samar’ was based on Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay’s novel and the film was shot in Mumbai. It was a double version film and Geeta Dutt sang for Sumitra Devi in both versions. Until 1951, a pattern followed. Mostly Geeta Dutt used to be the major female singer in the films that came to her.
History was made when stalwarts SD Burman joined hands with actor and writer Dev Anand, actress Geeta Bali, poet and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi, director and producer Guru Dutt and above all the renowned production house Navketan for the film ‘Baazi’. It was for the first time Geeta Bali was established as a resilient actress who could carry the film on her shoulders. This movie was directed by Guru Dutt. Geeta Dutt’s song “Yeh Kaun Aya Ke Mere Dil Ki Duniya May Bahar Ayi” was filmed on the petit Kalpana Kartak while welcoming Dev Anand in her drawing room. It is a very enchanting song. The best song however is a teasing melody ‘Hey Hey Hey Tadbeer Se Bigrri Hui Taqdeer Bana Lei” when club dancer Bali entices Anand to gamble. This Geeta Dutt’s chart-buster was the turning point where “Geeta Roy’s vivacity was matched every inch by Geeta Bali on screen”. SD Burman had turned a ghazal by Sahir Ludhianvi into a sensual club song much to the mortification of the famed lyricist/poet. The manoeuvre worked as ‘Baazi’ proved a hit because of the sudden popularity of that song alone.
The song ‘Aaj Ki Raat Piya Dil Na Toro’ is a romantic song in which Kalpana lures Dev Ananad who is shown perturbed due to some other reason. A rain song with umbrellas led by Geeta Bali and girls ‘Daikh Kei Akeli Mohe Barkha Sateye, Gaalon Ko Choome Kabhi Cheente Uraye, Tip Tip Tip’ is a very catchy song. A less popular song, a sad song in medium-slow rhythm is ‘Lakh Zamane Waale, Daalein Dilon Pei Taale’ is filmed on Kalpana Kartak. Another inviting song filmed on Geeta Baali is ‘Suno! Gajar Kaya Gaye, Samme Guzarta Jaye’ with interval pieces on the instrument trumpet, the use of which was considered modern in those days. In this song Geeta Baali warns Dev Ananad from a planned gunshot aimed towards him. The beauty of these songs wasthat all of them were situational songs and SD tried to create desired effects through whatever orchestral support that was available to him at that time. Geeta Dutt excelled in all these songs.
One of the songs that caught my eye was filmed on pretty Tanuja for Sanjeev Kumar ‘Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho Meri Jaan’ in the music of Kanu Roy penned by Gulzar. The innovative aspect of this song was that no rhythm was used for this song and only vibraphone effects sufficed. Rain was seen outside the window of the room. The movie was ‘Anubhau’. Then remembering childhood, a song ‘Bachpan Kei Din Bhi Kaya Din Thei’ was filmed on Shashikala in drawing room and Nutun putting clothes fordrying on a string on the rooftop. It was SD’s venture for the film ‘Sujata’.
We have already mentioned that in Bombay, K Hanuman Prasad had taken Geeta under his patronage, trained and groomed her in singing and later launched her into singing for movies. In 1946, she got the first break with an opportunity to sing in the mythological film ‘Bhakta Prahlad’ for which Prasad was the music director. Continued