Tribute to an unsung singer...

Few days back during a chat with one of my close friend I happened to say something about some famous singer (who is no doubt one of the best playback singer world has ever produced) which offended him as it was against popularity and as most would say showed my inept understanding about music and art. However, as I have described so many times through numerous blogs (on my page obviously) that in most of the cases I happen to swim across the tide and current. Whether that's good or bad only time will judge.
However, through this writing I would pay tribiute to my favourite female singer in indian film domain, who unfortunately is not as frequently remembered as her famous counterparts.

On 23rd of November, I happened to take a look at almost all the main newspapers in mumbai (thanks to our enriched library) and to my horrific surprise found that not a single line was mentioned about the fact which I had expected. It happened to be the birthday of my most favoured female singer - Geeta Dutt.
Geeta Roy was born in Faridpur District in East Bengal in 1930. In 1942 when she was just twelve her parents shifted to Mumbai. Over there in their modest flat at Dadar music director Hanuman Prasad heard her singing casually. He gave her two lines to sing in the film Bhakt Prahlad ( 1946 ). "I gave playback for some children." she said. But her rendering of those two lines stood out and astonished everybody in the recording studio. A minor incident became the genesis of a great musical career. Her major assignment come the following year, 1947, with Filmistan's Do Bhai. Music Director S.D. Burman had heard the song in Bhakt Prahlad and he promptly got hold of her address and met her to use her voice in the film. The music of that film clicked in a big way particularly 'Mera sundar sapna beet gaya.' Geeta Roy had arrived. Disc scales of the song rocketed to new heights. 1947-1949 saw Geeta Roy rule as the number one playback singer in the Mumbai film industry as she moved from strength to strength.
As time progressed, Geeta Roy started gaining new grounds but the fight started in 1949 when "Mahal" got released. A young singer, till then unknown to most of India, swang to stardom with only one song of "Mahal" - it was 'Aayega aanewala' and everything after that is history. She went on to become the greatest playback singer the Indian screen has ever seen. Only two singers managed to survive the Lata onslaught in the 1950s. Shamshad Begam and Geeta Roy. Geeta managed to hold her own against Lata for more than a decade and she and Lata were the premier two female playback singers of the 1950s.
To her own credit, Geeta Roy had created a popularity which was unique like her songs. Each and every song of her, even if as I listen them today was a boquet of emotions ranging from sad to bar music. The turning point of her career came in 1951, when Bazzi got released. This was the film which brought Geeta and Guru Dutt together and created a confluence which gave indian film industry some of the best productions in conjunction with S.D.Buman and O.P.Naiyaar. The song in this film "Taqdeer se bigdi hui" is one of the most verve song I have ever heard.
The first thing that strikes one when you hear Geeta Dutt sing was that she never sang. She just glided through a tune. Of all her contemporaries her musical training was perhaps the sketchiest but what she lacked in training and technique, she more than made it with her ability to breathe life and emotion into any song she was singing. In the recording room there was no matching Geeta's vivacity, vitality and spontaneity, her sense of rhythm unparalleled. Her capacity to be both sensual yet sensitive gives Geeta Dutt's voice a unique ethereal quality.

S.D.Burman and Geeta Dutt:
S.D. Burman was among the earliest to discover the magic in Geeta Dutt's voice. In 1947 with Filmistan's DoBhai. S.D. Burman effectively used the Bengali lilt in her voice memorably in films like Devdas and Pyaasa. Thesong 'Aaj sajan mohe ang lagalo' from the latter is one of the finest examples of the Bengali kirtan put over on the Hindi screen. No female singer has better articulated the spirit of Burmanda's music in its early years. In fact in 1957, when he fell out with Lata, Burmanda was looking to make Geeta his main singer rather than the upcoming Asha Bhonsle. After all by then Geeta was a mature singer while Asha was still raw. But due to her troubled marriage Geeta was not free to practice in the style required by S.D.Burman who was a hard taskmaster in matter of rehearsals. He joined O.P. Nayyar in shaping Asha rather than wait for Geeta. Some memorable songs sung by Geeta under S.D. Burman's baton are:

'Mera sundar sapna beet gaya' (Do Bhai - 1947 )
'Woh sapnewaali raat' (Pyaar - 1950 )
'Tadbir se bigdi hui taqdeer' (Baazi - 1951 )
'Aan milo aan milo' (Devdas - 1955 ) with Manna Dey
'Aaj sajan mohe ang lagalo' (Pyaasa - 1957 )
'Hawa dhire aana' (Sujata - 1959 )
'Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam ' (Kaagaz ke Phool - 1959 )

O.P.Nayaar connection:
Geeta suited O.P. Nayyar's ebullient themes to a T. He developed the side of Geeta which had emerged with Baazi. Under his freewheeling baton Geeta developed into a really hep singer who could belt out any number - soft, sultry, happy, snappy, romantic, teasing or tragic. It was Geeta Dutt's rare gift that she could effervescently sing for both the doll and the moll.Some immortal gems sung by Geeta Dutt underO.P. Nayyar's baton :

'Zara saamne aa'( Baaz - 1953 )
'Babuji dhire chalna' (Aar Paar - 1954 )
'Thandi hawa kali ghata' (Mr. & Mrs 55 - 1955 )
'Jab badal lehraya' (Chchoomantar - 1956 )
'Mere zindagi ke humsafar' (Shrimati 420 - 1956 )
'Chor, lutere, daku'( Ustad - 1957 )
'Mera naan chin chin choo' (Howrah Bridge - 1958 )
'Kaisa jadoo balam tune dara' (12 o'clock - 1958 )

This is not to say that Geeta Dutt was less effective with other music directors. Her songs in association with Hemant Kumar in Anandmath ( 1952 ), Bahu ( 1954 ),Ek Jhalak ( 1957 ), Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam ( 1962 ) bear testimony to this. It's just that for the sheer volume and the scaleof popularity that the songs of S.D. Burman and O.P. Nayyar reached make them special in Geeta's oeuvre.

Some comments on Geeta Dutt:
As O.P.Nayaar puts it: "..........Who will deny there is a unique quality to her singing. Give her a blatantly westernized tune this momentand a complex classical composition the next, and she will do equal justice to both with an ease of expression which a singer can only be born with. She is particularly good for songs accompanying boisterous jamborees. With that tantalizing lilt and fascinating curves she puts into her singing,she is the ideal choice if it is seductive allure you want in a song........Geeta Dutt is an asset to any music director. "

To quote Raju Bharathan, Music critic in Filmfare February 1-15, 1985 Page 89,
" Geeta Dutt was thandi hawa and kaali ghata rolled into one. The moment she came, you got the refreshing feeling of aa hi gayi jhoom ke. There was a rare swing in her voice. She hit you like a thunderclap..........This made Geeta Dutt the one singer that Lata Mangeshkar really feared. In training and technique Lata was way ahead but neither training nor technique was of much use when pitted against Geeta in the recording room........This put Lata on the defensive and I think she avoided singing with Geeta as far as possible. (They have sung few duets) I vaguely remember Lata acknowledging this fact when Geeta died on July 20, 1972."

Most of today's generation have not even probably heard of her let alone listening to her charming voice. I found it appealing to say the least. The depth and freshness in her voice is unmatched till today. She might not be as successful as others but who cares. For connoisseurs she was as brilliant as anybody else and for her small fan club she is unmatched in her moods and portray of sadness in the songs. Never ever has any singer touched the rawness in her singing as much she did due to her unmatched quality.
I still remain awed by those mesmerising moments she had created long back through her voice.

Thanks to: http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/ducksoup/26/GeetaDutt.htm