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(1930 - 1972)
 
About Geeta Dutt
   Early years of struggle

   Career in late 40's

   Career in early 50's

   Career in late 50's

   Career in 60's

   Last phase of her career
 
Personal Details
   Marriage to Guru Dutt

   Life with Guru Dutt

   Geeta and her Children

   Brother Mukul Roy

Geeta and Guru Dutt had three children, Tarun (born 1954), Arun (born 1956), and Nina Dutt (born 1962).

In 1964, Guru Dutt died from an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol; it was widely perceived as a suicide (his third attempt). Geeta was shattered, and suffered a severe nervous breakdown. She couldn't recognize her own kids for as long as six months!

According to customs, the funeral rites were supposed to be conducted by the eldest son. But because Tarun was so young, Atmaram (Guru Dutts younger brother) performed the last rites.

In 1972, after the death of Geeta Dutt, Arun and Tarun were taken care of by Mukul Roy, Geeta's brother, while Nina was mostly with Atmaram and his family.

The children adored their mother. In an interview, Arun recalled, "Mummy was an extrovert, a fun-loving, happy person, extremely generous, while my father was an introvert, an intense man. She was very sentimental and would fall for any sob story. Though they had their problems, she never let us witness them. We were more attached to her- we hardly saw him [Guru Dutt]."

Further, he added "I remember the good times we had- at a moment's notice mummy would say, `Come on let's go for a picnic', and we'd pack up and leave. She loved having people around, our friends used to stay over and she'd cook and look after everyone- she loved doing that."

Not happy with the way his father treated his mother, Arun said bitterly, "My father could make an expensive film like `Kaaghaz ke Phool'. In those days, it cost him Rs. 16 lakhs, but he couldn't leave anything for his wife."

While eldest brother Tarun Dutt committed suicide at a young age in the 80's, both Arun and Nina are settled in their own lives.

Arun is looking after his father's rich lineage. He was also planning to do a color version of 'Sahib, Biwi aur Ghulam,' but things didn't somehow work out.

Geeta Dutt's daughter Nina is married to Minu Mumtaz's son. She pays tribute to her mother with remixes of two of her evergreen chart-toppers

that Nina has lent her voice to in her debut album "Pal". The video of 'Mera naam Chin Chin Choo...' will also feature Guru and Geeta Dutt's granddaughter Nafeesa and will be directed by her father, Naushad.

Nina got to spend 10 years more with her mother but even Geeta Dutt went away too soon leaving her with the lingering taste of her crab curry. "My mother was a fabulous cook and I could always tell when someone else had made my favorite crab curry and would inevitably throw a royal tantrum," Nina laughs.

She also holds on to the precious memory of music sittings with the top-ranking singer. "Ma would sit on the harmonium with me and make me croon 'Allah tero naam...' after her," Nina reminisces. Though Geeta was often ill during her growing up years, her daughter remembers her as a gentle but jovial person who loved being with her friends, was rarely mayoos and never lost her temper.

Pal is Nina's tribute to her mother. She points out that a lot has been done to keep the memory of Guru Dutt and his movies alive. In comparison, though Geeta Dutt's songs still play on radio channels, little by way of shradhanjali has been paid to her memory which was the reason Pal was conceived.

Arun told, in another interview that he had in his possession thirty-seven letters that his father had written: thirty-three letters to his mother Geeta Dutt and four to him and elder brother Tarun. Following Guru Dutt's tragic suicide in 1964, Geeta Dutt had preserved each of her husband's letters, locking them away among her prized possessions. Arun does not remember seeing his mother re-reading them but he knew they meant the world to her. When Geeta Dutt died in 1972, Tarun took responsibility for the family's personal possessions. Besides the many things collected in the course of two lifetimes were Guru Dutt's passport, a pair of reading glasses, an old worn leather wallet and his letters to his wife.

Tarun Dutt wrote in an article in "Cine Blitz" titled "Was Guru Dutt Murdered?" that he thought his father's death was not a suicide. In fact he claimed that people high up in Bombay Film industry were involved. Boxes of equipments simply vanished from the Guru Dutt Pvt. Ltd. studio overnight. Geeta Dutt had to sell all her jewelry and try to get out of debt. In the same article he said that his grandmother (Guru Dutt's mother) never really liked her [Geeta] and wanted Guru Dutt to pursue Waheeda Rehman. But in his mind Guru Dutt could not think of a second marriage. In fact it was true he said, that Geeta Dutt and Mala Sinha were the only two people whom Guru Dutt spoke to over the telephone the night before his demise. They [The Dutts] were thinking of giving their marriage a second try for the sake of the kids; the other person who he spoke to was Mala Sinha [who was then starring in 'Bahren Phir Bhi Aayegi' Guru Dutt's next project]. Tarun Dutt thus raised the question "How can a person who was looking forward to all this commit suicide?"

 
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