"The Moving Finger Writes..."

Translated from ‘Geet-Yatree’ by the late Shri Madhav Moholkar. The responsibility for any errors in translation is entirely mine.


Hazy memories of many songs play around in my mind. I feel they’re related to Geeta…but it’s difficult to be certain. ‘Door se ek pardesi aaya, poochho kya kya laya’ was one of Geeta’s songs from that era which I used to like a lot. I can still remember the tune. But which film was it from? Was it Geeta who sang with Rafi the duet ‘Kyon karta maan jawani ka, tu ek bulbula paani ka’ in Husnlal-Bhagatram’s ‘Naach’? Sometimes I remember ‘Tera kaaton se hai pyar, tera kaaton se…’- was it a Rafi-Geeta duet from Anil Biswas-C.Ramchandra’s ‘Girls’ School’? Was one stanza in ‘Kya bataoon mohabbat hai kya’ from Shankar-Jaikishan’s ‘Parbat’ sung by Geeta? My old like-minded friends are no longer around to answer these questions.


I would grieve over meaningless things which seemed, then, to matter far more than the everyday troubles of real life. Why doesn’t Naushad give Geeta Roy 12-14 songs in a music-oriented film? He’d done it time and again for many singers keeping in mind the characteristics and limitations of their voices.Those songs, those singers never faded from people’s memories. Saigal, Surendra, Umadevi, Talat, Mukesh, Rafi, Lata…Geeta should have figured on that list.If only Geeta had sung in at least one of Naushad’s films…A doubt rears its head sometimes: One stanza of Suraiya-Shyamkumar’s ‘Tu mera chand main teri chandni’ from “Dillagi” is picturised on a little girl on a swing.Her voice resembled Geeta’s.Was it Geeta’s?
Basically Geeta had a typical Bengali voice, born to sing soulful songs in Bengali tunes. Monochromatic.Playback singing converted it into a multi-coloured rainbow.Once, when I was newly acquainted with Geeta’s voice, I was fooled.I heard Madan Mohan’s ‘Mori atariya pe kagaa bole’ from ‘Aankhen’ and was convinced that it was sung by Geeta.But when, immediately afterwards I heard “Humein chhod piya kis des gaye’ which was on the other side of the record, I realized my mistake.’Mori atariya pe’ was definitely not Geeta’s voice though there was some resemblance.The singer was Meena Kapoor.She had a decent voice but blunt as compared to Geeta’s.The same was the case with Sandhya Mukherjee.Geeta Roy’s voice was sharp and ‘shiny’. In the words of the poet Grace ‘…the silken, gleaming knife blade of Geeta Roy’s voice…’so sharp and fine that it could effortlessly pierce one’s heart. I can’t say why but the stanza ‘har raat meri Diwali thi, main piya ki honewali thi’ from ‘Mera sundar sapna beet gaya’ creates the illusion of Ameerbai Karnataki.
In the early stages of her career, only Geeta’s sad songs used to be heard everywhere.A voice that spoke of the pain and hopelessness of life.It seemed to be a limitation of that voice. It seemed that she would keep singing the same sort of songs. Of course, every singer has limitations. I still remember that when I was young I used to feel that Talat was singing the same song again and again.Would the same happen with Geeta? ‘Mera sundar sapna beet gaya’, ‘Ek din humko yaad karoge’, and ‘Piya lautke aana bhool gaye’ from ‘Do Bhai’ were essentially of the same type.It seemed that Geeta would keep singing within this limited perimeter.But Geeta was to prove everybody wrong!

There was a Muslim boy in my school who used to wear a bright red shirt, white trousers, and a green handkerchief around his neck.When he spoke of someone with affection he’d call him ‘salaa’. About Geeta he’d complain,”Saali gaati acchha hai par roti bahut hai”(She sings well but cries a lot). He was a great fan of Shamshad Begum and Zohra and was very fond of Zohra’s songs like ‘Saamnewali gali mein mera ghar hai, pataa mera bhool na jaana’, ‘Mere jobana ka dekho ubhaar’, ‘Mera husn lootne aaya albela’. When Shamshad gave jhatkas on words like ‘wui ma’, ‘hai daiyya’, ‘hai ram’, he’d put his hands on his heart and exclaim “hai, hai”! On hearing Chitalkar’s ‘Jawani ki rail chali jaaye re’ he’d lose all self-control and emit ear-splitting whistles. Once he came running to my class during recess, grabed my wrist and said “Chal(come)”. Without bothering to answer my “Where?” he dragged me to Jikriya restaurant and told the man at the counter, “Woh naya record lagao!(Play that new record)” Well pleased with confused expression on my face as I Listened to the song, he said,”Abe saaley, ye wohi hai teri ronewaali!”(She's the same one, your crying singer.)
Geeta was singing in a seductive voice – Time is rapidly passing, love and beauty are transient.Youth is short, laugh and enjoy it.

“Husn bhi faani aur ishq bhi faani hai
hanske bitaale, do ghadi ki jawani hai
o re jeenewaale, o re bholebhaale, sona na, khona na
suno gajar kya gaaye, samay gujarta jaaye…”

It was hard to believe that this was the same Geeta who’d sung ‘Ek din humko yaad karoge’ and ‘Mera sundar sapna beet gaya’. This was the start of a new era in Geeta’s career.Her voice acquired a heady, intoxicating quality. It became increasingly apparent that Geeta’s voice was alluring, provocative, sensual.The same S.D.Burman who had recognized the pain in Geeta’s voice and given her sad songs in ‘Do Bhai’ recognized her sensuality and gave her the club dancer’s songs in ‘Baazi’. But the one who later made full use of the sex-appeal in her voice was O.P.Nayyar. Geeta’s voice – a heady brew of teasing flightiness, youth and intoxication - often reminds me of Neeraj’s lines: ‘Shokhiyon mein ghola jaaye phoolon ka shabab, usmein phir milayee jaaye thodisi sharab…’
She was a little younger than Lata.Both arrived on the scene at about the same time. Yet, unlike Lata, right from the start Geeta seemed to be in full bloom. The voices of Zohra, Shamshad, Rajkumari, Ameerbai, Noorjehan, Suraiya, and Surinder Kaur were the mature voices of women.Geeta’s voice, too, was that of a young woman.In Lata, for the first time, was heard the sweet, coaxing, tender voice of a girl.That voice so bewitched everyone that the few new female voices that entered films thereafter were of the same type – Suman Hemmady, Asha Bhosle, Sudha Malhotra, Madhubala Jhaveri, Hemlata, Sulakshana Pandit…Asha’s voice had Shamshad’s sharpness and Geeta’s allure but the type was that of Lata.After all these years Lata’s voice still sounds like a girl’s: smoother and more polished now, with the passage of time, but having lost its earlier softness and vulnerability.
Lata ruled our hearts for years but our love for Geeta never lessened, such was the enchantment of her eternally youthful voice. Lata was sugar, Geeta, sometimes sweet and sometimes spicy. Her voice wasn’t flat; it had depth. Compared to Lata’s it was multi-dimensional. It was changeable, flexible; with the ability to assume any form.Geeta sang ‘Baat chalat nayee chunari rang dali…’ so well that if she hadn’t entered films she could have become a singer to rival Lakshmi Shankar. Was classical music the true form of her voice? But then she’d suddenly become a ‘Jogan’ and sing ‘Main to Giridhar ke ghar jaaon…’
Who wrote that sublime story of a Yogini and the discontented, atheistic young man who created ripples in her quiet life? As I recollect, the film’s credits had a question mark after ‘Story’. Many say that the story of ‘Jogan’ was written by Sardar Chandulal Shah. Dilip Kumar and Nargis’ scenes are still imprinted on my mind. Bulo C.Rani’s music served to enhance the intensity of the film.I liked Talat’s ‘Sundarta ke sabhi shikari, koi nahin hai pujari…’ but the atmosphere of the entire film was permeated with Geeta’s voice.Eyes filled with the kohl of dark clouds and the heart with their thunder…
‘Zara tham ja tu ai sawan…
Mere sajan ko aane de...aane de…aane de…’
I used to like Juthika Roy as a bhajan singer.But her voice tended to sound monotonous. The first time in my life that I was overcome with emotion was when I heard Kabir and Meera in Geeta’s voice.In ‘Jogan’ Geeta’s voice was ethereal, glowing with the touch of the divine, with a mystical spiritual force.
‘Main to Giridhar ke ghar jaaoon
Giridhar mharo sacho preetam
Dekhat roop lubhaooon…’
Her singing was a revelation of the sweetness of love and worship.The eternal love of Meera and Krishna…without him there was not a moment of peace for her:
‘Meri unki preet purani
Un bin kal na paoon…
Main to Giridhar ke ghar jaaoon…’
Geeta had submerged herself in Meera’s ‘sagun’ worship.With equal ease and devotion she sang Kabir’s mystical ‘nirgun’ song:
‘Suney mandir, suney mandir diya jalake
Asan se mat dol re, tohe piya milenge…’
Singing these lines, she created an illusion of the forlorn emptiness of an ancient, vast, cavernous, deserted temple.Bulo C.Rani’s mastery of his craft is shown in his use of not just the sitar but the veena too, as accompaniment.The strings of the sitar dance softly in ‘Main to giridhar ke ghar jaaoon’; in ‘Mat ja, mat ja…’ their solemn resonance creates an atmosphere of frightening silence, of a great tragedy which has just happened before our very eyes. The heart-rending echoes of Geeta’s ‘Jogi’ would pierce the soul, bring tears to the eye.
‘Prem-bhakti ko panth hi nyaaro, humko gail bata ja
Jogi, humko gail bata ja
Chandan ki main chita rachaoon, apne haath jala ja
Mat ja, mat ja, jogi, paon padoon main tore’
This was the destiny of ‘prem-bhakti’! ‘I’ve burnt to ashes. At least anoint yourself with my ash before leaving.’ Those pleas were to fall on deaf ears.He would not remain.Neither did Geeta.
Nargis starred in ‘Jogan’ and Madhubala in ‘Sangdil’.She was a ‘Devdasi’ forbidden to marry.But the suffering, besotted youth in both films was the same – Dilip Kumar. He ‘lived’ both the roles. In ‘Sangdil’ as in ‘Jogan’, the Devdasi sang in Geeta’s voice:
‘Darshan pyaasi aai dasi, jagmag deep jalaye…’
‘Darshan pyasi’ Geeta, in ‘Pyaasa’ thirsts, at a spiritual level, for the embrace of her beloved:
‘Aaj sajan mohe ang lagalo, janam safal ho jaaye
Hriday ki peeda, deh ki agni, sab sheetal ho jaaye…’
Again and again I wonder: Which was the real Geeta? The yogini in white, ektaari(a single-stringed instrument) in hand, completely immersed in devotion, or, the half-naked seductive, intoxicating vamp? The Geeta who introduces herself as ‘Mera naam Chin Chin Chu’ or the one singing ‘Jai Jagdish Hare’? The one who sings ‘Tora manwa kyon ghabraye re, lakh deen dukhiyaare praani jag mein mukti paaye Ramji ke dwar se’ to reassure the frightened, disturbed mortal standing at the temple door, or the Geeta encouraging him to write his destiny with his own hands: ‘Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le, apne pe bharosa hai to ye daav laga le’?


To be continued.