Geeta ji was one of the truly gifted, talented and natural singers who continued to sing traditional and modern style songs with equal ease. The journey of her career from the mid forties till the fifties is one of the most interesting aspects for her fans. Today we are presenting 20 rare songs, one each with a playback singer who belonged to the vintage era. She did not get to sing with a few greats from this era (Saighal sahab, Noor Jehan ji, Kanan Devi ji and Pankaj Mullick sahab) but did sing with several others.
The above photo is one of the rarest occasions where so many great singers are on the same stage: A rare photo of all the singers together in the early years of their singing careers ! ( front row) Zohra Jan, Rajkumari, Amirbai Karnatki, Hamida Banu, Geeta Roy (later Geeta Dutt), Lata Mangeshkar, Meena Kapoor, (and standing behind) Sailesh Mukherjee, Talat Mahmood, Dilip Dholakia, Mohd. Rafi, Shiv Dayal Batish, G.M. Durrani, Kishore Kumar and Mukesh.
Song with Khan Mastana sahab, one of the most popular singers of the 40s :
1) Main bhi jawan gori tu bhi jawan : Shaadi Ki Raat (1950) MD: Pandit Govind Ram, Lyrics : Sarshar Sailani
Song with Parul Ghosh ji, one of the most popular singers of the 30s and 40s :
2) Aajaa ri nindiya aaja, Film : Nai Maa (1946), MD : Pandit Hanuman Prasad
Song with Ameerbai Karnataki ji, one of the most popular actor/singers of the 30s and 40s :
3) Door Desh Ka Raja (with Mohd Rafi sahab) – Veer Babruvahan 1950 – Chitragupt
Song with Arunkumar Mukherjee ji, one of the very popular singers/composer of the 30s and 40s. This is the only song she sang with him. She sang a few songs for him as a composer in the fifties also :
4) Sundari lo sundari (with Kishore da): Film – Samar (1950) – Bengali MD: S D Burman
Song with Rajkumari ji, one of the most popular singers of the 40s :
5) Neelkamal 1947 -Maa ne bheja dhor charaane dhor le gayi -MD : B. Vasudev , Lyrics – Kidar Sharma
Song with Sulochana Kadam ji who later on became famous lavani singer Sulochana Chavan :
6) Tera bachpan gaya hain beet – Film : Laxshmi Narayan (1951), MD – S N Tripathi and Lyrics B D Mishra
Song with Surendra Nath ji, one of the most popular actor/singers of the 40s :
7) Dil Ki Dunya Main – Meri Kahani (1949) Music K.Dutta..
Song with Ashok Kumar ji, one of the most popular actors from the 30s to the 90s :
8) Sapera been bajaayo re : Film – Padmini (1948) MD: Master Ghulam Haider, Lyrics: Wali sahab
Song with Zohra Jaan Ambalewali ji, one of the most popular singers of the 40s :
9) Oh pardesiya oh rasiya : Film – Dil ki Basti (1949), MD : Ghulam Mohd, Lyrics: Khumar Barabankvi
Song with Meena Kapoor ji, her close friend and a living legend :
10) Aayi milane ki raat : Film – Jalte Deep (1950), MD : Sardul Kwatra, Lyrics: ?
Song with Khayyam sahab one of the most accomplished composers :
11) Teri jaat hain akbari -Film – Heer Ranjha (1948), MD – Sharma ji and Verma ji, Lyricist – Wali sahab
Song with Binapani Mukherjee ji :
12) Geeta Dutt , Binapani Mukherjee : Meri aankhen chham chham : Film – Leela (1947) MD : C Ramchandra, Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi
Song with Hameeda Bano ji, one of the popular singers of the 40s :
13) Do roz ka jalwaa hain: Film – Rajput (1951), MD : Hansraj Behl, Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan
Song with Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish sahab, one of the popular composer/singers of the 40s and 50s. Geeta ji was his favorite singer:
14) Nazdeek naa aana : Film – Bahu Beti (1952), MD : S D Batish, Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi
Song with Shankar Dasgupta ji :
15) Suraj jaaga, dharati jaagi, bhaaga ghor andheraa re” film Anjana (1948), composer D C Dutt, lyrics Bharat Vyas
Song with C Ramchandra/Chitalkar ji, one of the most popular composers of the 40s and 50s :
16) Dilon ke melon kaa naam picnic: Naadan (1951), MD : Chic Chocolate, Lyrics : P L Santoshi.
Song with Suraiyaa ji, one of the most popular actor/singers of the 40s :
17) Preet ka naata jodnewaale : Film – Afsar (1950), MD : S D Burman, Lyrics: Pandit Narendra Sharma
Song with Shamshad Beghum ji, one of the most popular singers of the 40s and 50s, a living legend :
18) Geeta Dutt , Shamshad : Oh gori tera baanka chhaila : Film – Actress (1948) MD : Shaymsunder , Lyrics: Raja Mehendi Ali Khan
Song with G M Durrani sahab, one of the most popular singers of the 40s :
19) Naazuk dil hain tod na dena – MOVIE.- DIL KI BASTI (1949), LYRICS. – SHAKIL BADAYUNI, M/D. — GHULAM MOHHAMAD.
Song with Paro ji :
20) Kabhi yeh saath naa chhoote (with Mohd Rafi sahab) : Film – Kisi Ki Yaad (1950), MD : Hansraj Behl
Song with Punjab Koyal “Surinder Kaur” ji – one of the most popular singers of the 40s
21) Keh do keh do kaali kaali : Film – Khamosh Sipahi (1950), MD : Khwaja Khurshid Anwar, Lyric: D N Madhok
Song with Naseem Beghum ji and Munawwar Sultana ji (singers from the 40s)
22) Jab chaand jawaan hoga: Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Beghum, Naseem Beghum, Munnawar Sultana
Bairam Khan (1946), MD : Ghulam Haider sahab, Lyrics: Wali sahab
Acknowledgments:
We are grateful to our dear friend and mentor Dr Mahesh Kumar Sagar for his research on Geeta ji and her songs from the 40s and 50s.
