Geeta Bali

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Young Geeta Bali had learned music, dance, horse riding and martial arts. Geeta Bali was born in Amritsar in a progressive thinking family. Her father was a Sikh scholar and kirtan (Sikh devotional music) singer. Her maternal grandfather, Takhat Singh had opened a school for girls in 1904 Ferozepur. Her father encouraged young Geeta Bali and her sister Hardarshan, to learn classical music, dance, horse riding and martial arts. As a result Geeta Bali was tom boy in childhood and an extrovert!

Her unabashed romance with Shammi Kapoor took Bollywood by surprise! Geeta Bali first encounter with the handsome Shammi Kapoor was during the shooting of the film Rangeen Raaten. Actually Geeta Bali was not playing a key role in the film it was just a cameo being shot in enchanting, tranquil and composed hill station Ranikhet near Nainital in the then state of U.P. (now Uttarakhand). The two being typical Punjabis had common interest in music and folk songs hence in the evening the two spend a lot of time mingling with local crowd and having a ball time. While Shammi Kapoor was on sky nine assuming he had pleased Geeta hence no sooner he came to Mumbai he proposed her for marriage. The news made lines in media because Shammi Kapoor was just a struggler and Geeta Bali a top star! With many films on floor Geeta Bali displayed intelligence and turned down Shammi Kapoor’s marriage proposal. The film producers took a heave of relief while the two had planned a secret marriage. Since Shammi Kapoor’s family was against the marriage as Geeta Bali was a Sikh hence Shammi Kapoor eloped with Geeta and wedded her secretly in a temple in Mumbai in the wee hours of early morning so that nobody was aware of the marriage!! Few months later the secret was out and the Kapoor Khandaan accepted Geeta Bali as their Bahu. Further Shammi Kapoor permitted Geeta Bali to continue acting in films as he was still to make a name for himself.

Geeta Bali dazed filmmaker Kidar Sharma with her spontaneity Geeta Bali started her acting career as a child actor at the age of 12 in the film Cobbler. However it was filmmaker Kidar Sharma, who explored her talent. Kidar Sharma spotted her living in a pathetic condition and wandering to find a job to support her family. Being trained classical dancer and having faced camera in childhood she was neither camera shy nor was afraid as an actress. When Kidar took her screen test he was bowled over by Geeta’s spontaneity and the vigor with which she enacted her performance. Kidar Sharma immediately signed her for the film Suhaag Raat (1948) opposite actor Bharat Bhushan. When the film was released the film critics were left dazed. Her acting was a revelation! Even the audience loved her buoyancy and enthusiasm. Soon she shared screen space with the star actress of that era Suraiya as her naughty younger sister in the hit Badi Bahen (’49) and almost overshadowed Suriya with her bubbly performance. Geeta Bali had the talent to steal thunder from the hero! Due to her inborn extrovert nature Geeta Bali was always full of energy and enthusiasm and her same vitality could be seen on screen. As a result she always stole thunder from the hero! Be it the evergreen star Dev Anand. In his film Baazi, Geeta Bali had an insignificant role of a gangster’s moll. Yet it was Geeta Bali’s seductive dancing in the song `Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le… that made the film buffs crazy and they thronged cinema halls repeatedly. Similarly in Bawre Nain (1950) she stunned the great actor Raj Kapoor with her captivating performance. The movie had won rave reviews particularly for its melodious Music by maestro Roshan but what stunned everybody was film critics having a special mention of Geeta Bali over scoring a seasoned actor Raj Kapoor! Besides this Geeta Bali had the rare honor of playing opposite legendary actor Sohrab Modi in the film Jailor (1958). In this film her performance was worthy of even winning a National Award. Furth in the film Vachan she had a powerful role opposite upcoming actor Rajendra Kumar and the versatile Balraj Sahni, who played her love interest! This movie had fetched Geeta Bali her first Best Actress Filmfare nomination. Her other hit films include Aji Bas Shukriya (1958), Anand Math and Mr. India(1961), Baaz (1953) etc.