I was browsing through the thread "21 gems of Geeta ji" posted by Subhash Dev long time back (when I was not active on HF due to personal reasons).

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?showtopic=39574

The song selection is obviously nice but is heavily dominated by songs from Guru Dutt films.

Hence I embarked upon an idea of creating a new thread with 21 gems without selecting any song from a Guru Dutt film.

Looking forward to comments/suggestions on the same.


Cheers
Parag

21 films which immediately come to my mind are :

Jogan
Baware Nain
Shart
Do Bhai
Dilruba
Zalzala
Jaan Pehechan
Anubhav
Anand Math
Miss Mala
Kangan
Chakori
Har Har Mahadev
Naag Mani
Milaap
Jagga Daku
Toofan aur Diya
Abhiman
Heer Ranjha
Ek Thi Ladki
Ustaad


Criteria is to cover many composers with emphasis on solos.

Suggestions most welcome..


Cheers
Parag

So here is my choice of 21 gems :

Film - Song - cosinger if any - (Composer)

Jogan - Chanda khele aankh michauli (Bulo C Rani)
Baware Nain - Khayalon mein kisi ke - Mukesh (Roshan)
Shart - Chand ghatne laga (Hemant Kumar)
Do Bhai - Mera sundar sapna beet gaya ( S D Burman)
Dilruba - Dhak dhak karati chali (Gyan Dutt)
Zalzala - Bujho bujho aye dil walon (Pankaj Mullick)
Jaan Pehechan - Aaoge na saajan aaoge na (Khemchand Prakash)
Anubhav - Koi chupke se aake (Kanu Roy)
Anand Math - Aa re bhanvare aa (Hemant Kumar)
Miss Mala - Naachati jhumati muskuraati - Kishore Kumar (Chitragupt)
Kangan - Aag lagana kya mushkil hain (Chitragupt)
Chakori - Nainon mein jhoola dala (Hansraj Behl)
Har Har Mahadev - Rumjhum Rumjhum Chali Jaaun (Avinash Vyas)
Naag Mani - Aaj nahin toh kal (Avinash Vyas)
Milaap - Bachana zara yeh zamana hain bura - Mohd Rafi (N Dutta)
Jagga Daku - Teri kasam tujhko sanam ( S N Tripathi)
Toofan aur Diya - Meri aan bhagawan (Vasant Desai)
Abhiman - Kal raat piya ne baat kahin (Anil Biswas)
Heer Ranjha - Ud pud jaaniya (Khayyam)
Ek Thi Ladki - Unse kehna ke woh palbhar ke liye (Vinod)
Ustaad - Chor lootere daaku (O P Nayyar)

* This is a work-in-progress list and the songs shared may not exactly match this list. Since the criterion is that the video of the song also should be (preferably) available on Youtube, the songs might change. Finally, I will post the list of 21 gems in this thread.


Cheers
Parag

While doing research for preparing the content for www.geetadutt.com, we could come up with names of about 100 composers for whom Geeta ji has sung in her career spanning from 1946 to 1971. After reading the book "Geeta Dutt : The Skylark" one gets to know some more composers with whom she worked.

The above list of 21 gems from non Guru Dutt Films is a good indication of variety of songs she has sung for a wide range of composers. 11 out of the above 21 songs are from 1946 till 1953 (before her marriage to Guru Dutt).

Unfortunately, her work with famous composers like Naushad and Shankar Jaikishan is very little (compared to the composers covered above). Its very unfortunate that Naushad sahab almost never used her voice (excpet for a short song in Dillagi and then in Son of India). Does any one know why ? Geeta Dutt is never known for taking fights with composers or asking for undue demands..

Here is Gem no.1

Chanda Khele Aankh Micholi
Geeta Roy
Jogan (1950)
MD : Bulo C Rani
Lyrics : Pandit Indra
160 KBPS
02.36 min
mp3

A lovely song filmed on Nargis.

Here is the link for the video of this sweet song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUd8LQE6otA

From Juthika Roy to Lata Mangeshkar to Vani Jayaram (and may be many more singers) have sung the Bhajans (Devotional songs) of Meera Bai. Till date, the Bhajans sung by Geeta Roy are considered the most divine, much beyond the limitations of Hindi film music. They are eternal and timeless classics. The compositions of veteran composer Bulo C Rani are exquisite examples of his rich talent.

In the film Jogan, composer BCR has Geeta Roy sing the entire gamut of emotions of songs. The gem selected in this thread is a light fun N frolic song. A pleasant song on the eyes with young Nargis and beautiful rendition by young Geeta Roy.

A classic song, a true gem!

And since we are talking of the film Jogan, songs from this film are discussed in great details in the book "Geeta Dutt : The Skylark". As many as 12 pages have been devoted to this Ranjit Movietone classic film.

And now after Nargis, its turn of Rehana!

Here is Gem no.2

Dekho dekho ji mera bhola sa jiya
Geeta Roy
Dilruba (1950)
MD : Gyan Dutt
Lyrics : Dinanath Madhok
160 KBPS
02.23 min
mp3

Audio courtesy HF members

A lovely song filmed on Rehana.

Here is the link for the video of this sweet song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbTfY_8q8fc...feature=related

And now its again the turn of Nargis!

Here is Gem no.3

Aaoge na sajan aaoge naa
Geeta Roy
Jaan Pehchan (1950)
MD : Khemchand Prakash
Lyrics : Shakil
192 KBPS
03.35 min
mp3


Here is the link for the video of this sweet song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep86gwNw2ZQ

Nice thread idea and selections Parag. I feel like making a list myself! (Maybe I'll do that when you're through with the uploads).

HB

You are most welcome to make a list of your choice of 21 gems. I am trying to select 21 songs which one can "listen" as well as "see" (on youtube). The visual appeal of a song is very important.

Cheers
Parag

And now after Nargis, its turn of Shyama, possibly before the Aar Paar magic happened!

Here is Gem no.4

Na yeh chaand hogaa
Geeta Dutt
Shart (1954)
MD : Hemant Kumar
Lyrics : Shamshul Huda Bihari
192 KBPS
03.12 min
mp3 CDQ

Its rare to find a line "Kahun kya mere dil ka armaan kya hain, Tumhein har ghadee choomana chahata hain" (My heart wishes to kiss you all the time) in any song of that era. That too this is a "Virah" song.

I have read that the censors took an objection to this. Since the song had became immensely popular even before the release of the film, they did not want to change the wordings. Hence in the picturization, the heroine Shyama is shown to be kissing the forehead of her kid brother when these lines are played in the film.

As all the music lovers know the same song in the same tune has been sung by the composer Hemantda himself. The lyrics of the stanzas are different though.

Both the songs are forever classics.

Here is the link for the video of this sweet song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG86u2FqTyI...feature=related

And here is a video where both the Geeta Dutt and Hemant Kumar version have been put together


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0UF1dztKs4

Parag Saab

Interesting thread and some very nice songs. You excluded a little Sajjad Hussein-Geeta collaboration in Sangdil - Darshan Pyasi which is a lovely bhajan and my favourite Geeta song.....

Kind Regards
Faraaj

Geeta Dutt - lent her charismatic voice to almost all the charismatic faces on the silver screen – wonder if it was not for her voice, the charisma of all these ladies would have had a dent !!!!

Faraaj ji

Many thanks for your comments, I am glad you liked the concept. Yes, Devdas (S D Burman) and Sangdil (Sajjad Hussain) are a sure miss from my list. The reason for not including Sangdil was that the idea is to cover those composers with whom Geeta ji had a substantial amount of work. The only exception made is for the legendary Pankaj Mullick sahab's song from Zalazala.

Sadly, Bulo C Rani, Gyan Dutt, Avinash Vyas, Chitragupt, Hansraj Behl never got their due in spite of composing lovely melodies for Geeta ji. Hence its an attempt to showcase their talent as well.



Best Regards
Parag

Thanks Sachin for your nice comments. It would be fun if you can also come up with your list of 21 songs (no song from any Guru Dutt film).



Cheers
Parag

It did not matter whether Geeta was singing for the main heroine or an unknown person. The passion and emotions of the song would make the same impact on the listener and viewer.

For Burmanda's Devdas (1955), clearly it was Lata Mangeshkar singing songs for Suchitra Sen and Vyjayantimala. Geeta Dutt sang just two duets with Manna Dey. Both sung in "Kirtan style" are melodious songs.

In particular, "Aan milo aan milo shyam sanware" is an evergreen song. Manna Dey (singing for veteran actor from Marathi cinema, Nana Palshikar) plays second fiddle to Geeta Dutt (singing for Dulari).

Here is Gem no.5 from Burmanda

Aan milo aan milo shyam sanware
Geeta Dutt, Manna Dey
Devdas (1955)
MD : S D Burman
Lyrics : Sahir
192 KBPS
03.16 min
mp3 CDQ


Here is the link for the video of this divine song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECKhPAFCRJA

Also enclosing a pic of Dulari and Nana Palshikar.

A few words about the actress Dulari on whom the song "Aan milo aan milo shyam sanware" was filmed.

I was surprised to find that this lady acted in over 100 films right from the year 1924 till as late as 1997. She acted as mother, sister, mother-in-law and many characters in films after films. The IMDB reports that she even acted in some Gujrati films in the late forties including the superhit film Mangal Phera.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0241291/

I faintly remember her role as hero Bhagwan's sister/bhabhi (?) in the film Albela. One of the reasons why I remember her is this :

There is a scene in the film where another male character comes to Dulari's place. He asks for some money and she drives him away. Or something like that...

Now , this is one of the few (probably only) scene in the film where one does not see either Bhagwan or Geeta Bali on the screen.

In my college days, for the annual festival, they had selected this 2 minute scene for the film quiz. They had asked to tell the name of the film, its hero and producer. Of course, no one else could get it right, except yours truly.



Those were the days!

Thanks to HF for taking me to down memory lane!

Cheers
Parag

Now after these wonderful gems, here is a duet composed by Roshan sahab for the film Baware Nain (1950). This film had all the songs of the main heroine Geeta Bali sung by veteran singer Rajkumari ji, which were also popular. The most popular song from the film though was this duet sung by Mukesh and Geeta ji. This was filmed on Raj Kapoor and Vijayalakshmi, the second heroine.

Here is the gem no. 6

Khayalon Mein Kisi Ke
Geeta Dutt & Mukesh
Bawre Nain (1950)
Kidar Sharma
Roshan
192 kbps
5.02 minutes
mp3 CDQ

The audio has been posted here by Prabhakar here

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?s=&a...st&p=565186

The video of the song is available here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN2kDfIiBbA

Out of the total 21, so far 7 gems have been posted on this thread:

(1) Chanda Khele Aankh Micholi
Geeta Roy
Jogan (1950)

(2) Dekho dekho ji mera bhola sa jiya
Geeta Roy
Dilruba (1950)

(3) Aaoge na sajan aaoge naa
Geeta Roy
Jaan Pehchan (1950)

(4) Na yeh chaand hogaa
Geeta Dutt
Shart (1954)


(5) Aan milo aan milo shyam sanware
Geeta Dutt, Manna Dey
Devdas (1955)


(6) Khayalon Mein Kisi Ke
Geeta Roy & Mukesh
Bawre Nain (1950)

(7) Bujho bujho aye dilwalo
Geeta Roy
Zalzala (1952)

(8) Jai Jagdish Hare
Geeta Roy
Anand Math (1952)

I am making an exception to have a song here where the video is yet not available on Youtube (or shared on HF). The film is directed by Paul Zils and has the Cast of Dev Anand, Geeta Bali and Kishore Sahu. The name of the film is Zalzala (1952) and this is the only film for which Geeta ji sang for the legendary singer composer Pankajda.


Here is Gem no.7

Bujho bujho aye dilwalo
Geeta Roy
Zalzala (1952)
MD : Pankaj Mullick
Lyrics : Uddhav Kumar
128 KBPS
03.25 min
mp3

Audio courtesy HF members

All these songs between 1946 and 1954 (the year Geeta ji got married to Guru Dutt), prove beyond any doubts (and there are 14 more gems to come in this series) that Geeta Roy was a far more popular and established artist than her husband. Guru Dutt shot to fame with Pyaasa (1957) which was much later...

I can not resist including the songs sung by Geeta ji before her marriage to Guru Dutt. Here is a divine rendition of Jai Jagdish Hare by Geeta ji and singer-composer Hemant Kumar (in his debut film as composer). Just think of it, this song was recorded when on track recording was available with only one microphone. How would they have come up with over lapping lines for Hemantda and Geeta ji.


Here is Gem no.8

Jai Jagdish Hare
Geeta Roy
Anand Math (1952)
MD : Hemant Kumar
Lyrics : Traditional
192 KBPS
02.44 min
mp3

A lovely song filmed on Geeta Bali and Prithviraj Kapoor ji.

Here is the link for the video of this sweet song


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm7hp9K-ing

Faraaj ji

Since you mentioned Sajjad Hussain sahab, I was wondering if you happen to have the songs of Geeta ji composed by Sajjad sahab for the film Kasam (1947) in good audio quality? Please share if you have these.

Thanks in advance

Best Regards
Parag

I don't unfortunately....

Thats a very sad news Faraaj ji. We had another Geeta Dutt fan who had promised to share these, but just like his other promises, this was also not fulfilled.

Parag

Parag Saab

You're passionate about this and that is the first sure step to success. I have no doubt you'll eventually get all these "missing" songs.

I can also tell you that you asked me about another "missing" song a few months back and that request is still in my mind because you enthusiasm is infectious!

Nice song you played the other day....Jise Dhundti Phirti Hai Meri Nazar !

Kind Regards
Faraaj

Faraaj ji

Firstly please call me Parag, I would like it that way.

And yes, I am passionate, when it comes to my beloved singer Geeta ji. Luckily I have found many friends who have helped me so much that I can not describe it in words. All of us came together in giving this little tribute to Geeta ji, the most unsung singer of the golden era of HFM. The joy of launching the site www.geetadutt.com was immense and so will be its update cum upgrade we are planning on 20th July this year!

We need help from music lovers like you. It will be great if you can contact us at geetaduttfans@gmail.com

Best Regards
Parag

Parag

She was second only to Lata as the choice female singer of the golden era. Lata fever really undermined the standing of all the other female singers of the era - only Geeta Dutt withstood it and was the favoured singer of some top composers of the golden era.

It took Lata and Noorjehan a few years to establish themselves. Geeta Roy sang her first song at 16 for Pt Hanuman Prasad - Bhakta Prahlad (1946). Just a few months later she was established as a top singer with Do Bhai (1947) - the immortal Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya. Her personal life (specifically marital) is what prevented her achieving her potential and giving Lata stiffer competition.

Kind Regards
Faraaj

You are so right, but unfortunately the only songs of hers known to today's generation are the ones she sung for Guru Dutt films. We wanted to establish that her career never started or ended with Guru Dutt films. She sang barely 45 odd songs for Guru Dutt films and her total songs for Hindi films is more than 1300. That is the reason we are heavily promoting this sub-forum and the site dedicated to her

Thanks for your comments

Best Regards
Parag

I am making another exception to have a song here where the video is yet not available on Youtube (or shared on HF). The name of the film is Bairam Khan (1946) and this is the film for which Geeta ji sang for the legendary composer Ghulam Haider sahab in her debut year as singer.


Here is Gem no.9

Jab chaand jawaan hoga
Geeta Roy, Shamshad Beghum, Munnawar Sultana
Bairam Khan (1946)
MD : Ghulam Haider
Lyrics : Wali Saheb
128 KBPS
02.53 min
mp3

Audio courtesy HF members

I read somewhere that Munawwar Sultana is the third singer in the above song. Request seniors to confirm.

Thanks HB for the correction. I go by the filename and missed it this time too.

Another amazing fact I have realized, apart from female-female duets, there are a good number of trio songs (all female voices) which she has sung. Another example is the first ever song of Asha ji, which was a trio with Geeta ji and Johrajaan Amabalawali.

Yes thats very true. Sadly the trend of female duets and trios is on the decline in films now.

Parag,

Thanks for this beautiful song.

Regards,

Rajan

Its truly a lovely melodious vintage song with Geeta ji in her very first year in Hindi film music scene. She has such a young and sweet voice. Let us thank the original uploaders of such rare gems.

Regards
Parag

Here is Gem no.10

Har din tu rota hain baadal, aaj mujhe rone bhi de
Geeta Roy
Maa (1952)
MD : S K Pal
Lyrics : Bharat Vyas

Here is the YT link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGFtXBpCKIc

What a song!

Here is Gem no.11

Raat mohe meetha meetha sapna aaya re
Geeta Roy
Tamasha (1952)
MD : Khemchand Prakash and Manna Dey
Lyrics : Bharat Vyas

This must be one of the top 5 songs of Geeta ji. Meenakumari looks so charmingly beautiful in this song.

Here is the YT link



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZKh0X8gyNA

Here is Gem no.12

Duniya se door tere bangle mein
Geeta Dutt
Teen Bhai (1955)
MD : Arunkumar Mukherjee
Lyrics : Bharat Vyas


This must be one of the most unusual songs. Unusual modern lyrics by the so called "So Mythological" Bharat Vyas, an obscure film called Teen Bhai, singer composer Arunkumar Mukherjee composing music. One thing that was not unusual was Geeta Dutt giving a memorable performance in singing this song. Listen to her scintillating and alluring charm when she sings this song. Simply superb

The YT link is here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eetNnNTQzlA

Incidentally, this song was used as a backdrop in a Bengali film starring Mala Sinha. See that video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTxvTuxXQNo...re=channel_page