Sunday, September 5, 2010

Geeta Dutt Female Playback Singer of India

Geetā Dutt (Bengali: গীতা দত্ত, born Geetā Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri) (23 November 1930 – 20 July 1972) was an Indian playback singer in Hindi movies in the 1950s and 60s, and also a singer of modern Bengali songs.




Geeta Dutt
Birth name Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhury
Born November 23, 1930(1930-11-23)
Origin Faridpur, Bangladesh
Died July 20, 1972 (aged 41)
Genres playback singing
Occupations Singer
Instruments Vocalist
Years active 1946–1971

Early life

Geeta Dutt was born in 1930 into a rich zamindār's family as Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri in Faridpur, (then in Bengal, India; now in Banglādesh). In 1942, her parents shifted to an apartment in Dādar, Bombay (now Mumbai) when she was twelve. There, composer/music director Hanumān Prasād once overheard her singing casually, and, feeling impressed, he offered to impart her training in singing. He launched her in a chorus song in Bhakta Prahlād (1946), where she sang only two lines. But her rendering of those two lines stood out. The following year, she got a major assignment as a playback singer for Do Bhāi, and her renderings in that movie brought Geeta to the forefront as a top playback singer.

Career

Here is an essay that Nasir Ali, a veteran music lover wrote about Geeta Roy: Even when we restrict ourselves to Geeta Roy of the Nineteen Forties we cannot but marvel at her transformation from the unknown child to the idol of the millions when she had not even crossed her teens.

We do know that she belonged to the rich Zamindar family of Debendranath Ghosh Roy Chowdhary and was one of the tenth children born to Amiya Devi on November 23, 1930 at Faridpur in Central Bengal. Leaving their titled land and other property, the family had to shift to Calcutta in early Forties and in 1942 they shifted to Bombay (now Mumbai). The reasons for this are circumstantial and not too far to seek. Bengal had been a great nationalist centre during the British Raj. It was divided into West Bengal and the East Bengal by Lord Curzon in 1905. The two parts were again reunited in 1911 and the separate states of Bihar and Orissa were also created with the capital being shifted to Delhi. Bengal came to be finally partitioned in 1947 when Pakistan was also created. The eastern portion of Bengal which was dominantly Muslim was created as East Pakistan and that in 1971 came to be liberated as the Bangla Desh. Faridpur is the paragna of the Adilpur (or Idilpur) Village where Geeta Roy was born, and is part of that portion of Bengal.

The early Forties were the worst time for the world in general and India in particular. The Japanese were trying to make inroads to India and in fact by 1942 had occupied Burma. The British India Government adopted the "scorched earth" policy beginning at Chittagong to stop the food supplies to the Japanese. In 1943, there was a horrendous famine in Bengal when more than 3.5 million died. The dead were being removed to the rural areas to keep the cities clean. With the Japanese at the doors, it was quite likely that people began to flee from rural lands and areas much earlier and made their way to the cities. Calcutta (now Kolkata) was the capital of undivided Bengal at that time. Perhaps this might have been reason for Geeta Roy's family migrating to Calcutta just before millions of refugees began pouring into the cities, especially, Calcutta. Other prominent migrants included Kazi Abdul Wadud, the educationist and writer, Humayun Kabir who was a politician, educationist and writer; Poet Sunil Gangopadhyay, and many other eminent people from Faridpur.


Personal life

During Geeta's recording of songs for the movie Baazi, she met the movie's young and upcoming director, Guru Dutt. Their romance culminated in marriage on 26 May 1953. Geeta went on to sing some of her best songs in his movies while continuing to sing in various other assignments as well.

Geeta and Guru Dutt had three children: Tarun (b. 1954), Arun (b. 1956), and Ninā (b. 1962).
In 1957, Guru Dutt launched a movie, "Gauri",' with Geeta as its singing star. It was to be India's first movie in Cinemascope, but the project was shelved after only a few days of shooting. By then, their marriage was on the rocks, Guru Dutt had got romantically involved with Waheedā Rehmān, and Geeta had taken to drinking. The breakup of their marriage affected Geeta's singing career.

In 1958, S.D. Burman had developed discord with Lata Mangeshkar as a playback singer, and he attempted to work with Geeta as the main singer of his compositions rather than the upcoming Asha Bhosle, who, he felt, was relatively raw. However, out of her personal problems, Geeta would not practice her art sufficiently, and failed to meet Burman's demanding standards. (He, and O.P. Nayyar too, then started to work with Asha and helped her blossom as a singer.)

In 1964, Guru Dutt died from a combination of alcohol and an overdose of sleeping pills. (His death was widely perceived as a suicide following two earlier attempts[3].) Geeta then suffered a serious nervous breakdown, and also ran into financial problems. She tried to resume her singing career, cutting discs at Durgā Pujā, and giving stage shows. She also performed in a leading role in a Bengali movie, Bhadu Bharan (1967), and sang admirably for a movie, Anubhav (1971), which turned out to her final performance to the music of Kanu Roy.

Geeta died of cirrhosis of the liver on 20 July 1972.

A list of notable songs

She is supposed to have sung over 1200 songs in Hindi films. In addition she has also sung songs in many Indian regional languages including Marathi, Bengali, Nepali, Maithili, Bhojpuri and Punjabi.
Some of the memorable songs sung under S.D. Burman's direction :
  • 'Mera sundar sapna beet gaya' (Do Bhai - 1947 )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE7sM_79bp0&feature=search
  • '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 )
  • 'Hum Aapke Aankhon Main' (Pyaasa - 1957 )
  • 'Hawa dhire aana' (Sujata - 1959 )
  • 'Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam ' (Kaagaz Ke Phool - 1959 )
Some of the memorable songs sung under O.P. Nayyar's direction :
  • 'Zara saamne aa' (Baaz - 1953 )
  • 'Babuji dhire chalna' (Aar Paar - 1954 )
  • 'Thandi hawa kali ghata' (Mr. & Mrs. '55 - 1955 )
  • 'jaane kahan mera jigar gaya ji' (Mr. & Mrs. '55 - 1955 )
  • 'Jab badal lehraya' (Chchoomantar - 1956 )
  • 'Mere zindagi ke humsafar' (Shrimati 420 - 1956 )
  • 'Jaata kahan hai' (C.I.D. - 1956)
  • 'Aye Dil Hain Mushkil' (aka 'Bombay Meri Jaan') (C.I.D. - 1956), with Mohammed Rafi
  • 'Chor, lutere, daku'( Ustad - 1957 )
  • 'Mera naam chin chin choo' (Howrah Bridge - 1958 )
  • 'Kaisa jadoo balam tune dara' (12 o'clock - 1958 )
Some of the memorable songs sung under Hemant Kumar's direction
  • Na Jaao Saiyaan Chhuda Ke Baiyaan (Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam - 1962 )
  • Kaise Rokoge Aise Toofan Ko (Anandmath - 1952 ) with Talat Mehmood
  • Madbhari Hain Pyar Ki Palken (Fashion - 1957 )
  • Na Yeh Chand Hoga (Shart - 1954)
  • Piya Aiso Jiya mein Samaye Gayo (Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam - 1962 )
  • Chale Aao Chale Aao (Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam - 1962 )
Others
  • Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho Mer Jaan (Anubhav - 1971) Music: Kanu Roy
Some memorable Bengali songs :
  • 'Shachimata go char juge hai' (1950)
  • 'Ekhan-o dustar lajja' (1952)
  • 'Ei Sundar Swarnali Sandhyay' (Hospital, 1960; Music: Amal Mukherjee)
  • 'Katha achhe tumi aj asbe (Kanu Ghosh 1960)
  • 'Ei Mayabi Tithi' (Shonar Horin, 1959; Music: Hemant Mukherjee)
  • 'Tumi Je Amar' (Harano Sur, 1958; Music: Hemant Kumar)
  • 'Nishiraat Banka Chand Aakashe' (Prithibi Aamare Chaay, 1957; Music: Nachiketa Ghosh)
  • 'Jhanak Jhanak Kanak Kankan baaje'
source from:en.wikipedia.org

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