Every filmmaker worth anything valuable swore by the voice of Lata Mangeshkar. No wonder the great and indefatigable Dev Anand once told me, “Until there is Lata in the soundtrack the film doesn’t seem complete. Can you imagine what Hum Dono or Guide would have been without her voice?”
However there was one filmmaker who could not/did not work with the Nightingale through most of his cinema , and that was Guru Dutt. In none of his magnum opuses from Pyasa to Kagaz Ke Phool to Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi will you find the life-giving vocals of Lata Mangeshkar.
In Guru Dutt’s cinema it was always his wife Geeta Dutt doing all the main vocals.
This was a bone of contention for Sachin Dev Burman who had once said, ‘As long as I have Lata I’ve nothing to worry about.’
In Guru Dutt’s Pyasa and Kagaz Ke Phool Burman Dada had to work without Lataji. In
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam composer Hemant Kumar too faced the same situation, though he used Asha Bhosle’s voice for Waheeda Rehman while Geeta Dutt sang all those haunting memorabilia for Meena Kumari since Geeta wouldn’t sing for Waheeda(who was rumoured to be in a relationship with the filmmaker).
Only in Chaudhvin Ka Chand did Lataji get to sing her one and only song in Guru Dutt’s cinema. The song Badle badle mere sarkaar nazar aate hain was composed by Ravi Sharma who insisted on Lataji singing the number, as he felt only she could justice to it.
