Geeta Dutt, a name that always brings up melodious renditions from the past and conjures up an unforgettable magic of nostalgic good old times. Born in 1930 with a keen ear and a honeyed voice, it didn't take long for her parents to recognize her talent and love for singing and thus, arranged for her professional training under the music master Shri Harendranath Nandi.
Background
Daughter of Debendranath Ghosh Roy Chowdhary and Amiya Devi, Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhary (Geeta Dutt after marriage) was born on November 23, 1930 in a rich zamindar family and was one of the ten children. Admitted to a village school in the district, she hardly showed any interest in studies but was infectiously drawn towards the songs sung by the boatmen and loved to hum them all day long. Her parents recognized her melodious vocals and asked Shri Harendranath Nandi (a relative) to give her music lessons. But her music training couldn't continue for long as she had to shift to Mumbai along with her family in 1942. Due to financial deprivation, her family couldn't afford a music teacher. But not the one to give up easily, young Geeta she continued to practice and sing on her own and at the same time, continued her education in the Bengali High School of Bombay. It was pure destiny that Pandit Hanuman Prasad happened to be passing by her house when he heard her singing, enquired about her with the family, and offered her a chance to sing in the mythological film 'Bhakta Prahlad' (1946). History was made as the Hindi film industry got a new versatile playback singer in Geeta.
Education
She was admitted to a village school in the district.
Career
In 1946 Geeta sung for two more of Hanuman Prasad's albums 'Raseeli' and 'Nai Maa'. Her big break came in the year 1947 when Sachin Dev Burman heard her sing in 'Bhakta Prahlad', met her, and asked her to sing for his upcoming film 'Do Bhai'. Not only did he offer her to sing, he also made her the principal singer for the album with 6 songs (four solos and two duets); against the advice of many of his friends. The song "mera sundar sapna beet gaya" became an instant classic and the sale of the music album reached soaring heights. This marked the beginning of many more hits to come. Many other music directors like O.P. Nayyar, Anil Biswas, Hemant Kumar, Bulo C Rani, Khemchand Prakash, Vasant Prakash, Gyan Dutt, Ram Ganguly, Shaukat Hussain, Ghulam Haider etc used her voice for their films.
From 1947-1949, Geeta continued to grow in popularity and her versatility and ability to effortlessly shift from mythological song to a sad song to a seductive jazz track was well known among the film circle. Even when Lata Mangeshkar took the industry and fans by storm by giving her vocals to three back to back hit albums of 'Barsaat', 'Andaz', and 'Mahal'; Geeta managed to hold her own and the two along with Shamshad Begum, became the three leading playback singers of Hindi film industry. A 1951 film directed by the first time director Guru Dutt, the music of which became a rage with many runaway hits with one song that shone particularly "tadbir se bigdi hui taqdeer bana de" added all new dimensions of sensuousness and suavity to Geeta's singing capabilities. Dev Anand stated that it was this song that made people watch the film more than once. And it was because of this song that Geeta was offered many other tracks in the same genre of club/cabaret and she continued to excel in each of the tracks.