Geeta Dutt

Usha Khanna’s best songs for Lata Mangeshkar, and other female singers

Concluding the series of tributes to Usha Khanna with her best songs for Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers

Usha Khanna’s debut score in Dil Deke Dekho (1959) sounded so much OP Nayyar-ish that you may get the impression that she too would exclude Lata Mangeshkar completely and her female singer would be predominantly Asha Bhosle as she was in Dil Deke Dekho. But from her very second film Hum Hindustani (1960), just as she showed great felicity with Mukesh, she also composed a superlative Lata Mangeshkar song in the film, Chori chori tori ayi hai Radha, kadam tale haule haule. Usha Khanna showed remarkable competence for composing for most of the prominent female playback singers, such as Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Suman Kalyanpur and others. My first post was on her best songs for Rafi, and second on Mukesh and other male playback singers. In these two posts I have also included their male-female duets. The third and last post in the series of tributes to Usha Khanna is on her best songs for Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers. Since their duets with male singers are already covered this would be limited to their solos, and female-female duets.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

SN Tripathi Part 5 (post-50s): His best songs by other female playback singers

Concluding the series on SN Tripathi with his best songs for ‘other’ female playback singers

It is time to conclude the series on SN Tripathi after a comprehensive coverage of his multi-faceted talent in the Vintage Era (1949 and earlier) in Part 1 as a singer, actor, music director and dialogue and story writer; Part 2 (post-50s) about his best songs for Rafi; Part 3 (post-50s) about his best songs for Mukesh and other male singers; and Part 4 (post-50s) about his best songs for Lata Mangeshkar. I also mentioned that during post-50s, while we know him primarily as a music director, he continued to act and added a new talent to his immense portfolio – as a director of famous films, such as Rani Roopmati (1959). While writing on Lata Mangeshkar I discovered that she did not appear much in SN Tripathi’s music in her Tsunami years of 1949 through early 50s. He used several ‘other’ female playback singers, with Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum appearing quite frequently.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

SD Burman: ‘The Courage of His Convictions’ (Establishes Geeta Dutt As a Frontline Singer)

Gust article by Moti Lalwani

(We are aware that SD Burman had an uncanny ear for selecting a singer for a particular song. In this he didn’t care for the reputation of a celebrity artist, director, producer, or singer. He was the Master of Music, and he made the final choice. That is why there is no major playback singer for whom he didn’t give some songs of eternal importance. In the last article Moti Lalwani showed how SD Burman had his way on Hemant Kumar for the song ‘Ye raat ye chaandni phir kahan’. Continuing the same theme, Mr Lawani shows how Burman Da established Geeta Dutt as one of the frontline singers during the era when Lata Mangeshkar hit the music scene as a Tsunami.

Mr Lalwani is one of the recognized authorities on SD Burman, having spent a major part of his productive life studying and writing about him and interviewing people associated with him. This was in addition to his professional career as a Mechanical Engineer with L&T from which company he retired over twenty years ago. Mr HQ Chowdhury’s celebrated book, ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’ quotes him several times. Sathya Saran’s ‘Sun Mere Bandhu Re’ is largely based on his material. I am happy to present the second guest article by him in the celebration of this October as the month of SD Burman. Thank you Mr Lalwani. – AK)

SD Burman and Geeta DuttGeeta Dutt (nee Roy), born on 23 November 1930, had no formal training in music. Pandit Hanuman Prasad, who used to compose for mythological films, heard her voice and made her sing just one line in a chorus in his film ‘Bhakt Prahlad’ (1946). Young Geeta would have been about 15 years old when she sang that line in the chorus, as the recording was done earlier.

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Hemant Kumar’s duets with ‘other’ singers

A tribute to Hemant Kumar on his 99th birth anniversary (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989)

Hemant Kuma-Asha Bhosle-Geeta Dutt

I had written on the best duets of Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar in my first year of blogging. Then I had said: “Hemant Kumar in his voice brought the beauty of Bengal and melody of Rabindra Sangeet. When he joined with Lata Mangeshkar the effect was magical. Easily the best duets of Hindi films are of Hemant-Lata”. I further described these duets as the ultimate in melody. Now Songs of Yore has entered the tenth year, and Hemant Kumar would have entered his centenary year today. All this while I have been struck by the beauty of his fascinating duets with ‘other’ singers like Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle, and was looking for some opportunity to write a post on them. While Lata Mangeshkar personified melody and sweetness with Hemant Kumar, the ‘other’ singers brought their own unique verve and joy, and combining with his deep melodious voice created a different kind of charming effect.

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OP Nayyar-Geeta Dutt: A peerless combination

A tribute to Geeta Dutt on her 45th death anniversary (23 November 1930 – 20 July 1972) by guest author Ravindra Kelkar

(A general grievance against SoY is that Geeta Dutt has not been given her due place on the blog. There has been one exclusive post on her best songs by SD Burman which, too, incidentally appeared on her death anniversary, four years ago. My post on SD Burman’s best duets for Rafi, too, contained some songs with her. Her songs have also appeared in some other contexts. However, I am aware this is not commensurate with her appeal among music lovers. I was waiting for a worthier person to do justice to her. My wish was granted when our OP Nayyar-expert, Ravindra Kelkar offered to write a series of articles on OPN. His first article giving an overview of three distinct phases of OPN’s career was highly acclaimed. Continuing his series, he comes up with another outstanding article, on OPN-Geeta Dutt combination, as a tribute to her on her 45th death anniversary. I am sure this would more than recompense for my omission. Thanks a lot Mr Kelkar. – AK)

OP Nayyar-Geeta DuttOP Nayyar-Geeta Dutt association started right from OP’s first film Aasman in 1952, in which Geeta Dutt sang 4 solos. It ended with Ragini in the year 1958. She sang in 22 of OP’s films for 62 songs, which included 35 solos, 22 male duets, all with Rafi, and 5 female duets, all with Asha Bhosle. During their association in Aasman, she was impressed with OP’s potential and recommended his name to his would-be husband Guru Dutt for his maiden venture Baaz (1953), and as everybody knows it was the success of Guru Dutt’s next film Aar Paar (1954) which launched OP’s career. So, he had a lot to be grateful to Geeta Dutt.

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Rafi’s duets by SD Burman

A tribute to Rafi on his death anniversary, July 31

SD Burman & Md RafiIf you revisit my earlier post on Rafi’s songs (solos) composed by SD Burman, along with the readers’ comments, you realise the high regard in which the music lovers hold their combination. In spite of his known fondness for Kishore Kumar, SD Burman had something special for Rafi. Canasya finds Rafi’s songs by SD Burman even more mellifluous and romantic than by Naushad. That is some high compliment!

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Geeta Dutt’s best songs by SD Burman

A tribute on her death anniversary July 20

S D Burman and Geeta DuttThere is a great deal common between Geeta Dutt and SD Burman – both being Bengalis is just one of them. Geeta Dutt was born on 23rd November, 1930 at Faridpur in East Bengal (now in Bangladesh) in a prosperous landlord family.  Her  family had to move to Bombay in 1942 in the wake of Quit India movement, which turned anti-landlord. Her singing was noticed by the music director Hanuman Prasad when he was passing by their apartment. He gave her a break in Bhakt Prahlad (1946) to sing a few lines in a chorus. She had some more songs in 1946, but none that could create any ripples.

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