It was a closely-fought Gujarati antakshari and the competing teams were facing the tough "traditional compositions" round. One of the teams sang "raakh naa ramakaDaa" and the other objected. The first team vehemently maintained it was a traditional song until the judges intervened to point out it was a film song composed for Mangal Phera (1949, lyrics and music by Avinash Vyas). The song also features the voice of A.R.Oza, but it is a Geeta Dutt song all the way!
As I was turning the TV off, what struck me as amazing was that someone could mistake a Gujarati Geeta Dutt song for a traditional bhajan. Such is the power of her rendition, the amount of bhakti ras she has poured into the melody and the degree to which it has been imbibed by the Gujarati listener. It remains one of the finest Gujarati film bhajans. Incidentally, this tune was re-used by N.Dutta in "toraa manavaa kyuu.N ghabaraaye re" (Sadhana).
Gujarat's unlikely love affair with Geeta's voice began in late-1940s. I say unlikely because she was not a native Gujarati speaker. And she was not yet a star, having just opened the door of fame in Hindi filmdom with Do Bhai. But she found herself in Gujarati recording rooms repeatedly.
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