There isn’t much happened from 1970 onwards for Geetaji. That is because she passed away at the tender young age of 41 on July 20, 1972.
In 1970 Geetaji sang in only one movie, a solo in Ratandeep Hemraj’s “Insaan Aur Insaan” .
Geetaji sang in three movies in 1971. These were Kanu Roy’s “Anubhav” (three solos), a duet in Salil Chowdhury’s “Raat Ki Uljhan”, and a triplet in Shankar & Jaikishan’s “Jwala” .
A note about the songs of “Anubhav”. Geetaji sang these so beautifully with plenty of melody that surprised even her worst critics. She once again proved to the music world that she still has it in her. Everybody thought she will now bounce back because they represented some of her finest work. But life takes many unexpected and tyrannical turns. It is so hard to believe that these songs would also be almost her swan songs. Talking about melody, take for example, the song “Koi Chhup Ke Se Aake” from “Anubhav”. Here is one music lover wrote about this song (the quote is not exact but is reworded). “… The soft, romantic type of songs like these flowered in Geetaji’s melodious and expressive voice… Geetaji's singing in “Anubhav” demonstrates how much she still had to offer even at the fag end of her life. In this song, she is soft, teasing, whimsical, romantic all at once and the ever so slight tinge of pathos in her voice highlights the enigma that was Geeta Dutt…”.
1972 was an eventful year in Geetaji’s life and in the history of Hindi film world. She sang in only one movie that year, Subir Sen’s “Midnight”. These were a solo and a duet. But on July 20, 1972, Geetaji passed away as a result of continuing and declining bad health. She was just 41. The voice that thrilled and filled with joy for millions of music lovers was gone forever. Here she was whose voice stopped aging as proven from the songs of “Anubhav”, sang only the previous year, finally succumbed to ill health. The voice that had the youthful joie de vivre was completely quelled. The ease and spontaneity that were the hallmarks of Geetaji’s singing could never sing another song. The voice that defied convention with its enthralling tonal quality, that was sumptuous in expression, that was enticing with melody, that was sweet like honey, that had soothing mellifluous quality, that was enchantingly dulcet, and that explored a gamut of emotions from subtle enticement to wistful longing was extinguished forever.
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