Nutan was one of the most popular Bollywood actresses of her time, who appeared in several successful movies of the 50s and 60s which is often considered as the golden era of Hindi Films (and its music). She is an accomplished dramatic actress who did a variety of roles from serious to comic ones!

The very fact that she holds the record of winning 5 Filmfare awards for best actress (the highest number of awards won by an actress) is enough to indicate her acting abilities. Nutan was not as glamorous and beautiful as Madhubala and probably she was as not charismatic as Meena Kumari or Nargis. Her strength was her simplicity that made her one of the most graceful and attractive actresses to have ruled the Hindi cinema.

Nutan was the eldest child of famous actress Shobhana Samarth. Some unconfirmed sources mention that as a child, she starred in the film Nal Damyanti. Later when she was in her teens, her mother launched her in the film Hamari Beti (1950). She won the "Miss India Universe" title in the year 1952. Her first big break was the film Seema (1955), for which she won a Filmfare Award. She followed her success with a romantic comedy, Paying Guest (1957), in which she co-starred with Dev Anand. It can be said that right through the 50s and the 60s, she dominated the Hindi film industry with her enigmatic smile, her beautiful eyes, her dignity and traditional looks. She went on to act in many women-centric roles and made that her niche in Hindi films.

In the year 1959 she starred in two hit films, Anari (with Raj Kapoor) and Bimal Roy's Sujata (with Sunil Dutt). She had almost contrasting roles in these films yet she had towering performances in both the films. She acted opposite almost all the top stars of the time. She could very effectively convey through her expressions. She was famous for portraying her emotions perfectly and getting into the skin of the character she played.

Geeta Dutt Singing for Nutan:

Nutan’s debut film Hamari Beti (1950) had two lovely duets by Geeta Roy and Mukesh. The songs are "Kisne yeh kisne chhhede taar" and "Berookhi bas ho chuki". Again, we are not sure if they were filmed on Nutan or some other actress. Songs of the film Heer (1956) composed by maestro Anil Biswas are one of the rare occasions when Geeta Dutt sang most of the songs in a film starring Nutan. In fact Geeta’s husband Guru Dutt did not want Geeta to sing the songs of this film (due to his alleged dislike for Anilda), but Geeta insisted on singing these songs. Anilda composed memorable music for this film and Geeta sang three solos and a duet with Hemant Kumar for this film. The film Paying Guest (1957) had a lovely solo "Gaye ghabarake mil do dhadakate se dil" which was deleted from the film after a week from the release of the film. Another Nutan starrer Chandan (1958) too had a lovely Geeta solo (Aankh milaane ke liye) but again it is not clear if it was filmed on Nutan or one of the other characters played by either Shyama or Mala Sinha.

Geeta also sang two memorable songs for the film Sujata (1959), but they were filmed on Shashikala (Bachpan ke din bhi kya din) and Sulochana (Nanhi kali sone chali). Later in the year 1960, she sang for Nutan in the film Manzil (Chupke se mile pyaase pyaase - a lovely duet with Mohd Rafi).

Geeta Dutt Singing with Nutan as co-singer:

Nutan had a lovely voice and she sang very well. One wonders why she didn't sing more in films. She got an opportunity to sing the song "Tujhe kaisa dulha bhaaye ri baanki dulhaniya" in her very first film Hamari Beti (1950). Ten years later when her mother produced the film Chhabili (1960), Nutan sang as many as six songs (two solos and four duets) for this film. This film was Nutan's younger sister Tanuja's (Kajol's mother) first film.

Her solo song "Aye Mere Humsafar Rok Apni Nazar" is a relatively popular song among lovers of old Hindi film songs. For this film, Nutan sang her only song with Geeta Dutt as co-singer. The song is "Yaaron Kisise Na Kehna" and was composed by Snehal Bhatkar. In this song, Nutan sangs the Mukhda and the opening stanza and then Geeta Dutt takes over with her dreamy and alluring voice. We do not have access to the video of this film, so we are not sure as to whom this song was filmed. The star cast of the film Chhabili has Helen and Tanuja, who was barely 17 year old at the time of releasing of the film. So, it is likely that the song was filmed on Nutan singing for herself and Geeta Dutt singing for Helen. Whoever it was, she was lucky to have this melodious and memorable song filmed on her!

The composer Snehal Bhatkar goes away from the conventional meters of film music and changes the tempo of the song midway with Geeta’s entry. In fact the notes played before Geeta begins singing create a kind of mysterious atmosphere! Geeta sings two stanzas in the song but they come right after each other without repetition of the mukhda in between them. She sings for less than a minute in this song but leaves her ever-lasting impression. The dreamy quality of her voice when she sings “hum bhee nashe mein yahaan” is un-parallel. The lyricist S Madan has used some un-conventional words like “shuba” and has even roped in line “chori chori aaya hoon” (instead of “chori chori aayi hoon”) for Nutan. All in all, the saying “Bas ek hi kaafi hain” (Just one is more than enough) is very appropriate when it comes to musical collaboration of Nutan and Geeta.

Lyrics of the song:

Nutan : Yaaron kisi se naa kehna

hain chhup chhup ke rehna

main chori chori

chori chori aaya hoon

museebat na bananaa..

Nutan : Milu jo main kisise

nazar ka hoon dhoka

raahein meri hain band

par kisine nahin roka

main chori chori

chori chori aaya hoon

museebat na bananaa..

Geeta : Mujhko hain zara shuba

mujhko hain zara yakeen

jhoomataa hain aasmaan

jhoomataa hain aasmaan

yaa jhoomati hain yeh zameen

Geeta : kaun hosh mein wahan

hum bhee nashe mein yahaan

talaash kar rahee nazar

pila gaya wo hain kahaan..

talaash kar rahee nazar

pila gaya wo hain kahaan..

Nutan : Koi na ja mile kahan

chhup chhup rahoon jo main yahaan.

poonche jo main kahaan..

na na..kisise kehna

Nutan : Yaaron kisi se naa kehna

hain chhup chhup ke rehna

main chori chori

chori chori aaya hoon

museebat na bananaa..