Geeta Dutt

Geeta
Birth name	Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhury
Also known as	Geeta Dutt
Born	(1930-11-23)November 23, 1930 Faridpur, British India
Died	July 20, 1972(1972-07-20) (aged 41)
Genres	playback singing
Instrument	Vocalist
Years active	1946–1971
Website	http://www.geetadutt.com/

Geetā Dutt born Geetā Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri) (23 November 1930 – 20 July 1972 ) was a prominent singer in India, born in Faridpur before Partition. She found particular prominence as a playback singer in Hindi cinema. She also sang many modern Bengali songs.

Early life

Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri was one of 10 children born in the rich Zamindar family of Debendranath Ghosh Roy Chowdhary and Amiya Devi, at Faridpur in Bengal, British India, now in Bangladesh. Her family shifted to Kolkata in early forties, leaving behind their land and properties. In 1942, her parents shifted again to an apartment in Dādar, Mumbai. Geeta was only twelve at that time and continued her schooling at the Bengali High School.

Career

K. Hanuman Prasad took Geeta under his patronage, trained and groomed her in singing and later launched her into singing in the movies. In 1946, she got the first break when she got an opportunity to sing in mythological film Bhakta Prahlad (1946) for which Prasad was the music director. She was given only two lines to sing in the movie for a few songs. She was just sixteen at that time. But those two lines mesmerized everyone in the recording studio.

• Ab jaani re pehchaani re
• Suno suno vintee hamaari
• Suno suno hari ki leela
• Jaag uthe hum jaag uthe

In a matter of another year, in 1947, she got her break with Do Bhai.

In 1946, Geeta sang her debut songs for his film Bhakta Prahlad:

In the same year, she also sang for Hunuman Prasad's other releases.

• Naino Ki Pyali Se Hoto Ki Madira (Raseeli)
• Neha Lagake Mukh Mod Gayaa (Raseeli)
• Aaja ri Nindiya Aaja - a lullaby alongside the already established playback singer Parul Ghosh (Nai Maa)

Personal life

During Geeta's recording of songs for the movie Baazi, she met the movie's young and upcoming director, Guru Dutt. Their romance culminated in marriage on 26 May 1953. Geeta went on to sing some of her best songs in his movies while continuing to sing in various other assignments as well.

Geeta and Guru Dutt had three children: Tarun (b. 1954), Arun (b. 1956), and Ninā (b. 1962).

In 1957, Guru Dutt launched a movie, Gauri, with Geeta as its singing star. It was to be India's first movie in Cinemascope, but the project was shelved after only a few days of shooting. By then, their marriage was on the rocks, Guru Dutt had got romantically involved with Waheedā Rehmān, and Geeta had taken to drinking. The breakup of their marriage affected Geeta's singing career.

In 1958, S.D. Burman had developed discord with Lata Mangeshkar as a playback singer, and he attempted to work with Geeta as the main singer of his compositions rather than the upcoming Asha Bhosle, who, he felt, was relatively raw. However, out of her personal problems, Geeta would not practice her art sufficiently, and failed to meet Burman's demanding standards. (He, and O.P. Nayyar too, then started to work with Asha and helped her blossom as a singer.)

In 1964, Guru Dutt died from a combination of alcohol and an overdose of sleeping pills. (His death was widely perceived as a suicide following two earlier attempts.) Geeta then suffered a serious nervous breakdown, and also ran into financial problems. She tried to resume her singing career, cutting discs at Durgā Pujā, and giving stage shows. She also performed in a leading role in a Bengali movie, Bhadu Bharan (1967), and sang admirably for a movie, Anubhav (1971), which turned out to her final performance to the music of Kanu Roy as she died of liver cirrhosis in 1972, at the age of 42.

Death

Geeta died of cirrhosis of the liver on 20 July 1972.

A list of notable songs

She is supposed to have sung over 1200 songs in Hindi films. In addition she has also sung songs in many Indian regional languages including Marathi, Bengali, Maithili, Bhojpuri and Punjabi.She has also sung in Nepali evergreen movie "Maitighar"

Some of the memorable songs sung under S.D. Burman's direction :

• Mera sundar sapna beet gaya (Do bhai - 1947 )
• Woh sapne waali raat (Pyaar - 1950)
• Tadbir se bigdi hui taqdeer (Baazi - 1951)
• Aan milo aan milo (Devdas - 1955 ) with Manna Dey
• Aaj sajan mohe ang lagalo (Pyaasa - 1957)
• Hum aap ke aankhon main (Pyaasa - 1957)
• Hawa dhire aana (Sujata - 1959)
• Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam (Kaagaz Ke Phool - 1959)

Some of the memorable songs sung under O.P. Nayyar's direction :

• Zara saamne aa (Baaz - 1953)
• Babuji dhire chalna (Aar Paar - 1954)
• Thandi hawa kali ghata (Mr. & Mrs. '55 - 1955)
• jaane kahan mera jigar gaya ji (Mr. & Mrs. '55 - 1955)
• Jab badal lehraya (Chhoomantar - 1956)
• Mere zindagi ke humsafar (Shrimati 420 - 1956)
• Jaata kahan hai (C.I.D. - 1956)
• Aye dil hain mushkil (aka Bombay meri jaan) (C.I.D. - 1956), with Mohammed Rafi
• Chor, lutere, daku(Ustad - 1957)
• Mera naam chin chin choo (Howrah Bridge - 1958)
• Kaisa jadoo balam tune dara (12 o'clock - 1958)

Some of the memorable songs sung under Hemant Kumar's direction

• Jai Jagadish Hare- composed by a Sanskrit poet Jayadeva circa 1200 AD (Anand Math-1951)
• Na jaao saiyaan chhuda ke baiyaan (Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam - 1962)
• Kaise roko ge aise toofan ko (Anandmath - 1952 ) with Talat Mehmood
• Madbhari hain pyar ki palken (Fashion - 1957)
• Na yeh chand ho ga (Shart - 1954)
• Piya aiso jiya mein samaye gayo (Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam - 1962)
• Chale aao chale aao (Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam - 1962)

Others

• Mujhe jaan nah kaho meri jaan (Anubhav - 1971) Music: Kanu Roy
• Several greats from "Jogan" - 1950:

  - Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol
  - Mein Tou Girdhar Ke Ghar Jaon
  - Mat Ja Mat Ja Jogi
  - Dag Mag Dag Mag Dole Naiya
  - Mein Tou Prem Diwani 

Some memorable Bengali songs :

• 'Shachimata go char juge hai' (1950)
• 'Ekhan-o dustar lajja' (1952)
• 'Ei Sundar Swarnali Sandhyay' (Hospital, 1960; Music: Amal Mukherjee)
• 'Katha achhe tumi aj asbe (Kanu Ghosh 1960)
• 'Ei Mayabi Tithi' (Shonar Horin, 1959; Music: Hemant Mukherjee)
• 'Tumi Je Amar' (Harano Sur, 1958; Music: Hemant Kumar)
• 'Nishiraat Banka Chand Aakashe' (Prithibi Aamare Chaay, 1957; Music: Nachiketa Ghosh)
• 'Jhanak Jhanak Kanak Kankan baaje'

External links

• Geeta Dutt at IMDb
• Listen some selected songs by Geeta Dutt