It troubled her to the core why a singer of Geeta Dutt’s caliber had such a short stint with success. In fact the popularity of being recognised as the singer for Guru Dutt’s films which given to Geeta Dutt’s singing capabilities finally became detrimental to her identity, was something that bothered her the most.

Haimanti Banerjee, specialist in film appreciation and twice the winner of national award for documentary making could not abide by the popular notions masquerading Geeta Dutt’s rightful identity and thus she started her quest to re explore the legend five years back. After five years of extensive research that included rigmarole of activities entailing hunting video and audio libraries, old magazines, photo albums, looking for people who knew Geeta Dutt closely, Banrjee has come up with first book ever written on Geeta Dutt in any language in India.’’

The blithe spirit of a skylark’s croon is what Banerjee associates Geeta Dutt’s voice with. Thus titling the book as Geeta Dutt – The Skylark, Banerjee unsheathes the real Geeta whose ability to cover the range from the sensual to the soothing gave her an edge over other singers of her time. The book especially focuses on those songs sung by Geeta that do not have the tag of Guru Dutt overshadowing her name. Says Banerjee, “ I wanted the Geeta in my book to define her own presence. And that she very well does with her independent share of songs she sung for various other films apart from Guru Dutt’s. Very few people know that Geeta lent her voice to Nargis in the Film Jogan and that she has given her voice to all the twelve songs of the film.”

The reason the documentary maker did not come up with a documentary on Geeta she states is “there is so much about her that could not be summed up in a half an hour documentary. Also when you feel for something you very tenderly and carefully arrange it layer by layer and then gradually indulge in every bit of the experience.”

Churning out these intricate details was a tough nut to crack. Shares Banerjee, “If Kusum Gokarne would not have been there then perhaps it would have taken another couple of years for me to come out with the book.” A distant relative of the Dutts, Gokarne introduced Banerjee to Geeta’s son Arun Dutt. “After Arun came in the picture things just started falling into place. He took me to Nashik to meet Geeta Dutt’s elder brother Mukul Roy and also provided me with around two hundred rare photos of Geeta Dutt. He became the fulcrum for my research.”

Apart from meeting people, rummaging through the National Archives library and flipping through the pages of Geet Kosh a book that literally has in store listings of all the songs since the advent of sound in the year 1931 were the other efforts put in by Banerjee to detail her research. “ A book on Geeta Dutt was like a chimera for me that never took off. But then one day I decided that this legend has to be resurrected, if not for the sake of her own identity, then for the sake of good music because hers is a name long lost in the clutches of a transitional phase. I felt a voice like hers should be revived so that more and more people listen to it.”