Geeta Dutt would have made huge difference had she survived in the 70s.

Geeta Dutt would have made huge difference had she survived in the 70s.

Singer Geeta Dutt, was born in a zamindar family as Geeta Roy Choudhury in Faridpur in Bangladesh in 1930. She married Guru Dutt and after his death left singing leading to an end of her career at a premature stage.

She had sung bhajans and other types of songs in the early 50s. Her song “sachimata go ami” became very popular among Bengali community in the early 50s. Her other notable modern Bengali songs in the 50s included “akashjure shapnamaya” and “tomay dekhechi tandrabihin ratero chayay” composed by Kanu Ghosh, which were related to the early creations of IPTA. She also sang successful songs composed by Sudhin Dasgupta like “jheeri jheeri choitali batashe”, “ektu chaowa”, “otho otho magouri”, “krishnachura agun tumi”, “kajol kajol kumkum”, etc. Her songs in pensive mood included “koto gaan haralam” composed by Anal Chatterji, “ektu chaoya ekto payoa”, “oi shur bhara dur nilimay”, composed by Kanu Ghosh, etc. Her songs composed by Binod Chatterji included “hridoy amar kichu Jodi bole”. Kanu Ghosh also composed a fast number for Geeta Dutt titled “ogo amar moner chiro udas anmona”. Salil Choudhury composed for Geeta Dutt “jaak na muche jaak” and sonay dekhe ango”.

Geeta Dutt’s songs in Bengali films stormed the tollywood as most of them were related to actress Suchitra Sen. Her successful songs included “tumi je amar” sung in Harano Sur, “ogo sundoro” sung in Uttam Kumar’s film Indrani, “ei shundo sarnali sondhay” in Hospital, to name a few. Her songs in other films included “banshi bujhi se” in the film Saathihara, “ke dake amay” in Swaralipi, “oi mayabi tithi” in the film Sonar Horin, to name a few.

In the mid-50s, Geeta Dutt sang notable songs in bollywood films as well. Some of her successful songs included “mera naam chinchin cho” in Howrah Bridge, composed by OP Nayyar, “ai dil mushkil” with Rafi in CID composed by OP Nayyar, “waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam” in Kagaz Ka Phool composed by SD Burman, “khayalon me kisiki" in Bawre Nain composed by Roshan, “hum bhi hai tum bhi ho” in Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai, composed by Shankar Jaikishan, to name a few.

But from the time Guru Dutt died in the mid-60s, Geeta Dutt stopped singing and sang back in the film Anubhav, titled “meri jaan”, “mera dil jo mera hota”, etc. That was the period when composers in Mumbai like Shankar Jaikishan, OP Nayyar, C. Ramchandran, Salil Choudhury experimented the most with westernized compositions. In that respect the listeners were deprived because, had Geeta Dutt seriously continued her singing most of the upcoming composers would have experimented with her.