Geeta Dutt Sings For Geeta Bali, A great pairing ! Options

[parag_sankla]

Inspired by this post of Sangeetbhakt ji, I am starting a new topic dedicated to songs of Geeta ji filmed on actress Geeta Bali.

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?s=&a...st&p=560817

I am sure there are many such songs. Lets make a list and more...



Cheers
Parag

[parag_sankla]

A little piece of information on Geeta Bali, the charming actress from Wikipedia

Geeta Bali became a star in the 1950s. She had also worked earlier with her future brother-in-law Raj Kapoor in Bawre Nain and with her future father-in-law Prithviraj Kapoor in Anand Math. Unlike other actresses who gave up films after marrying into the Kapoor family, Bali kept acting until her death.

Her secretary was Surinder Kapoor, father of producer Boney Kapoor and actor Anil Kapoor.

In 1955 she married Shammi Kapoor who was 1 year younger than her but not yet a star.

She had two children with Shammi. She left behind a son Aditya aged 8 and a daughter Kanchan aged 3.

Later her niece, Yogeeta Bali also made it into films.

She died on January 21, 1965 stricken by smallpox.

Some of her hit films are Bawre Nain with future brother-in-law Raj Kapoor, Baazi (1951 film) with Dev Anand, Baaz with Guru Dutt, Jaal, Albela with Bhagwan Dada. She received a Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress for Vachan (1955) and another nomination as Best Supporting Actress for Kavi (1955).

[parag_sankla]

Here is a webpage on Shammi Kapoor's official website dedicated to his wife and actress Geeta Bali

http://www.junglee.org.in/geeta.html

And here is a link to Geeta Bali's filmography

http://www.junglee.org.in/geetafilms.html

It seems that she acted in 70 odd films out of which at least 30 films have one or more song(s) of Geeta Dutt.

And here is a lovely article written by critic Dinesh Raheja

http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/apr/09dinesh.htm


Geeta Bali's dancing eyes and her animated, expressive face which mirrored her soul were her most outstanding features. Yet life was snatched away from this vibrant personality at an achingly young age of 35.

It is some consolation that Geeta crammed a lot into her short life: 70 odd films in a ten-year career.

She married struggling actor-turned-megastar Shammi Kapoor and mothered two children: a son and a daughter. Today, she is remembered as a wonderfully natural actress and a fabulous human being.

True, Geeta's reputation as an actress rests more on her performances than her roles. Natural, spontaneous and gifted with a spot-on sense of comic timing, she never really found a vehicle worthy of her talent. Largely a shade better than the movies she starred in, she frittered away her talents in B-grade films.

Probably the fact that she was born into a family that had to struggle for sheer survival and the fact that she reached the top through sheer grit had Geeta stress on quantity rather than quality. Film lore has it that when mentor [filmmaker] Kidar Sharma first met Geeta, she was living with her family in somebody's bathroom!

Geeta, who was born Harikirtan Kaur, had done a few small-time dancing roles in pre-Partition Punjab in films like Badnami, before moving to Mumbai. Impressed by her off-screen vivacity, Sharma cast Geeta in his Suhaag Raat (1948). Audiences related to her instantly and watched wide-eyed as she nonchalantly tossed her unconscious hero, Bharat Bhushan over her shoulder in a scene.

Soon, Geeta was inundated with contracts (that's what they called film offers then). She accepted most. She won raves even in supporting roles like in the 1949 Suraiya starrer Badi Behan and the Madhubala starrer Dulari.

In 1951, she became a major star with Guru Dutt's first hit, Baazi (she went on to do three other films under his direction). Geeta played gangster's moll with a golden heart to Kalpana Kartik's conventional heroine. But Geeta played her role with such gay abandon that hero Dev Anand divulges, "People came repeatedly to theatres to see Geeta's spirited dancing to Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana de.

Geeta proved she could do tragedy (Sharma's Raj Kapoor starrer Bawre Nain) or and play the lighthearted heroine to comedian Bhagwan in the super successful AlbelaAlbela's swinging C Ramchandra composed songs like Shola jo bhadke and Sham dhale mere khidki tale made front-benchers dance with the stars and even fling coins on screen.

Pug-nosed Geeta was no conventional beauty, but that transparent face and that smile constantly flirting on her lips made sure you couldn't tear your eyes away from her.

Watch Geeta Bali in the Guru Dutt-directed Jaal (1952). Dev Anand, a cigarette-smoking smuggler on the run from the police, tries to entice morally upstanding heroine Geeta into his web. Geeta evocatively communicates her struggle against, and her eventual surrender to, handsome Dev's seduction call Yeh raat, yeh chaandni phir kahan.

Famously down-to-earth despite her star status, Geeta was the antithesis of the coy 1950s' heroine. She often drove herself to her premieres in an open jeep. Those who knew her claim she was a Samaritan who touched the lives of whoever she met. She is said to have personally groomed Mala Sinha, then a newcomer.

To date, 35 years after her death, her secretary Surinder Kapoor's (Boney Kapoor's father) productions begin with a shraddhanjali to Geeta Bali.

Shammi Kapoor entered her life when they worked in the quaintly named Miss Coca Cola and Coffee House together. On an impulse, Geeta played a small role of a man in Sharma's Shammi Kapoor starrer Rangeen Raatein. On the film's Ranikhet outdoor, Shammi and Geeta fell in love.

Kapoor was a year younger to her and was not yet a star, but the twosome were hell bent on marrying each other. Geeta had worked with Shammi's eldest brother, Raj Kapoor in Bawre Nain, and with his father, Prithviraj Kapoor in Anand Math, Shammi was unsure about their reaction to this match.

But on August 23, 1955, with producer-director Hari Walia as witness, the couple were married at the Banganga Temple at 4 am.

Geeta continued to work after marriage in a few films like Sohrab Modi's Jailor (1958), where she won raves as a blind girl. With Shammi Kapoor turning into a huge star and the birth of her two children Aditya (nicknamed Mickey) and Kanchan, she eased her workload.

The desire to do that one fulfilling role she would be remembered for prompted Geeta to attempt the production of a classic for herself. She started Rano, based on Rajinder Singh Bedi's famous novel, Ek Chaddar Maili Si, based on a widow's remarriage to her brother-in-law.

Upcoming star Dharmendra played her hero.

Geeta, who had not been vaccinated for small pox, contacted the dreaded disease while shooting the film. The best care was rushed to her, but her fever apparently reached 107 degrees. Her doctor saw a picture by his patient's bedside and asked who the pretty lady was. The disease had so wracked Geeta's frail frame that he didn't recognise her as the same person!

Geeta Bali passed away on January 21, 1965, leaving behind eight-year-old Aditya and three-year-old Kanchan in the care of a devastated Shammi Kapoor.

Ironically, she was cremated in Banganga, not far from where she was married.




This post has been edited by parag_sankla: Dec 31 2008, 11:50 PM

[parag_sankla]

Surprising to know that very little information is available on the net about Geeta Bali. Here is another article

http://www.bhavakuta.com/bollywood-actresses/Geeta-Bali.html

Name: Geeta Bali

Real Name: Harkirtan Kaur

Height: 5'6"

Date of Birth: 1930


Birthplace: Amritsar, Punjab, India

Geeta Bali took birth in 1930 in a Sikh family in pre-partition Punjab. She did a few song and dance numbers in films of that region like Badnami. Later her family migrated to Bombay and had to survive on very meager means. Legend has it that she was actually living with her family in someone’s bathroom when her mentor, filmmaker Kidar Sharma spotted her and cast her in his Suhaag Raat (1948). She enthralled the audience when in one scene she imperturbably flung her unconscious hero over her shoulder.

After that Geeta was flooded with contracts. Bur her talent largely remained untapped, as the economic condition of her family forced her to take up any role that came her way, she did not have the luxury to pick and choose. But her stellar performances in all her films marked her as a notch above the rest of her contemporaries. She shined in even supporting roles alongside notable actresses of her times, like Suraiya and Madhubala. Her rise to stardom happened with Guru Dutt’s phenomenal success Baazi (1951). In this film lso, Geeta only played a mobster’s moll and not the lead role. Her feisty dance with Tadbeer Se Bigri Huyi Taqdeer Bana De drew the masses to the theatre. In her acting career she was featured in several other evergreen numbers as well.

Geeta Bali in 1955 married Shammi Kapoor, who was 2 years’ younger to her and a struggling actor at the time of her marriage. She had acted with his brother Raj Kappor in Bavre Nain and also his father Prithviraj Kapoor in Anand Math. With Shammi she had two children - one son named Aditya and one daughter christened Kanchan.

Geeta Bali had a strikingly animated countenance, her vibrant, expressive eyes mirrored her spirited soul. Unfortunately this vivacious actress died of chicken pox at the painfully young age of 35, on 21st January 1965. Nevertheless, even in that short period of time Geeta starred in almost 70 films in a career spanning over a decade. She is till date revered as a tremendously spontaneous actress and a wonderful human being.

In 1951, she became a major star with Guru Dutt's first hit, Baazi (she went on to do three other films under his direction). Geeta played gangster's moll with a golden heart to Kalpana Kartik's conventional heroine. But Geeta played her role with such gay abandon that hero Dev Anand divulges, "People came repeatedly to theatres to see Geeta's spirited dancing to Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana de.

Geeta proved she could do tragedy (Sharma's Raj Kapoor starrer Bawre Nain) or and play the lighthearted heroine to comedian Bhagwan in the super successful AlbelaAlbela's swinging C Ramchandra composed songs like Shola jo bhadke and Sham dhale mere khidki tale made front-benchers dance with the stars and even fling coins on screen.

[parag_sankla]

I am not sure if Geeta Dutt ji sang any song for Geeta Bali's first film "Jalsaa" whose music was composed by Ram Ganguly, Earthmusic lists as many as 18 songs for this film but the names of the singers are not clear. In the same year 1948, her second film Suhaag Raat was released. Its music was composed by Snehal Bhatkar and Geeta Dutt sang as many as 4 songs for this film. There are 3 duets with Rajkumari and 1 with Shamshad Beghum.

Knowledgable members can tell us if Geeta ji gave her voice to Geeta Bali in any of these 4 songs.

This post has been edited by parag_sankla: Jan 1 2009, 09:43 PM

[gop]

Like the similarities in the names of both legends, Geeta Dutt and Geeta Bali, the vocals of Geeta Dutt also very suited to Geeta Bali. Expressions of Geeta Bali was so natural and Getta Dutt's voice also matched to her expressions. Both the legends are left this world in a younger age. They will ever remembered by the film and music lovers.

gop

[parag_sankla]

Here are 4 songs of Geeta ji sung for the film Suhag Raat (1948)

Kis paapi sang uljhi
Geeta Dutt, Rajkumari
Suhag Raat_1948
Snehal Bhatkar
Kidar Sharma
160 KBPS
0413min
mp3

Audio courtesy HF members

This post has been edited by parag_sankla: Jan 1 2009, 08:06 PM

[parag_sankla]

Second song

Mere dil ki dhadkano main
Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Beghum
Suhag Raat_1948
Snehal Bhatkar
Kidar Sharma
160 KBPS
0353min
mp3

Audio courtesy HF members

[parag_sankla]

Third song

Baaje mori paayal thunnak thunnak
Geeta Dutt, Rajkumari
Suhag Raat_1948
Snehal Bhatkar
Kidar Sharma
128 KBPS
0300min
mp3

Audio courtesy HF members

[parag_sankla]

The last song

Roomjhoom matwale badal
Geeta Dutt, Rajkumari
Suhag Raat_1948
Snehal Bhatkar
Kidar Sharma
160 KBPS
0309min
mp3

Audio courtesy HF members

[parag_sankla]

Like the similarities in the names of both legends, Geeta Dutt and Geeta Bali, the vocals of Geeta Dutt also very suited to Geeta Bali. Expressions of Geeta Bali was so natural and Getta Dutt's voice also matched to her expressions. Both the legends are left this world in a younger age. They will ever remembered by the film and music lovers.

gop

Thanks Gop bhai for echoing my sentiments.



Best Regards
Parag

[parag_sankla]

The next year 1949 saw Geeta Bali starring in many films, most of which did not feature any song from Geeta Dutt.

Badi Bahen
Bansaria
Bholi
Dil Ki Duniya
Dulari
Garibi
Girls School
Jal Tarang
Kinara
Neki Aur Badi

AFAIK, there are 2 songs in Bansaria (MD : Hunsnlal Bhagataram) and 2 more in Garibi (MD : Bulo C Rani).

Need help from knowledgable members to confirm if there are any songs in other films in the above list.

[parag_sankla]

Here is a melodious sweet song from Bansaria

Aaja aaja ke jiya mora taras gaya
Geeta Dutt
Bansaria (1949)
Husnlal Bhagatram
Mulk Raj Bhakri
192 KBPS
02.34 min
mp3

Audio courtesy HF members

[parag_sankla]

And the other one from the same film

Tere samane hum aansoo bahayenge
Geeta Dutt
Bansaria (1949)
Husnlal Bhagatram
Mulk Raj Bhakri
192 KBPS
02.45 min
mp3

Audio courtesy HF members

[parag_sankla]

Here is a song from the film Garibi (1949)

Dard dil hi mein chhipa le
Geeta Dutt
Garibi (1949)
MD : Bulo C Rani
Lyrics : Rajinder Krishan
96 KBPS
02.51 min
mp3

Audio courtesy HF members