Geeta Dutt - Musical Association with S D Burman

(1930 - 1972)

S D Burman

Just like the veteran composer Naushad, Sachin Dev Burman does not need any introduction. The word “Evergreen music” is probably coined keeping the legendary composer S.D. Burman in mind. Listing his musical hit songs is like counting the grains in grain warehouse. For 30 years this “Prince of Tripura” enthralled the lovers of Hindi film music with enchanting compositions.

Pandit Hanuman Prasad discovered the voice of young Geeta Roy in 1946 and gave her the chance to sing two lines in the film Bhakta Pralhad. But the credit of nurturing her talent and making it blossom goes to the legendary composer Sachin Dev Burman. Under the masterful baton of the musical genius that was S. D. Burman, Geeta Dutt's repertoire spanned an entire spectrum of styles and genres, from songs reflecting an impossible joie de vivre to poignant pieces, which made the heart weep. Over the years, recognition and fame came aplenty to both the partners in this collaboration.

As early as in 1947, SDB had insisted on the young 17 year old’s singing the haunting and melancholy notes of ‘meraa sundar sapna beet’ and ‘yaad karoge

yaad karoge’ for Do Bhaai; his confidence in her abilities was amply rewarded by the popularity that these numbers found throughout the country.

Her long drawn stress of the 'bee' in ‘mera sundar sapna beet gaya’ somehow conveyed the hopelessness and the futility of the wait for the beloved, the fact that the dream had indeed shattered. The other song ‘yaad karoge’ was to serve as the foreteller of what we would feel years later.

The same year also saw her sing in the film Dil ki Rani. However, this film is more distinguished by the fact that Raj Kapoor sang for himself the sweet piece ‘O duniya ke rahnewaalon bolo kahaan gaya chitchor’. Geeta sang 3 duets in this film composed on the Venus of India, Madhubala. It is reported that Geeta sang a couple of songs for the film Chittor Vijay (1947) as well for composer Burmanda. No information is available on the songs of this film.

She sang three songs for Shabnam in 1949, a duet with Mukesh ‘kismat mein bichhadna thaa’, and ‘mera dil tarpake kahaan chale’ both as a solo and a duet with Shamshad Begum. Kamal released in the same year had as many as five songs by her, of which her solos ‘meri kashti ko mohabbat ka sahara mil gaya’ and ‘Kehne ko hain taiyyar magar kaise kahen hum’ are the more popular ones

She sang the plaintive ‘preet kaa naata jodnewaale’ for Afsar with Suraiya (their only duet)in 1950 and Kavi Pradeep’s philosophical ‘kitni sach hai yeh baat’ for Mashal.

Through 1950, Geeta Dutt established herself firmly as a singer of conventional, typical filmi songs. However, in 1951 she broke out of that mould with another SDB composition in the film Baazi, when she sang ‘sun gajar kyaa gaaye, samay guzartaa jaaye / husn bhi faani hai aur ishq bhi faani hai /hanske bitaale, do ghadi ki jawaani hai’. This gave a whole new dimension to Geeta’s career, in which she explored the alluring, sensual and provocative aspects of her voice. In the end, this was the genre in which she was unfortunately typecast. For now, as we just begin to explore this fun and peppy side of Geeta Dutt’s voice, we would discover songs in Baazi which are just pieces of pure delight, the classic tadbeer se bigri huyi taqdeer bana le’, the sweet and innocent appeal of ‘aaj ki raat piyaa, dil naa toro’ and the absolutely fun chorus ‘dekh ke akeli mohe barkha sataye’ where her exclamations of ‘ui’ totally captures the imagery of a young girl caught unawares in the rain.

In 1951, she also sang for Ek Nazar and Bahar in which ‘Bhagwan, do ghadi zara insaan banke dekh’ is particularly moving. Another release in the same year Naujawan had the sweet romantic piece ‘panghat pe dekho’ where Geeta Dutt paired with Mohd. Rafi. Lal Kunwar had her singing a duet ‘bachke humse bhala sarkar kahan jaaoge’ with Asha Bhonsle, a bold piece where the two singers try to highlight the desirability of the two of them with lovely comparisons. She sang four songs for SDB in 1953, one each for Shahenshah and Jeevan Jyoti and two for Armaan, of which ‘jaadu bhari yeh fizaayein’ is a lilting, happy number.

The next few years saw her sing only a few songs with SDB. In 1955, she sang another lovely song ‘dil ki umangein hain jawaan’ with Hemant Kumar and Pran in Munimji. Her voice conveyed the utter mischief of the girl prodding and poking the tuneless guy to sing along, the element of fun and mischief never taking on an unpleasant shade. In the same movie she sang two songs for the second heroine Ameeta. The same year saw the release of Devdas in which she sang two songs with Manna Dey, of which ‘aan milo Shyam sanware’ still remains a favourite.

Society had three good pieces by her too; ‘dil kaa taraana gaale’ is a typical Geeta Dutt song, the abandon of delivery very evident in each stanza, as she ends with ‘phir kahaan, phir kahaan’. ‘Samajh gaye hum toh’ is a breezy number, where her wrong pronunciation of ‘chheen’ is signature Geeta Dutt and very lovable.

Then came Pyasaa in 1957 and Geeta Dutt showed exactly what her voice was capable of in this home production. She lent voice to both the college girl and the fallen woman, and infused them with lives of their own. She sang the frothy duet ‘hum aapki aankhon mein’ with Mohd. Rafi, teasing her lover innocently, and on the other hand, she gave herself up in utter submission and lent an ethereal quality to the bhajan ‘aaj sajan mohe ang lagaa lo’ and transformed it into a sublime yearning for the beloved. This remains, to this day, one of the masterpieces of Hindi film music. She also recorded ‘rut phire par din hamare’ for this movie, but the song wasn’t released with the movie. It might be difficult to fit the song in context now, but the song nevertheless is a beautiful piece of melody and lovingly sung.

In the next few years, S. D. Burman had already started giving more attention to the phenomenal voices of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle, and Geeta Dutt’s work in his films had started dwindling. Among the beautiful and acclaimed scores of Nau do gyarah, Paying Guest and Sitaron se Aage, all released in 1958, she was given only two songs in the first film, and one song each in the last two; and those were not the most popular either.

The song ‘aajaa chhaye kale badra’ from Lajwanti in 1958 is an unusual rain song and the happy and fast paced melody belies the sadness of the lines in ‘chham chham barse nayan kajraare’. This was one of those films of the era when Burmanda had differences with Lata ji. Due to personal problems Geeta had started facing, Burmanda, being a thorough professional, opted for young Asha over the mature and dependable Geeta.

Geeta Dutt sang the song of her life when she lent her voice to ‘waqt ne kiyaa kyaa haseen sitam’ penned by Kaifi Azmi for Kaagaz ke Phool in 1959. This wistful melody aches of nostalgia and as the song progresses, we realise once again what we already know, the injustice and ruthlessness of time and love. The irony of the words ‘tum bhi kho gaye, hum bhi kho gaye, ek raah par chal ke do qadam’ leaves us always wondering about the nature of love and what it does to us.

For Sujata in the same year she sang the lullaby ‘nanhi kali sone chali hawaa dheere aanaa’, the quiet and sweet number that has lulled generations of Indian children to sleep every night and still remains a favourite. Another gem of a song from the same movie was the gently nostalgic ‘"bachpan ke din bhi kyaa din the", a duet with Asha Bhosle. She also appears to have recorded a version of "tum jiyo hazaaron saal" for this movie which was not used. Asha Bhonsle sang the version used in the movie and that is the more readily available version now. Fans of Geeta ji are searching for that recording since years.

The same year also gave us ‘jaanu jaanu ri’ sung with Asha Bhonsle for Insaan jaag utha which was a sweet teasing duet between two friends.

She sang two memorable duets as late as 1960 for Kala Bazaar, the first being ‘na main dhan chaahoon’ with Sudha Malhotra and the second ‘dekho rimjhim je taraane leke aayi barsaat’ with Mohd. Rafi. Manzil in 1960 had her singing a romantic duet with Mohd. Rafi ‘chupke se mile pyase pyase’ where she started off speaking the lines with a musical lilt and then sings the last few sentences.

Her last song for SDB was for Ziddi in 1964, ‘main tere pyar mein kyaa kyaa naa banaa’, a duet with Manna Dey.

The seventeen odd years of association between Geeta Dutt and S. D. Burman gave us about 70 songs, but the SDB - Geeta Dutt collaboration still remains one of the most fulfilling and rewarding experiences for a listener for sheer melodic range and becomes a journey of discovery anew each time it is explored.

No compilation of S. D. Burman can be complete without songs of Geeta Dutt and the converse is also equally true !

List of Solo songs sung by Geeta Dutt

Please note that this list may not be complete

Year	Song	Film
1947	Aha more mohan ne	Dil Ki Rani
1947	Ayenge Ayenge Re	Dil Ki Rani
1947	Bigadi Hui Taqdeer	Dil Ki Rani
1947	Kyon Baalam Humse	Dil Ki Rani
1947	Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya	Do Bhai
1947	Yaad Karoge	Do Bhai
1947	Hamen chhod piya kis des gaye	Do Bhai
1947	Yaad rakhna	Do Bhai
1947	Aaj preet ka naata	Do Bhai
1947	Mere Piya To Base	Do Bhai
1948	Mera Dil Tadpa Kar kahaan chala	Shabnam
1949	Ek roz bichhadne waalon ka	Kamal
1949	Toote bandhan toote bandhan aaj re	Kamal
1949	Meri kashti ko muhabbat ka kinaara mil gaya	Kamal
1949	Bharat mata zanzeeron mei hai	Kamal
1950	Aaj ki Raat Piya	Baazi
1950	Dekh ke Mohe akele Barkha Sataye	Baazi
1950	Suno Gazar Kya Gaaye	Baazi
1950	Tadbeer se Bigdi Hui	Baazi
1950	Tum Bhi Bhoolo Baalam	Baazi
1950	Yeh Kaun Aaya	Baazi
1950	Chup Chup Chup... Aa Gayi Re Aa Gayi	Pyar
1950	Do din hasaya pyar ne	Pyar
1950	Woh sapnewali raat	Pyar
1950	Kitni sachhi hai yeh baat re	Mashal
1951	Bhagwan do ghadi zara insaan banke dekh	Bahar
1951	Sataye hue ko...Oh duniya wale kitane jaalim hain	Bahar
1951	Ek alhadh balhadh chhori, ek pagal pagal chhora	Ek Nazar
1951	Bas Chupke Hi Chupke Se Pyaar Ho Gaya	Ek Nazar
1952	Man Sheetal	Jeevan Jyoti
1952	Zor Laga ke Haiya	Jaal
1952	Soch samajh kar dil ko lagaanaa	Jaal
1953	Yeh Hansi Yeh Khushi Roz	Armaan
1953	Jadoo Bhari Yeh Fizayein	Armaan
1953	Dil de ke dil ko le le	Shehenshah
1955	Aan Milo Aan Milo Shaam Saanware	Devdas
1955	Sajan Ki Ho Gayi Gori	Devdas
1955	Anaari anaari re	Munimji
1955	Zindagi Hai Zinda	Munimji
1955	Dil Ka Tarana Gale	Society
1955	Samajh Gaye Hum To Woh Kitna Chhupaye	Society
1957	Gaaye Ghabra Ke	Paying Guest
1957	Aaj Sajan Mohe ang	Pyaasa
1957	Jaane Kya Tune Kahi	Pyaasa
1957	Rut Phire Par Din Hamare Phire Na	Pyaasa
1957	See le zubaan aisaa naa ho sub kuchh khonaa pade naadaan	Nau Do Gyarah
1958	Aajaa chhaaye kaale badaraa	Laajwanti
1958	dil le gaya	sitaron se aage
1959	Hawa Dheere Aana	Sujata
1959	Tum Jiyo Hazaaron Saal (Unreleased)	Sujata
1959	Ek do teen	Kagaz Ke Phool
1959	Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam	Kagaz Ke Phool

List of Duet songs sung by Geeta Dutt

Please note that this list may not be complete

Year	Song	Film	Co-Singer
1949	Mera Dil Tadpa Kar	Shabnam	Shamshad Begum
1949	Qismat Mein Bichhadna Tha	Shabnam	Mukesh
1949	kahana hai tayyar	Kamal	Surendra
1950	Ek Hum Aur Doosre Tum	Pyaar	Kishore Kumar
1950	O Bewafa Itna to Bata	Pyaar	Kishore Kumar
1950	Preet Ka Naata	Afsar	Suraiya
1951	Zara Jhoom	Naujawan	Rafi
1951	Panghat pe dekho	Naujawan	Mohd Rafi
1952	Bach ke Humse	Lal Kunwar	Asha
1955	Dil Ki Umangein hain Jawan	Munimji	hemantda and Pran
1955	Raham Kabhi to Farmao	Society	Mohd Rafi
1957	Hum Aapki Aankhon Mein Is Dil Ko	Pyaasa	Mohd Rafi
1957	Kya Ho Phir Jo Din	Nau Do Gyarah	Asha
1959	Bachpan Ke Din	Sujata	Asha
1959	Janu Janu Re	Insaan Jaag Utha	Asha
1960	Rimjhim ke tarane	Kala Bazaar	Mohd Rafi
1960	Chupke se mile	Manzil	Mohd Rafi
1960	Batao Kya Karungi	Ek Ke Baad Ek	Mohd Rafi
1960	Na Main Dhan Chahoon	Kalabazar	Sudha Malhotra
1960	Haath Pasare Raste	Ek Ke Baad Ek	Sudha Malhotra
1960	Tune le liya hai dil ab kya hoga	Miya Biwi Razi	Mohd Rafi
1962	Aye hain Dilruba	Dr Vidya	Asha Bhosle
1964	Main Tere Pyar Mein	Ziddi	Manna Dey

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