Biography On The Life Of Geeta Ji, Book is available in Pune Options

[parag_sankla]

Our dear friend Alybaba ji had posted a very important message about an upcoming book written in English on the life of Geeta ji. Here is the link to the original post

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?s=&a...st&p=189568

I am creating a new topic so that it is easy to find this topic and any update on this can be posted here



Coming soon, the life story of the chin, chin choo lady

Geeta Dutt, who would have turned 75 today, will now be immortalised in a first-ever biography

Sunanda Mehta

Pune, November 22: Her’s was a voice you could see, feel and experience. For it was a voice that danced, cried and allured with a versatility rarely seen in Hindi film music. And it is this extraordinary magic of the legendary singer that Pune-based film maker and author Haimanti Banerjee is striving to capture in the first ever biography being written on Geeta Dutt, who would have turned 75 on November 23.

Painstakingly gathering tidbits of information since the past two-and-a-half-years to piece together her life story, Banerjee says the book is a tribute to the genius of Dutt, who never really got her due in life.
‘‘I want to establish that contrary to popular conception, Geeta Dutt’s career neither started nor ended with Guru Dutt. She was a much established singer when he was a struggling director in the late 40s and early 50s. No one director or composer made her — she was in a class of her own,’’ says Banerjee.

To this end Banerjee has spent considerable time studying and analysing Dutt’s singing career to make for a ‘‘compendium’’ that will have the complete lyrics of Dutt’s most important songs accompanied by their English translations. For instance, there are some five pages devoted to Tabdeer se bigri hui taqdeer bana de which marked Dutt’s transition from lachrymose numbers to peppy ones.

There is also an exploration of the kind of music directors, lyricists and actresses Dutt sang for and their relation with her, with some rare pictures obtained from her family members, especially son Arun Dutt. And though comments on her subject’s personal life have been studiously avoided, an analysis of the Guru Dutt-Geeta Dutt relationship finds a place in the book.

According to Banerjee, the greatest difficulty in doing research on Dutt has been the non-availability of the singer’s body of work. ‘‘Can you believe there was this one journal with a series of four volumes on Hindi film music and Geeta Dutt’s name came up only twice in it?’’ exclaims the writer who calls Harminder’s Geet Kosh her bible for Dutt’s bibliography.

Banerjee, who has won national awards for her documentaries on Shantiniketan and Balgandharva and has been widely acclaimed for her first book on Ritwik Ghatak, hopes to complete the book in six months.

Music box
Geeta Roy was born on November 23, 1930 in Faridpur in East Bengal and came to Mumbai when she was 12
Her first big hit was Mera sundar sapna beet gaya in 1947, after which she ruled the film world till 1957
Her best songs include Na jao sayeeyan, Aaj sanam mohe ang laga le, Mera naam chin chin choo, Meri jaan mujhe jaan na kaho
She died in 1972, eight years after Guru Dutt’s death in 1964

Main Link Of the news is:
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=158353

This post has been edited by parag_sankla: Dec 19 2008, 06:09 AM