Posts Tagged ‘Personified’

A fan’s tribute: Vol.6

Thursday, November 22nd, 2012

Geeta Dutt

GEETA DUTT- MELODY PERSONIFIED

Long back,in our management class,our Professor conducted a survey in the class. He asked us to write the name of the Toothpaste
we were using. Those days too,Colgate was the Brand leader. We were 30 students in the class. I was using Macleans’ (a brand that was available in India in those days),
so I wrote Macleans’. Then he collected all 30 chits,added his own and started reading. The result was Macleans’-8,Kolynos-7,Colgate-7,Forhans-6 and 3 were using tooth powder.
 He explained to us that even the Brand leader,not necessary always,will lead in all consumer groups. It is a collective total which gives the leader its position.

The same is the case in any other field. Take the case of female playback Singers. In the 50s to 70s, Lata was the Brand Leader,but personally I always liked Geeta Dutt. I simply loved Geeta’s voice which had so much flexibility and was also so soulful.

When you hear her sing Meera Bhajan,you get lost in Bhakti Ras,listen to her sad songs and gloom descends on you and hear her club/cabaret song,you feel like tapping or dancing.
 It seems like as if Geeta never bothered to be the No.1,she only wanted to be honest to her singing. She was a pure soul bearing no envy towards anyone.
 There is always a discussion whether she gave her best to S.D.Burman or O.P.Nayyar songs. Not many know that Geeta worked with more than 150 composers. I personally dont believe she ever compromised in her
 performance. Whether she sang for a well known composer,or an unknown one like M.A.Rouf, S.L.Pardeshi, Manohar, D.V.Gadekar, Kumar, M.Masurekar, T.K.Das, Ali Husain,Pt.Harbanslal
 or Rajhuns,she put all her soul and skill in rendering the song.


There is, however, always a personal liking. I always liked Geeta’s songs with O P Nayyar. Their association started with the film Aasman (1952). Though her songs like “dekho jaadu bhare more nain’
 were very melodious and became quite popular,the film had flopped. The subsequent film Baaz (1953) was also the same story. Good songs-film flopped. But then Aarpar (1954), Mr. and Mrs.55, Musafirkhana (1955) and Miss Cocacola and C.I.D.-in 1956 brought commercial success. 
After C.I.D. in the year 1957, Geeta suffered on 2 counts. One,O.P.Nayyar started grooming Asha Bhosale and secondly Geeta was facing a lot of personal problems. The singing assignments coming her way were getting lesser and even she was cutting down on the same. In fact, she had expressed desire to completely stop singing in the year 1957.

Geeta Dutt

In the year 1958 she got only 10 songs from O.P.Nayyar. But then she sang the iconic song in Howrah Bridge which made her name Amar in the history of Golden Age of HFM for ever.
 This incident has been narrated by the famous film/music writer Issac Mujaawar in the Marathi magazine Rasrang. When Howrah Bridge was being made,it was evident that all the songs will go to Asha. By that time ASHA had mastered the art of singing club/cabaret songs. It is said that rehersals were done for
”Mera naam chin chin chu”.
 Shakti Samanta was the Director of the film. O.P.Nayyar never tolerated any interference fro the Producers or the Directors. Shakti da wanted that song to go to Geeta,as he genuinely felt that she is better suited to sing it. He called Nayyar one day and coolly explained to him the situation. Miraculously,Nayyar accepted the suggestion without a word of protest. May be his conscience was biting him,or may be he too thought on those lines. Whatever be the reason,Geeta was summoned next day and the song was given to her. The rest is History…….as they say !


The Dance Director was A Satyanarayana,who participated in almost every club dance he choreographed. He did an excellent job for this song and the song became the highlight
 of the film,along with Asha’s ‘Aayiye meherban’.
 This is my most favourite song for 3 reasons.One-the tune is very catchy, two-Geeta ji’s voice is very seductive here and three-the choreography of the song is just superb !

Now,enjoy the song-‘Mera naam chin chin chu’
 singer- Geeta Dutt
 , Lyricist-Qamar jalalabadi
, MD-O.P.Nayyar
, Film-Howrah Bridge (1958)

Acknowledgements:

We are grateful to our dear friend Shri Arunkumar Deshmukh ji for writing this special tribute on our request.