{"id":1985,"date":"2015-07-20T22:09:06","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T16:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=1985"},"modified":"2023-07-20T17:31:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T12:01:58","slug":"the-language-versatility-of-geeta-dutt-a-rare-depth-of-feeling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/the-language-versatility-of-geeta-dutt-a-rare-depth-of-feeling\/","title":{"rendered":"The Language Versatility of Geeta Dutt – A Rare Depth of Feeling"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Geeta<\/a>

Other than Hindi and Bengali, Geeta Dutt sang in Gujarati, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Nepali and Maithili languages<\/p><\/div>\n

It is a common (and incorrect) perception that the legendary playback singer Geeta Dutt sang only for Hindi films. Her Bengali songs are very popular as well, both film and non-film. Having stayed in Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra, Geeta was a fluent speaker of Marathi and Gujarati. She had a great talent of learning new languages. Many music lovers will be surprised to know that she has sung in Gujarati, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Nepali and Maithili languages. Let us try to explore this wonderful artist beyond her Hindi and Bengali songs.<\/p>\n

Marathi songs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even though she spent close to thirty years (out of total 42 years) of her life in Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra, the number of total Marathi songs she has sung (as known so far) can be counted on the fingers of one hand.<\/p>\n

It is very obvious that the Marathi (film and non-film) composers were heavily biased in favor of Maharashtrian singers. All these years, only two non-film songs: Jaa sang Laxmana<\/em> and Mukyaa manaache bol<\/em> were known to most. This was a 78 rpm record released sometime in the fifties and both songs were composed by G N Joshi and penned by celebrated poet Vasant Bapat.<\/p>\n

G N Joshi was the head of HMV and had in fact composed a couple of non-film Hindi songs for Geeta Dutt as well. The songs are Chhoti si hain baansuri<\/em> and Sakhi sapne ki baat bataaon<\/em>. Geeta Dutt may not have had a perfect Marathi accent (although she gets the retroflex sounds beautifully!) but she brought to the songs great ease of rendition and a rare depth of feeling \u2013 both hallmarks of her singing in any case. In my opinion, \u2018Jaa sang Lakshmnaa, sang Raam Raajaa laa\u2019<\/em> is one of Geeta\u2019s greatest songs in any language. She brings out the pain of Seeta without going overboard on the emotions.<\/p>\n

Jaa sang Lakshmnaa, sang Raam Raajaa laa<\/em><\/strong> (Marathi non-film<\/em>)<\/p>\n