"The Moving Finger Writes..."

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


‘Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le’ brings back memories of the ‘Baazi’ days.Geeta’s and mine.Even at that time people would confuse tadbeer and taqdeer. ‘Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le’ or ‘Taqdeer se bigdi hui tadbeer bana le’? When Geeta passed away, all the papers mentioned this song but the confusion remained. One even printed it as ‘Taqdeer se bigdi hui tasveeer bana le’! Poor Sahir.Club dancer Geeta Bali sings this song to encourage Dev Anand who has lost his all while gambling:
‘Darta hai zamane ki nigahon se bhala kyon
Insaaf tere saath hai, ilzaam utha le
Apne pe bharosa hai to ye daav laga le’


‘Baazi’ marked Sahir’s re-entry into films.He’d written this song in the form of a ghazal but Burman’s tune was western.This song of Geta’s became so popular that a wave of similar songs followed. Baazi created a new trend in film music.The credit for that goes, along with S.D.Burman, to Geeta’s multi-faceted voice.’Suno gajar kya gaaye’ from Baazi would create such tension –
‘Bichada zamana kabhi haath na aayega
Dosh na dena mujhe, phir pachtayega’
Geeta would lengthen the last syllable and give a slight jhatka on it. Geeta Bali’s dance on ‘Tip tip tip tip’ was attractive:
‘Dekh ke akeli mohe barkha sataye re
Gaalon ko chumey, kabhi cheetein udaaye re
Tip tip tip tip tip tip…’
Geeta’s naughty tone and Geeta Bali’s acting gelled wonderfully.
Baazi’s heroine Kalpana Kartik was neither beautiful nor an accomplished actress. Later, when we heard that Dev Anand had married her, we unanimously held Geeta responsible.In fact, at that time rumours were rife about Dev Anand and Suraiya’s romance.
In Baazi, Dev Anand came into Kalpana Kartik’s life and her heart started pounding.She expressed her happiness in Geeta’s voice:
‘Ye kaun aaya ki mere dil ki duniya mein bahar aayeeee’
Geeta’s voice, overflowing with joy, climbed higher and higher at‘eeee’.
‘Dulhan banke jawani ki umangein gungunati hai
Basa hai kaun aankhon mein ki aankhen muskurati hai
Bikharke kis ki baahon pe ye meri zulf lehrayee
Ye kaun aaya…’
The loving entreaty Geeta conveyed in her pronunciation of ‘baalam’ in the line ‘Tum bhi na bhoolo baalam, hum bhi na bhoolein’from ‘Lakh zamanewale dale dilon pe taalein’ touched the heart.With dreams in her eyes Kalpana poured her heart out to Dev in Geeta’s voice:
‘Dil ki kahani apni zubani, tumko sunane aayee hoon
Aankhon mein leke sapne suhane apna banane aayee hoon
Aaj ki raat piya dil na todo, man ki baat piya man lo
Aj ki raat piyaaaa…’
Geeta’s pleas were so sincere, so heartfelt that Dev was unable to break Kalpana’s heart.We used to laugh that Dev wouldn’t have married Kalpana had it not been for Geeta’s singing.
Baazi’s director was Guru Dutt.Was it because he stepped into Geeta’s life that she sang ‘Ye kaun aaya ki mere dil ki duniya mein bahar aayee’? Was it love which caused her to sing
‘Achanak ye mere haathon mein kis ka haath aaya hai
Na main janoon, na dil jaane, wo apna hai ya paraya hai…’?
And was she serenading him with ‘Man ki baat piya maan lo’? Only Geeta knows!
Then came Guru Dutt’s ‘Jaal’.Though it was Dev Anand, Geeta Bali and S.D.Burman’s film, it wasn’t fully Geeta’s. Lata sang ‘Ye raat ye chandni phir kahaan’ with Hemant Kumar but Geeta sang the light duet with Kishore Kumar.When Kishore sang ‘De bhi chuke hum dil nazrana’ Geeta would brush him off with ‘Chhodo ji ye raag purrana dil ka…’Geeta sang ‘purrana’ ( for purana ), ‘acchha’, ja ja’ with all the teasing allure that suited Geeta Bali right down to the ground.She also sang in a chorus song in Jaal:’Jor lagake haiya, pair jamake haiya…’
Geeta’s voice rarely conjures up images of Meena Kumari or Waheeda Rehman.The mind sees Kamini Kaushal or Geeta Bali.Geeta was heard in Guru Dutt-Geeta Bali’s ‘Baaz’ too, in her challenging
‘Zara saamne aa, zara aankh mila
Tera shukriya kar doon ada…’
Kishore Kumar would often repeat a line of a song at a higher pitch, e.g. in ‘Are bhai nikal ke aa gharse’ and ‘Apne labon pe dekho aaj bhi tarane hai-dan dar dan dar dan dar da’. In the song ‘Maajhi albele’ from Baaz, Geeta, too, has similarly sung the line ‘Man ki naiya dagmag dole’ at a higher pitch. In Guru Dutt-Geeta Bali’s ‘Sailaab’ there’s a Geeta song which transports one to a different plane:
‘Hai ye duniya kaunsi, ai dil mujhe kya ho gaya…’
When Shami Kapoor entered Geeta Bali’s life in ‘Coffee House’ she warned him in Geeta’s voice:
‘Is mehfil mein aana bachke…’
And in Geeta Bali-Raj Kapoor’s ‘Bawre nain’ is the evergreen ‘Khayalon mein kisike is tarah aaya nahin karte’ which Geeta has sung (with Mukesh) for Vijayalakshmi.
Kamini Kaushal starred in ‘Do Bhai’, as she did in ‘Shagun’ in which she was paired with Dilip Kumar.Apprehensive that he might run away at night, unknown to him, she ties a rope to him and keeps the other end in her hand. As soon as he tries to tiptoe away at night, she pulls the rope, he stumbles, and she asks him in Geeta’s voice:
‘Mera dil tadpake kahaan chala
Itna to batake ja…’
Shabnam also had a Geeta-Mukesh duet that spoke of the pain of separation:
‘Kismat mein bichadna tha, hui kyon unse mulaqat re…’
Na roothke humse ja, ki mera dil nahi mere pas re…’
Then swims before my eyes Kamini Kaushal’s innocent face singing ‘Tu kaun hai ye maaloom nahi, phir dil kyon tujhe bulata hai…’, and sometimes Bina Rai in Anarkali – ‘Aa jaane-e-wafa’, ‘Duniya ki nazar ishq ke kadamon pe jhuka de’.Geeta singing for Nirupa Roy in ‘Har har Mahadev’ – ‘Kankar kankar se main poochoon Shankar mera kahaan hai’, or asking with pleasurable anticipation ‘Gungun gungun karta bhanwara, tum kaun sandesa laaye’.
When Waheeda Rehman and Meena Kumari sang Geeta’s songs, she was no longer at the summit.Lata-Asha had overtaken her and Geeta was on the downslide. When Waheeda became ‘Chaudveen Ka Chand’, Geeta had been eclipsed to the point where she was not heard in Guru Dutt’s own film.
S.D.Burman was the music directorfor Guru Dutt’s ‘Baazi’ and ‘Jaal’; but for ‘Aarpaar’ came O.P.Nayyar. Nayyar made Geeta sing in her intoxicating tone for ‘Aarpaar’:
‘Haan bade dhoke hain is raah mein
Babuji dheere chalna, pyar mein jara sambhalna’
Asha Bhosle’s ‘Man more gaa jhoomke’ from Nayyar’s ‘Mangu’ which came later, reminded me of ‘Babuji dheere chalna’.Geeta’s ‘haaan’ and Asha’s ‘gaaa’ had the same zing.But Asha sometimes allowed her voice to sound a little cheap, or vulgar.This was never the case with Geeta.She was seductive, sensual ,yes, but never cheap. Her surrender in ‘Ye lo main hari piya, hui teri jeet re…’ when newly in love sounded very sweet. Nayyar’s ‘Aasman’ did not have the style of ‘Aarpaar’ but Geeta’s ‘Dekho jaadubhare more nain’ and ‘Dil hai diwana’ were lovely.The music of Geeta’s ‘Pom pom baaja bole’ from the same film used to be played in Binaca Geet Mala.
Till Asha arrived on the scene, Nayyar’s songs were heard in Geeta’s voice. Sometimes she’d ask ‘Jaata kahaan hai deewane’ and sometimes relate her love story in ‘Aankhon hi aankhon mein ishaara ho gaya’. Sometimes she’d plead ‘Acchha ji maaf kar do’ or ‘Tumhi ne dard diya hai tumhi dawa dena’.’Thandi hawa kali ghata’ from Mr. & Mrs. 55 was popular but my favourite was ‘Preetam aan milo’.
In fact C.H.Atma’s Saigal-style rendition of ‘Preetam aan milo’was justly famous; but Geeta did not suffer in comparison. No one could forget the longing, the anguish in her ‘Preetam aan milo’. Lata-Asha lost to male singers, not Geeta.When the same song was sung by Lata/Asha and a male singer, their songs faded from memory while the male singer’s version became famous. Kishore’s ‘Jeevan ke safar mein rahi milte hai bichad jaane ko’ is far better known than Lata’s. Talat’s ‘Jaaye to jaaye kahaan’ eclipsed Lata’s version.His ‘Ae gham-e-dil kya karoon’ from Thokar is far better known than Asha’s. More such examples can be given. This never happened to Geeta. Her despairing ‘Kaise koi jiye, zeher hai zindagi’from ‘Badbaan’, set to music by Timir Baran and S.K.Pal, is remembered more than Hemant Kumar’s. Her ‘Hai ye duniya kaunsi ai dil mujhe kya ho gaya’ from ‘Sailab’ comes to mind far more than Hemant Kumar’s. Though Hemant Kumar has sung ‘Na ye chand hoga na taare rahenge’ as well as Geeta, it is Geeta’s that haunts us:
‘Nazar dhoondhati thi jise pa liya hai
Ummeedon ke phoolon se daman bhara hai
Ye din humko sab din se pyaare rahenge…’
This Geeta-Hemant Kumar duet from ‘Shart’ had entranced me at that time. It’s hard to believe that this soft, sentimental song was written by the same lyricist who wrote songs like ‘Kajra mohabbatwala, ankhiyon mein aisa dala, kajre ne le li meri jaan’ for O.P.Nayyar – S.H.Bihari. Even today, when I hear ‘Na ye chand hoga’ my mind is troubled by the memory of an unknown lover.A piece of news I’d read long ago buried in the inner pages of a newspaper. A broken-hearted young man, unsuccessful in love, committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train. In his pocket was found a piece of paper addressed to the girl he’d loved. It bore only the following lines:
‘Zamana agar kuch kahe bhi to kya
Magar tum na kehna humein bewafa
Tumhare liye hai, tumhare rahenge
Na ye chand hoga, na taare rahenge
Magar hum hamesha tumhare rahenge…’

Then there was Geeta’s sweet love song with Hemant Kumar from ‘Shrimatiji’ – ‘Do naina tumhare pyare pyare, gagan ke tare karein ye ishaarein, dil dil se milayenge’. And the duet in ‘Hum Bhi Insaan Hai’ which she’d sung with Subir Sen, whose voice resembled Hemant Kumar’s, - ‘Gori tore natkhat naina, vaar karein, chhup jaayein...’
In Hemant Kumar’s ‘Sahib, Bibi Aur Ghulam’ ‘chhoti bahu’ Meena Kumari’s mute suffering found an outlet in Geeta’s voice – the poignant voice of a lonely woman who has waited long…far too long:
‘Jiya bujha bujha, naina thake thake…
Piya dheere dheere chale aao…
Koi door se awaaz de, chale aao…chale aao…chale aao…chale aao…’
Meena, adorning, anointing herself to win the love of her fickle, adulterous husband:
‘Piya aiso jiya mein samay gayo re
Ki main tan-man ki sudhbudh ganwaay baithee…
Har aahat pe samjhi wo aaye gayo re
Jhat ghunghat mein mukhda chhupa baithee…’
Meena realizing that even drinking alcohol at his behest has failed to stop him:
‘Na jao saiyan chhudake baiyan
Kasam tumhari main ro padoongi…’
In both the early and the latter parts of Geeta’s career the songs she recorded for S.D.Burman became popular.Her songs from ‘Pyaasa’ and ‘Kagaz Ke Phool’, both Guru Dutt films with music by S.D.Burman, could be heard everywhere.After all these years I still feel like humming Geeta’s song from Burman’s ‘Pyaar’ starring Raj Kapoor and Nargis. Nargis sings this song on her way to an assignation with raj:
‘Aa gayee re aa gayee
Banke ki ranee aa gayee’
Geeta’s voice brims with enthusiasm and ecstasy. Her dreamy tone said it all – ‘Wo sapnewali raat, milan ki raat kabhi to aayegi…’. As an aside, in ‘Pyaar’ Kishore gave playback for Raj Kapoor. He’d sung a sad song:’Mohabbat ka chhotasa aashiana, kisine banaya, kisine mitaya…’. In Burman’s ‘Sujata’ Geeta had sung ‘Bachpan ke din bhi kya din the’ (with Asha) and ‘Nanhi pari sone chali’. Her ‘Aan milo, aan milo’ from ‘Devdas’ was unforgettable. And Asha-Geeta’s conversational duet of two friends who’ve divined each other’s secret, written by Shailendra for ’Insaan Jaag Utha’:
‘Jaanu jaanu re kahe khanke hai tora kangana
Main bhi jaanu re chupke kaun aaya tore angana’
In ‘Pyaasa’ Waheeda sings as if to mesmerise Guru Dutt:
‘Jaane kya tune kahi, jaane kya maine suni
Baat kuch ban hi gayee…’
The allure, the solicitation in Geeta’s voice and Burman’s creativity in using Chinese blocks made this song distinctive.And Geeta’s mischievousness in her duet with Rafi – Rafi would ask ‘Hum aapki aankhon mein is dil ko basa de to’? To which Geeta would reply ‘Hum moond ke palkon ko is dil ko saja de to’? And the same Geeta entreating her beloved to shower her with love to soothe the ache in her heart, to quench the fire in her body:
‘Aaj sajan mohe ang laga lo…’
After ‘Pyaasa’ came ‘Kagaz Ke Phool’ – another lyrical film. Like ‘Pyaasa’, ‘Kagaz Ke Phool’ too was unforgettable.And even if one somehow managed, with great effort, to forget everything else about it, how could one forget Geeta’s
‘Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam
Tum rahe na tum, hum rahe na hum’
Two minds passionately drawn towards each other, yet unaware of what they seek, of their destination, knitting dreams with each breath…
‘Jaayenge kahaan soojhta nahin, chal pade magar rasta nahin
Kya talash hai kuch pata nahin
Bun rahein hai dil khwab dum-ba-dum
Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam…’


To be continued.