IN COMPOSER PUNKAJ MULLICK’s WORDS
TAKEN FROM page 160 of his autobiography (translated from Bengali)
…”.I was the music director in the Hindi film ‘Zalzala’ (a film by German Director Paul Zils) which was made according to Rabindranath’s ‘Char Adhyay’. Talented singer Geeta Roy (later ‘Geeta Dutt’ after marriage to actor-producer Guru Dutt) had given some playback in the film. Even today when I hear the beautiful voice of Smt. Geeta, I feel pain remembering her untimely departure. I have already said before, in order to learn the songs of ‘Zalzala’, at a point of time, she used to come to my house on regular basis. I too had gained immense pleasure in teaching her those songs «
ARDENT FAN SOUNAK GUPTA SAYS….
Geetaji came from Bombay to Calcutta (in 1952 she was already one of the busiest singers in Bombay… Still she came to Calcutta)… Stayed on over here… Regularly went to Pankaj Mullick’s house… Learnt the songs like no less than a student… Successfully pleased the mentor… Recorded the songs… And finally (as she always did) pleased all of us!………. Pankaj Mullick selected Geetaji to sing in “Zalzala”… In the films where he has been MD… Only NT singers have sung… Even in Zalzala… The only other female singer was the eminent Utpala Sen… She too was from NT… Only Geetaji was a Non-NT person… Moreover… The recordings of the Zalzala songs were done in Calcutta… So Pankaj Mullick could easily have selected some vocalists from Calcutta to record those songs… BUT he chose Geetaji… Who had to come from Bombay to Calcutta to learn, reherse and record those! That PROVES, Pankaj Mullick was indeed FASCINATED by Geetaji’s renderings! So! Geetaji is a great favourite of pioneer Pankaj Mullick too… That shows… Geetaji was effortlessly effective in rendering songs of the early maestros as well!……….
Here are the five masterpieces from this film:
1) Oh Duniya waalo
2) Bujho bujho aye dilwaalo
3) Kabhi inko chaahe
4) Jaanewale de gaye
5) The best of the album ” Mujhe dekhakar woh jab muskurayenge”
