1964 was a devastatingly eventful year in Geetaji’s life. On October 10, Guru Dutt died of an overdose of sleeping pills. He was only 37. So young. So talented. Such untimely death. Life isn’t just fair. Geetaji suffered a mental breakdown immediately after her husband’s death. It was evident that she still loved him and his death was too much to bear. Her mental state was so bad that she couldn’t recognize her own children. It took her little over three months to overcome her loss and its accompanying grief. Already in financial straits, she found her husband left behind several debts and unpaid bills. Her children were still young, the oldest being only 10 years old by now. She alienated everyone before this calamity struck. She needed some close friends to comfort her. But no one was available. She was a very lonely lady.
Geetaji was able to sing in few movies before Guru Dutt’s death. She sang in about eight movies altogether. She sang a solo for one of her old friends, Bulo C. Rani. He is the one who had Geetaji sing back to back 12 songs in “Darogaji” in 1949 and another 12 songs in “Jogan” in 1950.
Burmanda, her mentor and well-wisher had recorded only one duet of Geetaji in 1964. This was “Main Tere Pyaar Mein” from “Ziddi”. This movie was made by Pramod Chakravarty, her brother-in-law. Still Geetaji sang only this duet as Lataji took all the laurels, rightfully, for the solos she sang for the movie. It was that difficult for Geetaji to sing songs in her own peoples’ movies. She became so undependable that she lost trust of her own people. This will be the last time Geetaji will sing for Burmanda, who was instrumental for her meteoric rise to fame and fortune.
N. Dutta, who was another music director over the years had Geetaji sing songs for his films, had her sing a duet in “Chandi Ki Deewar”. Again, this will be the last time she will be singing for him. She also sang for Roshan for the last time a duet in “Dooj Ka Chand” .
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