We recently discussed, reviewed and enjoyed songs of our beloved Geeta ji composed by Maharashtrian composers. We ourselves were pleasantly surprised that she has sung for so many composers from the land of Shivaji mahaaraj. Detailed discussion about some of the major composers is already done here on our website. In this article, we would also like to showcase her songs composed by other MDs as well.
Geeta Dutt sang around 20 songs for C Ramchandra, mostly during the period of 1947-1953. Most of these songs are duets or group songs. For the film Naadan (1951), even though Anna sahab composed the music, the name of his arranger was given as composer. Listen to this rare and lovely song.
Geeta Dutt, C Ramchandra: Dilon ke melon kaa naam picnic: Naadan (1951), MD : Chic Chocolate, Lyrics : P L Santoshi
None of the people associated with this song are alive now. Music Director Chic Chocolate, Playback Singer Geeta Roy / Dutt, Music Director Cum Playback Singer C. Ramchandra and Lyricist Pyare Lal Santoshi left for their heavenly abode in the Year 1967, 1972, 1982 and 1978 respectively. However they ensured that they left behind precious gems before leaving this world.
Vasant Desai sahab, the maestro composer gave few but very melodious songs to Geeta ji. Three songs from the film Toofan aur Diya are a great example. Listen to this plea to God.. Meri aan bhagwaan.. Film – Toofan Aur Deeya 1956, MD – Vasant Desai,
Lyricist – Bharat Vyas,Singer – Geeta Dutt. This song was very popular in those years…not just on radio Ceylon but on commercial loud speakers and records too.
Among other songs he composed for Geeta ji, composer Vasant Desai ji composed three duets of Geeta ji and Rafi sahab for the film Ardhangini (1959). All of them are very lovely.
1) Tune jo udhar dekha
2) Dil hum toh haare
3) Kal saajna, milna yahaa
For the film Chhabili, Snehal Bhatkar ji had Nutan sang her only song with Geeta Dutt as co-singer. The song is “Yaaron Kisise Na Kehna”. In this song, Nutan sangs the Mukhda and the opening stanza and then Geeta Dutt takes over with her dreamy and alluring voice. We do not have access to the video of this film, so we are not sure as to whom this song was filmed. The star cast of the film Chhabili has Helen and Tanuja, who was barely 17 year old at the time of releasing of the film. So, it is likely that the song was filmed on Nutan singing for herself and Geeta Dutt singing for Helen. Whoever it was, she was lucky to have this melodious and memorable song filmed on her!
The composer Snehal Bhatkar goes away from the conventional meters of film music and changes the tempo of the song midway with Geeta’s entry. In fact the notes played before Geeta begins singing create a kind of mysterious atmosphere! Geeta sings two stanzas in the song but they come right after each other without repetition of the mukhda in between them. She sings for less than a minute in this song but leaves her ever-lasting impression. The dreamy quality of her voice when she sings “hum bhee nashe mein yahaan” is un-parallel. The lyricist S Madan has used some un-conventional words like “shuba” and has even roped in line “chori chori aaya hoon” (instead of “chori chori aayi hoon”) for Nutan. All in all, the saying “Bas ek hi kaafi hain” (Just one is more than enough) is very appropriate when it comes to musical collaboration of Nutan and Geeta.
Geeta ji and Rajkumari ji, the two koyals sang 11 songs together, out of which 8 were composed by Snehal Bhatkar sahab for two films Neelkamal (1947) and Suhaag Raat (1948). Each and every song is a gem.
Thanks to our dear friend Mahesh Kumar Sagar for compiling this list:
1]-1947-neelkamal-maa ne bheja dhor charane-b vasudev/snehal bhatker,
2]-1947-neelkamal-bol bol balam bedardi-b vasudev/snehal bhatker,
3]-1947-neelkamal-aankh jo dekhe hai dhoka khaye hai[with mukesh]-b vasudev/snehal bhatker,
4]-1947-neelkamal-jawani agar hook dil ki dabaye-b vasudev/snehal bhatker,
5]-1947-neelkamal-brij mein dhoom macha jaa[with bhatker]-b vasudev/snehal bhatker,
6]-1948-suhag raat-roomjhoom matwale badal chaa gaye-snehal bhatker,
7]-1948-suhag raat-baaje mori payal thunnak thunnak-snehal bhatker,
8]-1948-suhag raat-kis paapi sang uljhi ankhiyaan-snehal bhatker
N Dutta, the Goa based Maharashtrian composer gave 2 Punjabi songs to Geeta ji for the film Baalo (1951) and the lyrics were by Sahir sahab. Isn’t this truly a perfect example of National Integration with musical harmony? A Maharashtrian composer composing songs for a Punjabi film and a young Bengali singer singing them so effortlessly.
1) Kote kote aa kudiye tainu: Film – Baalo (1951) Punjabi , MD: N Dutta Lyrics: Sahir Ludhiyanvi
2) Geeta Dutt – Ik ik aankh meri sawwa sawwa lakh di : Film – Baalo (1951) Punjabi , MD: N Dutta Lyrics: Sahir Ludhiyanvi
G N Joshi ji was the head honcho at Gramaphone Company of India (aka HMV). Geeta ji sang two non-film melodious songs for composer G N Joshi sahab. One of the most celebrated songs of Geeta ji composed by Joshi ji is “Jaa saang Laxmana saang Ram raaja laa”. The song seems to be based on Raag Bhimpalasi.
The song on the reverse side of this record is of course “Mukyaa manaache bol”
A music lover said this about the song : An awesome rendering by Geeta Dutt, with beautiful phirat shown in singing some words. Her Marathi pronunciation is near perfect (no flaws as such, there are just a few minor differences in intonation of some words) and she has expressed the meaning of the song so beautifully. I wish she had sung many more Marathi songs. It’s the loss of Marathi music lovers!
He was famous by the name “Dattu Theka” (Dattu who is very good at rhythm). Born as Dattaram Wadkar, he went on to be an assistant to the famous composer duo Shankar – Jaikishen ji for several films. He also composed as a solo MD for a few films. Geeta ji sang a handful of songs for him.
Yeh chaman hamaraa apna hain – Ab Dilli Door Nahin – Asha ji , Geeta ji and Sudha ji
Another song from the same film : Ab Dilli Dur Nahin, Music Director : Dattaram, Singer : Asha Bhosle, Geet Dutt
Song: Lo har cheez le lo.
Dark Street (1961) was a crime thriller film starring Nishi and the Ganguly brothers (Ashok Kumar and Anoop Kumar). It had music by Duttaram sahab. Geeta ji sang a song “ajab hai is duniya ke raj” penned by Gulshan Bawra ji. We do not have this song in our collection. Can some one please share the same?
K Dutta or Dattaram Korgaonkar
K Dutta or Dattaram Korgaonkar ji composed music for the film Meri Kahani (1949). Geeta ji was the lead female singer for this film. She sang some lovely songs. Here is one duet of Geeta ji with singing star Surendra ji : Dil ki duniya mein , dekho dekho sajan tum naa aana
Another lovely duet by the same singers from the same film. Bulbul ko mila phool. nadi ko kinaara
Geeta ji singing the title song, a melancholy “Sun le meri kahaani”
Aata hain Zindagi mein aisa bhi ek zamanaa, marne ka dhhondhti hain khud zindagi bahanaa.. what a lovely song
Another film for which she sang for K Dutta sahab is Gumastaa (1951). Listen to this lovely song “Mere dil ki duniya mein hulchal machaa dee”
A name forgotten in the history.. Datta Davjekar, known for giving the first song to Lata ji.
He composed the music for an English-Hindi bilingual film titled as “Golkunda ka Kaidi / Prisoner of Golkunda” (1954). Geeta ji sang this lovely song for this film . “O maalik kya rang dikhaaye”
She also sang this lovely song for this film : Bahaare laanewaale hain mere ho jaanewaale hain
Dattaram Gadekar
Master Vitthal, the star of the first Indian talkie “Alam Aara” also starred in a fantasy film called Vikram Shashikala (1949) . (he movie is also known as Kalank Shobha and Stri Charitra.)The music was composed by Dattaram Gadekar. Geeta ji sang this song for this film – Aaj Ka Din Tohe Yaad (with Master Pandya)
Vasant Ramchandra
Vasant ( Pawar) and Ramchandra ( Vadhavkar) was one more pair of Maharashtrian composers. One song from Savdhan:
Geeta Dutt , Asha Bhonsle: Raat muskurati hain : Film – Saavadhaan (1954)
The same composer duo gave this song “Paani ka bulbula, yeh zindagani” for the film Suhaagan (1954) to Geeta ji
J Abhyankar and Nageshwar Rao
In the early year 1946, Geeta ji sang this song for composer J Abhyankar and Nageshwar rao for the film Circus King. Duniya mein sab..preeti kisi ko na chhode.
Mukund Masurekar
Indivar sahab penned songs for this film Didi (1948) for composer Mukund Masurekar ji. Geeta ji sang at least four solo songs for this film. All except one are unfortunately unavailable with us.
It will be great if some one can share them. The missing songs are:
1) main hoon naarnaveli albeli saiyyaan tere liye maine
2) balam mere hai saajan mere hai
3) bhool jaao mere meet
The fourth song is:-
4) chupke chupke aana mere raaja
It can be heard below as shared by Gajendra Khanna:-
R A Paingankar
Another extremely rare song for a Maharashtrian composer. Singer : Geeta Dutt : Kachhu bole yeh do aankhein : Film – Meri Bhabhi (1948), MD : R A Paingankar – Lyrics : Gulshan Jalabadi.
Geeta Dutt, Sheela Shirur- Maane na mane na : Meri Bhabhi (1948), MD – R A Paingankar, Lyrics – Gulshan Jalalabadi. We are grateful to our dear friend Shri Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji for sharing this extremely rare song with us.
As pointed out by Arunkumar Deshmukh ji, for the same movie Geeta ji sang a duet with Purushottam called Jai Ho Vijay Ho. Composer for this song was also R A Paingankar and lyrics were also by Gulshan Jalalabadi. We are thankful to our dear friend Aditya Pant for sharing this extremely rare song with us.
The fourth and final song for the movie was a Geeta solo, Hum Bhi Jiyen Tum Bhi Jiyo also shared by Aditya Pant.
Here it is:-
As per Arunkumar Deshmukh ji, RA Paingankar’s name was Ramakant Paingankar. he was from Goa. He was a Flute player.
After working with Annasaheb Mainkar,he joined C.Ramchandra as his assistant,from 1946 onwards.
He is the same P. RAMAKANT , whose name was used by C Ramchandra in giving music to Shadi se Pehle-47, Bhedi Bungla-49, Bhole Bhale-49, Bakshish-50 and Babuji-50. This was done by CR as he was in contract with Filmistan that time.
P.Ramakant also gave music to film Rupaya-50 in his own name independently.
This information is collected by him from “Marathi Chitrapat Sangeetkar Kosh”by Madhu Potdar.
Incidentally, the above song ” Jai ho vijay ho”from film ‘Meri Bhabhi”-48, was sung by Geeta Roy and Purushottam.
This Purushottam was music director S. Purushottam ( Purushottam Soankurkar) who gave music to 6 Hindi films-including the revolutionary film ‘Apna Desh’-49 by V.Shantaram.
If there are any other songs with the Maharashtra connection do share with us!
Tags: C Ramchandra, Connection, Maharashtra, Marathi, N Dutta, Vasant Desai
amazing collection for the theme of the MARATHA connection…well done…hope ALL enjoy this as much as I have .Thank you very much 🙂
Very well doe. Lot of efforts must have gone into making of this article-finding out the songs and then the song recordings itself. I appreciate the result,which can only an ardent lover of Geeta ji could have achieved !
The name of the last composer should be PAINGANKAR and NOT Painjankar.
His name was Ramakant Paingankar. he was from Goa. He was a Flute player.
After working with Annasaheb Mainkar,he joined C.Ramchandra as his assistant,from 1946 onwards.
He is the same P. RAMAKANT , whose name was used by C Ramchandra in giving music to Shadi se Pehle-47, Bhedi Bungla-49, Bhole Bhale-49, Bakshish-50 and Babuji-50. This was done by CR as he was in contract with Filmistan that time.
P.Ramakant also gave music to film Rupaya-50 in his own name independently.
This information is collected from “Marathi Chitrapat Sangeetkar Kosh”by Madhu Potdar.
Incidentally, the song ” Jai ho vijay ho”from film ‘Meri Bhabhi”-48, was sung by Geeta Roy and Purushottam.
This Purushottam was music director S. Purushottam ( Purushottam Soankurkar) who gave music to 6 Hindi films-including the revolutionary film ‘Apna Desh’-49 by V.Shantaram.
There were 4 songs of Geeta Roy in film ‘Meri Bhabhi’-48.
Thanks.
-AD
Thanks Arun ji for the comment and info. We’ll update the name as you suggest.
Regards
Gajendra Khanna
Arun ji, post is updated with your information and the three Meri Bhabhi songs as well as a Didi (1948) song which became available after writing of the article have also been added now. Thanks once again for sharing the information!