1951 was a very eventful year in Geetaji’s life. When S.D. Burman
had her sing songs of “Baazi”, sort of a complete metamorphism happened. After catapulting to fame and fortune with
Burmanda’s 1947 chartbuster “Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya” in “Do Bhai” Geetaji was committed to singing more or less sad songs.
At least in the ensuing years, from 1948 to 1950, where she reigned supreme in playback singing, majority of the songs Geetaji
sang can be typed as “weepers”. Her talent was still very latent and was waiting to be discovered to be experimented in hitherto
unchartered territories of singing styles. This happened with Burmanda’s “Baazi”. In a sudden change of face, Burmanda had
Geetaji sing several fast paced and racy songs for that movie. It was as if he was making a “bet” (“Baazi”) that only he knew
that he was not going to loose. No one until this time knew that Geetaji possessed the talent for singing these types of
waltz-based songs. A new Geetaji was born with this movie.
With the thundering success of the songs and its music, the movie “Baazi” changed Geetaji’s life forever, in more ways than one.
Firstly, the other music directors suddenly discovered her new talent for different styles of singing and were eager to sign her
for many such songs. Secondly, but most importantly, she met her future husband, Guru Dutt, while singing for “Baazi”.
Ambitious and extremely talented, ground in many facets of movie making through several years of apprenticeship under some well-known movie personalities, Guru Dutt was waiting for an
opportunity to happen so that he can direct a movie. It came with “Baazi”, a movie his close friend Dev Anand was producing.
This maiden directorial debut venture by Guru Dutt was going to lead his life to some legendary heights in the future.
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