Archive for the ‘Geeta Dutt- Meena Kapoor duet’ Category
Jaa Ri Laadli Apne Ghar Ko
Posted on: November 23, 2022
- In: "Doli" song | bidaai song | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Duet | Feelings of heart | Geeta Dutt - Meena Kapoor NFS | Geeta Dutt songs | Geeta Dutt- Meena Kapoor duet | Guest posts | Lyrics contributed by readers | Meena Kapoor songs | NFS | Post by Sudhir | Rare song | Songs of 1950s (1951 to 1960) | Songs of 1952 | Wedding song | Yearwise breakup of songs
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This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5241 | Post No. : | 17238 |
Today we celebrate a combined anniversary of two singers. Two singers who were contemporary, two singers who were very good friends, two singers whose voices were considered almost similar. It is the birth anniversary of Geeta Dutt (nee Roy), and the remembrance day of Meena Kapoor.
23rd November – Geeta Ji was born in the year 1930 in Idilpur village (now in Bangladesh), into a zamindar family. In early 1940s, they moved to Calcutta (now Kolkata) and then to Bombay (now Mumbai) in mid 1940s. The same date in 2017, Meena ji passed away in Kolkata, after some years of illness. She was in Delhi till 2003, the year when Anil Da (Anil Biswas) passed away, and then she moved to Kolkata.
Geeta ji started her singing career in 1945, with the film ‘Aadhaar’ under the music direction of SN Tripathi. Her last released film is ‘Anubhav’ from 1971, and then ‘Midnight’ from 1972, which remained unreleased.
Meena ji started her career in 1946. Two films with her playback singing were released that year – ‘Door Chalen’ under the music direction of KC Dey, and ‘Eight Days’ under the music direction of SD Burman. Her last singing assignment is recorded for the 1965 film ‘Chhoti Chhoti Baaten’, with music by Anil Biswas.
As I thought of writing a combined post for these two singing ladies, I tried to search for a duet sung by them. As per the Geet Kosh, I am able to locate only three duets they have sung. Two of them are already posted here on our blog. The first one is from the film ‘Aadhi Raat’ (1950) – “Main Ne Balam Se Poochhaa Miloge Kahaan”, and the second one is from the film ‘Jalte Deep’ also from 1950 – “Aayi Milan Ki Raat Karo Meethhi Meethhi Baat”. The third duet listed in Geet Kosh is from 1951 film ‘Ghaayal’. The song is “Tera Kisi Pe Aaye Dil…”. This song is not yet posted on our blog. And for good reason. This song is not yet traceable in public domain. The funny thing is that the song on the ‘palat’ (other) side of the record (GE 8739) is very much available – “Dil Toota Hua, Pal Pal Tujhe Pukaare” (singer is Meena Kapoor) and also posted on our blog. But as I started inquiring yesterday evening from my trusted circle of collector friends, all of the replied that this song is somehow not yet available.
But then today late morning, I got information about two other duet songs of this pair, which was very heartening. Just as a side, film ‘Ghaayal’ of 1951 has one other song in which the voices of these two ladies appear. However, this one is a trio song accompanied by GM Durrani. It is a long song, on both sides of the record (no. GE8740) which means it is about 6 minutes long. I was actually preparing to use this trio song for today’s post, but then I got two responses from two dear friends, both sharing information about one duet song each. Very interesting development indeed.
First I got to see a message from dear Gajendra Khanna ji (Bengaluru based) in which he shared info about another duet song. This one is from the 1948 film ‘Hip Hip Hurray’ (aka ‘Chaube ji’) and the song title is “Hum Jaan Gaye Jaan Gaye Jaan Gaye Ji”. The Geet Kosh does not list the singer names for this song. I tried to confirm this information, checking with another dear friend Zafar Bhai (based in Delhi-6), and he sent me the image of the record of this song. The reason that GK does not list the singer names is because the record itself does not carry these names. On checking back with Gajendra Ji, he shared with me the audio of the song, and said that the identification is based on the voices on the track. So we found another duet song.
And then almost immediately Zafar Bhai also responded with an additional song. This turns out to be a NFS duet, that makes it all the more rare. The fact that there are really very rare duet NFS songs (of any pair of singers), being able to locate one with these two voices, which have otherwise also not sung too many songs together, makes is rarer than rare.
I decided to go ahead with this NFS song, and dear Zafar Bhai immediately obliged by posting it on YouTube. All the additional delays that bring this post to almost 9 pm in the evening, are my doing. :D) :D)
The lyrics of this song are from the pen of Madhukar Rajasthani, an eminent poet of his time. Music is from the mind of Vedpal Verma, one of the lesser heard names in Hindi films, who has otherwise a notable portfolio of 70 songs from about a dozen films (this info is till 1980, and there may be more work done by this MD beyond 1980).
The song is a ‘bidaai’ song. A hoary tradition of this land – a song that is sung to bid farewell to a new bride as she starts her journey to a new home, a new family and a new life partner. The words are so wonderfully appropriate. My identification of the voices is that the first stanza is in the voice of Geeta ji and the second stanza is in the voice of Meena ji. I may be wrong, as I am not a good judge of voices. The record label unmistakably carries both names. In case my identification is in error, please let me know and I will make necessary changes.
In the beginning of the song there are a few lines that have been recited by an unidentified male voice. Could it be the poet himself? I cannot say.
Two very beautiful voices, and two very beautiful ladies. Good friends, but singing together only occasionally. Enjoy this very rare treat of an NFS duet song, with lots of thanks to Zafar Bhai for making my day.
Song – Jaa Ri Laadli Apne Ghar Ko (NFS) (1952) Singer – Geeta Roy (Dutt), Meena Kapoor, Lyrics – Madhukar Rajasthani, MD – Vedpal Verma
Lyrics
kaisa milan ye kaisa bichhudna
kaisa milan ye kaisa bichhudna
kaisi jag ki reet re
kaisi jag ki reet
de di bida mohe hanste hanste
de di bida mohe hanste hanste
kaise hain ye meet
goonj raha kaanon mein ab tak
wahi vidaai geet
ja ri laadli apne ghar ko
yaad hamaari karna
saath tumhaare meri duaaen
phoolo phalo khush rehna
ja ri laadli
oo oo oooo
bachpan ke sab sangi saathi
bachpan ke sab sangi saathi
bhulat naahin bhulaaye
man chhoda babul ki nagri
man chhoda babul ki nagri
tan doli mein jaaye
tan doli mein jaaye
door kahin wo le ke bansi
baar baar ye gaaye
ja ri laadli apne ghar ko
yaad hamaari karna
saath tumhaare meri duaaen
phoolo phalo khush rehna
ja ri laadli
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Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir Kapur)
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कैसा मिलन ये कैसा बिछुड़ना
कैसा मिलन ये कैसा बिछुड़ना
कैसी जग की रीत रे
कैसी जग की रीत
दे दी बिदा मोहे हँसते हँसते
दे दी बिदा मोहे हँसते हँसते
कैसे हैं ये मीत
गूंज रहा कानों में अब तक
वही विदाई गीत
जा री लाड़ली अपने घर को
याद हमारी करना
साथ तुम्हारे मेरी दुआएं
फूलो फलो खुश रहना
जा री लाड़ली
ओ ओ ओ
बचपन के सब संगी साथी
बचपन के सब संगी साथी
भूलत नहीं भुलाए
मन छोड़ा बाबुल की नगरी
मन छोड़ा बाबुल की नगरी
तन डोली में जाये
तन डोली में जाये
दूर कहीं वो ले के बांसुरी
बार बार ये गाये
जा री लाड़ली अपने घर को
याद हमारी करना
साथ तुम्हारे मेरी दुआएं
फूलो फलो खुश रहना
जा री लाड़ली
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusaist of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4511 | Post No. : | 16059 |
kuchh aur zamaana kehta hai kuchh aur hai zidd mere dil ki
main baat zamaane ki maanoon ya baat sunoon apne dil ki
This was the swan song from ‘Chhoti Chhoti Baaten’ (1965) both for the singer and the music director of the song as this was their last film in Mumbai before shifting lock stock and barrel to Delhi in 1963. The playback singer was Meena Kapoor and the music director was Anil Biswas. In relation to her romantic affairs with Anil Biswas in the early 1950s, just like in the above two-liner, she was in a quandary. But her heart was adamant (aur hai zidd mere dil ki) that led to a long partnership with Anil Biswas irrespective of what the society said about their relationship.
Today, November 23rd is the 3rd Remembrance Day of Meena Kapoor. The day also happens to be 90th birth anniversary of Geeta Dutt. Both were born in the year 1930 in Bengal Presidency of British India. Both started their playback singing career in Mumbai in the year 1946 – Geeta Dutt with ‘Bhakt Prahlad’ (1946) and Meena Kapoor with ‘Pul’ (1947) in 1946 though her first released song was from ‘Eight Days’ (1946). The similarities do not end here.
Both Geeta Dutt and Meena Kapoor got recognition as playback singers under S D Burman – Meena Kapoor in ‘Aath Din’ (1946) and Geeta Dutt in ‘Do Bhai’ (1947). Both virtually ended their playback singing career around mid-1960s though there were few spill-over of their songs thereafter. Both had almost similar vocal cords giving an impression to the listeners that their singing voices sound more or less the same. And what was more important was that despite being in the competitive field of playback singing career, both were close friends to such an extent that they both became a part of extended family of Roys and Kapoors.
Unfortunately, their similarities of Geeta Dutt and Meena Kapoor did not reflect in their playback singing career. During their active years (1946-65) of playback singing career, Meena Kapoor’s output (around 175 songs) has no match with that of Geeta Dutt (around 1400 songs). Out of curiosity, I checked the year-wise growth of the playback singing career of both of them beginning with the year 1946 and up to 1955, the year from which Meena Kapoor had Anil Biswas as his life partner, almost retiring from her playback singing career except singing mainly for Anil Biswas. The statistics given in the table below reveal that Geeta Dutt was quite ahead of Meena Kapoor for all the years – both in terms of aggregate number of songs as well as films.
| Year | Geeta Dutt | Meena Kapoor | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Films | Songs | Films | Songs | ||
| 1946 | 12 | 21 | 2 | 5 | |
| 1947 | 22 | 52 | 5 | 9 | |
| 1948 | 37 | 107 | 15 | 43 | |
| 1949 | 34 | 97 | 8 | 15 | |
| 1950 | 50 | 169 | 12 | 17 | |
| 1951 | 30 | 81 | 4 | 11 | |
| 1952 | 42 | 122 | 5 | 8 | |
| 1953 | 25 | 59 | 14 | 27 | |
| 1954 | 25 | 54 | 7 | 10 | |
| 1955 | 34 | 84 | – | – | |
[Source: List of songs of Geeta Dutt from http://www.geetadutt.com counter-checked with http://www.myswar.co and list of songs of Meena Kapoor from http://www.myswar.co]
What could be the reasons for such a significant difference in their output of songs? At the outset, I could not see any reason other than ascribing it to a pure bad luck for Meena Kapoor in the sense that she was born with a voice almost similar to Geeta Dutt. And it was Geeta Dutt’s voice which seems to have been preferred by most of the music directors over that of Meena Kapoor.
In Lata Khubchandani’s article reproduced in RMIM’s Article Archive (No.324), Meena Kapoor had said that she had never been ambitious and she had not taken her music seriously. She also did not make any effort towards furtherance of her playback singing career. Her father, Bikram Kapoor who was a character actor in New Theatre, Kolkata and later in Mumbai, wanted his daughter to excel in singing only after completing her education. When she started living with Anil Biswas sometime in mid-1950s, she was happier as a housewife than pursuing the playback singing profession.
There is an interesting trivia as to how Meena Kapoor met Anil Biswas for the first time. In the interview referred to above, she had revealed that she refused to give audition to Anil Biswas when he was planning to get some songs sung by her for ‘Anokha Pyaar’ (1948) under the recommendation from his brother-in-law, Pandit Pannalal Ghosh. She had already recorded many film songs under many composers. As such, she felt that it was not necessary to her to give a fresh audition to Anil Biswas. It was her father who took a few recorded songs of her to Anil Biswas. After listening to her song, tod gaye haaye tod gaye armaan bhara dil tod gaye from ‘Khel’ (1950) under the music direction of Sajjad Hussain, Anil Biswas called her for rehearsal without audition. This incidence also shows as to how casual Meena Kapoor was in regard to her playback singing career.
Geeta Dutt on the other hand was interested in pursuing the playback singing career in films and her parents encouraged her by arranging music teachers. It was exactly at a time when Meena Kapoor’s restrictive playback singing career due to her education gave opportunity for Geeta Dutt to get a strong foothold as a playback singer as the statistics in the above table reveal. For example, S D Burman after giving two songs to Meena Kapoor in ‘Aath Din’ (1946), he switched over to Geeta Dutt during 1948-55 beside Lata Mangeshkar. It was only after 1957 when Geeta Dutt could not give sufficient time to S D Burman for rehearsals, he switched over to Asha Bhosle (Lata Mangeshkar not singing for him due to some misunderstanding). It is interesting to note that after her marriage with Guru Dutt in 1953, the yearly aggregate number of songs sung by Geeta Dutt post-1953 have fallen mainly due to a stiff competition from Lata Mangeshkar coupled with her domestic compulsion.
Both Geeta Dutt and Meena Kapoor have emotional tone in their voices which suits the genre of poignant and devotional songs. However, going by a large number of songs sung by Geeta Dutt relative to that of Meena Kapoor, the former’s versatilities are evident to general listeners of her songs. Just note as to how S D Burman had been instrumental in making Geeta Dutt a versatile singer. From emotional mera sundar sapna beet gaya in ‘Do Bhai’ (1947) to light-hearted tadbeer se bigdi huyi taqdeer bana le in ‘Baazi’ (1951), to coquettish song, jaane kya toone kahi jaane kya maine suni, teasing song, janoon jaanoon re chhupke kaun aaya in ‘Insaan Jaag Utha’ (1959) and many of her club songs. Her repertoire of songs under other music directors is also large.
Meena Kapoor did not get much opportunities to display her versatilities as her singing output was less than 200 songs as compared to Geeta Dutt’s around 1400 songs. But Meena Kapoor had also a good repertoire of songs like waltz type song, aate hain wo aate hain wo in ‘Chalte Chalte’ (1947), light-hearted meri jaan meri jaan sunday ke sunday in ‘Shehnaai’ (1947), romance in ye samaa ham tum jawaan in ‘Maashooka’ (1953), folk song, rimjhim barse paani aaj more angna in ‘Pardesi’ (1957), Rabindra sangeet, mere chanchal naina madhur ras ke bhare in ‘Angoolimal’ (1960) etc.
With almost similar voice timbre, Geeta Dutt and Meena Kapoor had very few occasions to sing together during their active years of playback singing career as detailed below:
| Films | Songs (Geeta-Meena) | Co-singers | Music Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hip Hip Hurray (1948) | Main jaan gayi jaan gayi | – | Hanuman Prasad |
| Aadhi Raat (1950) | Maine baalam se poochha | – | Hansraj Bahl |
| Jalte Deep (1950) | Aayi milne ki raat | – | Shardul Kwatra |
| Hulchul (1951) | Mile dil aankh sharmaayi | – | Mohd. Shafi |
| Ghaayal (1951) | O rani mainwati -1 | G M Durrani | Gyan Dutt |
| Ghaayal (1951) | O rani mainwati -2 | G M Durrani | Gyan Dutt |
| Ghaayal (1951) | Tera kisi pe aaye dil | – | Gyan Dutt |
Before I conclude my article, I would like to give links of a solo song each of Meena Kapoor and Geeta Dutt for the purpose of their voice comparison. I have deliberately selected the songs of the same genre (Meera bhajans) so that the comparison is on the even keel.
| Meena Kapoor | main birhan baithi jaagoon | ‘Gopinath’ (1948) |
| Geeta Dutt | ae ri main to prem deewaani | ‘Jogan’ (1950) |
After repeatedly listening to these two songs, I can feel some differences in voices but I am unable to explain as to what are the differences. Probably, Meena Kapoor sounds slight nasal in her singing than Geeta Dutt. Of course, musicologists like the late Ashok Ranade would have technically explained their voice differences.
On the occasion of the 90th birth anniversary of Geeta Dutt and 3rd Remembrance Day of Meena Kapoor on November 23, 2020, I am presenting their duet song, aayi milne ki raat karo meethi meethi baat from an obscure film ‘Jalte Deep’ (1950). The song is written by Aziz Kashmiri which is set to music by Shardul Kwatra. The film was produced by R Vasudeva under the banner of Nihal Film Corporation and was directed by Deepak Asha. The star cast included Nimmi, Amarnath, Randhir, Sophia, Deepak, Kuldeep, Leela Mishra etc. The film had 12 songs of which one song has been covered in the Blog.
The voices of Geeta Dutt and Meena Kapoor are so similar that I get a feeling whether the song I am presenting is solo or duet. However, the lyrics do give an impression of a duet and HFGK mentions Geeta Dutt and Meena Kapoor as playback singers for the song.
Since the film’s VCD/DVD is not available, one can listen to the song only on the audio clip. I have a photograph from the film in which Nimmi and Sophia are seen holding a tray each with lamps. Based on the photograph, my guess is that the song may have been picturised on Nimmi and Sophia welcoming their ‘balam’ and ‘sajan’.
Audio Clip:
Song-Aayi milan ki raat karo meethhi meethhi baat(Jalte Deep)(1950) Singers-Geeta Dutt, Meena Kapoor, Lyrics-Aziz Kashmiri, MD-Sardul Kwatra
Lyrics
aayi milne ki raat
karo meethhi meethhi baat
tumhen meri kasam
o mere achhe balam
aayi milne ki raat
karo meethhi meethi baat
tumhen
o tumhe meri kasam
o mere achhe balam
aayi milne ki raat
karo meethhi meethhi baat
raat hai suhaag ki
chhaayi hai bahaar sajan
chhaayi hai bahaar
nainwa se phoot pada
meethha meethha pyaar
nainwa se phoot pada
meetha meetha pyaar
zara thhaamo ji haath
karo meethhi meethhi baat
tumhen
o tumhe meri kasam
o mere achhe balam
aayi milne ki raat
karo meethhi meethhi baat
tumhen meri kasam
o mere achhe balam
aayi milne ki raat
karo meethhi meethhi baat
taaron ne dekh liya tera mera mel sajan
tera mera mel
ankhiyon ne khel liya naya naya khel
ankhiyon ne khle liya naya naya khel
zara thhaamo ji haath
karo meethhi meethhi baat
tumhen
o tumhe meri kasam
o mere achhe balam
aayi milne ki raat
karo meethhi meethhi baat
o tumhen meri kasam
o mere achhe balam
aayi milne ki raat
karo meethhi meethhi baat
“Aadhi Raat” (1950) is an obscure movie, but this movie has some awesome songs in it, as I have discovered while discussing the songs from this movie. I have so far discussed two songs from this movie.
Read more on this topic…
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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