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

Thanks to Mr Lalwani for another interesting article on SDB, in my opinion the best MD ever of our film industry.

I had never before heard “Hamen chhod piya kis des gaye”. Two observations. Gita’s voice and singing both lacked the virtuosity that she shortly displayed in “Mera sundar sapna”. I find it surprising that Filmistan’s bosses agreed to Gita singing for Do Bhai on the former evidence. It is also surprising that within such a short time span she took a quantum jump to the levels of Mera Sundar Sapna, the best song of the year.

Apropos of the theme of a recent article by AK, Gita repeatedly pronounces “bhul” for “bhool” in the first song. Is that so in Bengali? Or a demand of the metre? I wonder how SDB himself and the film’s producers/director allowed such an in-the-face incongruity.

Along the fifties and maybe a few years of the sixties Geeta Dutt was one of the three main female singers for SD and the outcome with her was extremely promising. But later in the sixties for reasons unknown she was replaced but her solos and duets particularly with Rafi were very good. Please bring out a post on her duets for SD.

So are there two different versions of the song?

Dear Dr Lalwani, thanks for this wonderful article covering my favourite composer and favourite singer. I had no idea Dada stuck his neck out so much for Geeta. Thanks for this insight and the songs.

You have left us thirsting for more. Waiting for your next article.

AK @12
From what I have heard and I could be wrong, film songs were usually recorded on sound film first. Then the recording was done again for discs later. Originally I think it was on lacquer discs with a disc cutter and then on magnetic tape.
You will notice in the older songs often the orchestration is different in the film and on the record. Additionally the physical limits of a 78 rpm record meant that songs on the disc were sometimes cut short, preludes, interludes, postludes and sometimes even parts of the songs , including entire verses were left out.
This travesty of deleting musical portions continued even into the 1970s when the need to do this was not necessary. By the late 1950s you could transfer the optical recordings directly onto a master tape without having to do two recordings.
And it was even worse when people moved these recordings to CDs. There are some remastered CDs that I would use as tea coasters than rather than play them, save for the fact that unfortunately they are the only recordings I have. Our recording company executives did not respect sound.

SSW @14;

I entirely agree with you. Slipping of Music Discs are as bad as …Slip Discs . Its so irritating….all the pleasure of listening goes in vain in a second ! The CD s are now worth only to Rickshaw pullers …..using them as light reflectors at night.

I still have in my possession music cassettes [ and AK knows that] ….a great way to listen…..with orchestra playing right notes in a stereo or Dolby system . With cassettes recorders still working …its a great pleasure.

Venkatraman ji ;

After embracing the sensation of flying with Geeta Dutt song here are some ….a paused one at a low feeling .If listening is our passion, pursue every kind of happiness without hesitation!

Geeta Dutt: Yaad karoge ek din humko yaad karoge : Film – Do Bhai (1947)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN0Knh8uLlU

Aaj Ki Raat Piya – Baazi 1951

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1HGxYVSTi0

I have great respect for our Radio of the 50’s who played all those beautiful numbers . A mini radio by any standards ; but a great voice master ….Phillips [ Holland].

Mr.Bhatia @16. I did not mean that all CDs are bad. Some are quite good. However there were quite a few that were made including some compilations by SaReGaMa that were sold for a large sum but had pitiful sound. It was as if the people who transferred recordings to the CDs were tone deaf.

That leads me to the following conclusion.
Geeta Roy came to Bombay with her parents when she was twelve and I believe she was admitted in a Bengali High School most probably in Dadar. So it was likely that her natural Bengali pronunciation remained with her when she first recorded the song ‘Hum Chod Piya Kis des gaye’ for Do Bhai. She must have been around 15/16 years then. She must have brushed up her Hindi/Urdu in due course.

SSW & AKji,

Now let me revert back to the topic on Geeta Roy’s recording for Do Bhai.
A recap first:
The year of release was 1947. Film songs were recorded in studio on sound film. And after that HMV had no way of transferring the song/ music from the film. So the musicians used to come to the HMV studio and record the song again. And you (SSW) have said the same thing.

But a query lurks in mind and bothers me. Had Geeta Roy recorded the film version first and then the disc version then how could she make the mistake in pronunciation while recording for the second time, when her pronunciation during the first take for the film was OK. If separate recordings were done, then it could have been the other way round too. SO again my assumption would be, the disc version was recorded first, where she makes the mistake and later gets noticed and corrected during the recording of the film version.

Geeta (Roy)Dutt had a unique and wonderful voice. That he went to her house and persuaded her father to let the 16 year old to sing in his film shows Sachinda’s ability to spot talent and his conviction.
Abrar Alvi,in his book, says that the original idea to record’Jane woh kaise log the’ in Hemant Kumar’s voice came from Geeta Dutt. Sachinda accepted it. That shows that he had confidence in her judgement.
It is sad that the HFM lovers were deprived of the full potential of Geeta Dutt’s music due to her marital problems and alcohol

It is now ten days since this article was posted. I was dilly-dallying after what happened in the first article. But, Giriji’s comment made me rethink. Giriji is a respected member here and has perhaps literally believed in the story being presented here. As a result, I thought I should present some facts.

According to the story SDB heard the one line in chorus and recognised the talent and gave her break in Do Bhai. Another fact given here is that Hanuman Prasad used to compose for mythological films. Hanuman Prasad gave music in 14 films in the 1940s. I provide here the names of these films. Chowrangee (with Qazi Nazrul Islam), Draupadi, Gaali(with Sajjad Hussain), Bhakt Prahlad (with KC Verma), Jeena Seekho, Nai Maa, Rasili, Jasoos, Hip Hip Hurray, Middle Fail, Chilman, Daulat, Apni Chhaya (with Husnlal-Bhagatram) and Bhool Ka Shikar. Readers can make out how many of them are mythological films. But, the script is being written for Baazi change made by SDB in her career. So poor Geeta has to be shown as typed for devotional songs because of that one line in the chorus in a bhajan and sad songs for ‘mera sundar sapna beet gaya’. And we have to believe that because as AK says Lalwaniji is an authority on SDB.

It is a well known fact that in 1946. the records did not even have name of the main singer, leave aside that of a chorus singer. Then how come SDB came to find who was the talented singer through that one line. This story would have gone unchallenged but for HFGK and Youtube. which are a spoil-sport for most of anecdotes of this type. So, we from those twi sources know that Geeta sang 8 songs in 1946 itself and Hanuman Prasad gave her 3 more duets in Nai Maa and Rasili in the same year. Anil Biswas gave her two solos in Dilip Kumar starrer Milan which was released in 1946. In my opinion SDB came to know about Geeta through Biswas or her songs in that film which was a mediocre hit, though the main singer was Parul Ghosh. In 1947, Geeta became an instant craze and sang 37 songs, which was fifth best for all singers male or female. Male singers had very few songs in those times and only Shamshad Begum, Zohrabai, Ameerbai and Rajkumari were above Geeta in numbers. In such a situation, there was no surprise that Filmistan people and SDB – who were all Bengalis except Chunilal who was rarely involved in such minor things – wanted to take Geeta for songs. I dont know how much truth is there in the ‘resistance to Geeta’ theory. Also there was hardly any surprise in SDB going to Geeta’s house, she being still a child and they being Bengalis from the same area which is now in Bangladesh.

The statement that she was type cast for bhajans or sad songs or that she sang 12 solo bhajans in Jogan, is as true as the one which said Hanuman Prasad gave music only for mythological films. I think Lalwaniji either did not listen any of the Jogan songs which were not bhajans of meera or he did just copy-paste some other’s words. Film’s name being Jogan does not mean all songs are bhajans. There are only 6 Meera bhajans out of the 12 songs by Geeta. Songs like ‘daro re rang daro re rasiya, phagun ke din aaye re’, ‘jara tham ja ae sawan, mere sajan ko aane de’ and ‘chanda khele ankh micholi, badli se nadi kinare’ are all light and merry songs. Besides these the song ‘gend khelun gend khelun kanhan ke sang’ is a child song. Jogan was a bigger success than Baazi or Do Bhai.

I post here two songs from film Darogaji, songs of which were composed by Bulo C Rani and which had Nargis like Jogan and which was also a successful film.
Kotwal daroga apna ki ab dar kahe ka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dR4LqBPbkc
Ho jawaniya nigodi sataye haye
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azOMB2Dekbk

Even SDB gave her a light song ‘mere mohan ne mujhko bulaya’ in Dil Ki Rani.

I would write about Baazi and Sahir and SDB-Geeta combo later.

Giriji
Thanks for the reply. You may not have data, but your knowledge is reflected in your comment above as well as in other comments. As AK says those who talk less or do not talk, does not mean they dont know about things.

This is in continuation of my comment 28. I had given links to a couple of songs of Geeta and Mumbaikar has given another. I had also listed some songs of the same type. If Lalwaniji still insists that Geeta Dutt was typed for bhajans and sad songs, I can give dozens of songs which would prove otherwise.

Before coming to Baazi, I would give some stats of both Geeta Dutt and SDB which will show where they stood at the end of 1950. First SDB. From 1946 to 50, SDB gave music in 11 films out of which nothing is known about Chittor Vijay. So we can say there were 10 films for which he composed music for 88 songs out of which details are not known for 2 songs – one each in Shikari and Pyar. Out of these 65 were solos ( 46 female and 19 male ) and 21 duets(break up is male-female 18, female-female 1, male-male 1 and one all female triad). Female solos he gave to 8 singers of which Lata had 2, Lalita Deulkar 3 and Meena Kapoor 1 and the remaining 40 were distributed among five singers Geeta Dutt getting the lions share with 17. Geeta was also given 8 duets. He gave the 19 solos to 11 male singers, which shows he was not sure to whom to give his male songs. He was also confused in the matter of male-female duets where he used 14 different pairs for the 18 songs. The result of all this was that he had very few hit songs, though there are a number of other quality songs which I like. But, one thing is sure the great composer we now know was not yet born.

As per records with me, Geeta Dutt sang 382 songs by the end of 1950 in 122 films and under about 50 Music Directors. Since she had only 46 songs in the first two years, the remaining 336 she got in the three years from 1948-50. By that time she was clearly in the top 3 along with Lata Mangeshkar and Shamshad Begum. Great singers like Zohrabai, Amirbai and Rajkumari had been pegged back by her even before the Lata Tsunami struck in 1949. Meena Kapoor who came almost with her was left behind along with some other also rans. So if we cannot call a singer among top 3 as an established singer, then what would be the criteria for calling her so.

SDB certainly had a big role, but he had only 25 songs out of the 382, which is about 8 percent. Bulo C Rani with 41, Hans Raj Behl with 37, Husnlal Bhagatram with 31 and Gyan Dutt with 29 gave more songs to her than SDB. During this period she was given songs by greats like CR, KCP, Ghulam Haider, Ghulam Mohammad, Shyam Sunder, Avinash Vyas, Chitragupta, Nashad, Vinod, Anil Biswas, Sajjad Kussain, Shankar Rao Vyas, SN Tripathi, Vasant Desai, Shardul Kwatra, S Mohinder, Khursheed Anwar and Gobind Ram. Roshan gave her the all time great duet with Mukesh ‘khyalon men kisi ke’ and Naushad also used her for a small song clip of ‘tu mera chand main teri chandani’.

So from the above it is clear who needed whom. SDB was not settled but Geeta was already settled in her position. To say that in Baazi SDB gave her the songs she got is all bunkum. Geeta Bali played the night club dancer and she got 4 songs, so they were not going to be bhajans or sad songs. SDB could have decided the story, script and situations if he was the producer director of the film. So the principal gainer from the success of Baazi music was SDB himself and Geeta Dutt had a great role in his success. Most of the friends at SOY have agreed from time to time that composer, lyricist and singer have equal share in the success of the song. So if Geeta owes something to SDB, then he also owes her something.

From further stats I will show SDB had no love for Geeta and as soon as he got the alternative, he dumped her mercilessly. Lata was, after the side effect of 1949, so awfully busy that she recorded around 600 songs (1200 if we take double recordings) in the first 3 years of the 50s, starting 1951. I will give here comparative stats bifurcating them.

1946-50 Geeta got 25 songs as I told earlier and Lata got only 2. In 1951-52, Geeta got 12+4=16 songs (just 10 more besides the 6 in Baazi), Lata got 17+6=23 and Asha got a look in with 2+1=3. In 1953-54 Geeta suddenly goes behind both sisters and gets just nominal 5+2=7 songs, while Lata gets 27+4=31 songs and Asha gets 12+2=14 songs. In 1955-57 Geeta may look to be making a revival courtesy her husband’s Pyasa with 8+7=15 songs, but Lata 21+2=23 and Asha 14+11=25 both beat her easily. In 1958-60 despite Lata’s absence and forced calls to Geeta, she still lags miles behind Asha who got 28+27=55 songs compared to Geeta’s 5+8=13, while Lata got only 3 solos in Sitaron Se Aage. In 60s his contribution to Geeta tally was a female-female duet with Asha in Doctor Vidya and a duet with Manna Dey in Ziddi. After this he never remembered her, despite her helpless situation after the death of Guru Dutt. A visit to her house ‘a la’ the much publicised visit for Do Bhai was the need of the hour.

Geeta Dutt was such a great artist and one of the nicest person in public life, put so much effort for SDB which came to naught and now his fans are insulting her by dubbing her a typed singer of the 40s. I think there needs to be a post on her songs from 1946-50. I would request Subodh – for whom she is the best female singer – to do that. I can provide stats. If he does not agree, Dr Shetty can take this up, because he has also declared her his most favourite singer. Such a post would go a long way in bringing matters in the right perspective.

It is amusing to read continuing tirade of Hansji against SDB
There are number of claims made which can be contested with facts & statistics ( though statistics can be used as a lamppost)
Take for instance his question
How many hits of SDB where Dev Anand was not a producer or hero?
Answer
Aradhana
Prem Nagar
Jugnu
Jiddi
Chalti ka Naam Gadi
All considered superhits
Sharmilee
Abhiman
Chupke Chupke
Talash
Mili
Anurag
Mashaal
Do Bhai
All considered above average to hit
It is also surprising that when Naushad does not use Talat even after stupendous success of Babul it is regarded as Naushad establishing Talat & when SDB uses Rafi till Chupke Chupke (though not in the same proportion ) it is SDB using Rafi for enhancing his career
It is also surprising that even after ‘ditching’ every bigwig as quoted by Hansji SDB could continue to work till his death .

Dr Pradeep Kumar Shetty ji @ 1
Dr Pradeep Kumar Shetty ji @ 1
Suhrid kar had assisted S.D. Burman in the following 8 films as per the film titles:
Vidya 1948
Baazi 1951
Naujawan 1951
Madh Bhare Nain 1955
Munimji 1955
Miss India 1957
Pyaasa 1957
Paying Guest 1957

As SDB was very selective about taking work – having declined offers from Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt and Hrishikesh Mukherjee among others, his assistants kept on changing, but his music never suffered.

Suhrid Kar, like other assistants, became full-fledged music director and SDB was very supportive of them in taking up independent offers.

AK and Dinesh @ 7

Bhool became bhul, as it is copied from a slow playing vinyl record. That could be the reason.

Mehfil Mein Meri ji @ 9,

Please be kind enough to share with me the link of your 5 articles, and anything else on SDB. I may have read some of your writings, as the name MMM is very familiar.

Thanks.

N Venkataraman ji @ 23

Just a clarification. You wrote, “U K Dubey, who was HMV’s national vice-president for artists and repertory, endorses this point. Mr Dubey was a long time associate as percussion arranger for S D Burman and for many more MDs.”

I talked to U. K Dubey, the rhythm arranger, whom we have interviewed a few times, and uploaded videos on YouTube. He was a solo player (Dholak) with SDB and most of other music directors. Now he leads a semi retired life, sometimes arranging for Uttam Singh.

He clarified that the other Dubey was V. K. Dubey, who was Vice President of HMV.