Geeta Bali

Geeta Bali was a very fine actress and heroine of 1950s . She was born in Sargoda , in a Punjabi Mohyal family on 30.11.1930.
She joined the films in the year 1950 and worked till 1964 ( till her death ) and within this short period worked in about 75 films several of which were super hit particularly those in which devanand paired with her .
Geeta Bali started as a child actress with the film Cobbler (1942) and made her debut as a lead actress in film Badnaami (1946). Soon she came in to contact with famous director – kidar Sharma who was impressed with her , became her mentor and offered her heroine’s role in his film Suhag Raat सुहाग रात ( 1948) . She was an overnight success and soon she was besieged with offers . She accepted all due to her family’s circumstances.
She became a major star in the 1950s after her brilliant role in film Baazi along with Devanand . She worked with Raj Kapoor in film Bawre Nain बावरे नयन (1950) and with Prithviraj Kapoor in film Anand Math आनन्दमठ both were hit movies.
She also worked with her husband Shammi Kapoor in films Miss Coca Cola (1955), Rangeen Raaten (1956) and Coffee House (1957).
But Geeta bali had her best onscreen pairing with Devanand with whom she worked in several successful and hit films including Baazi (1951), Jaal (1952), Ferry (1954), Milap (1955), Faraar and Pocket Maar (1956).
Her other notable films were Dulari दुलारी(1949), Nishana निशाना 1950), Albela अलबेला (1951), Albeli अलबेली (1955), Kavi (1955), Jailor 1958, Aji Bas Shukriya अजी बस शुक्रिया 1958 , Do Mastane दो मस्ताने 1958 .
Her last film was Jab Se Tumhe Dekha Hai जब से तुमने देखा है in 1963.
Unlike other actresses who gave up films after marrying into the Kapoor family, Geeta continued acting in films till her death.
Geeta bali met Shammi Kapoor in 1955 during the making of film Miss Coca Cola. They fell in love during the shooting of the film Rangeen Raaten रंगीन रातें where Kapoor was the leading actor and she played the role of a cameo heroine. Soon they got married and had a son, Aditya Raj Kapoor and a daughter named Kanchan Kapoor.
Bali is considered as one of the finest actresses of her time . She was widely known for her comic timing and her range as an actress. She had a captivating on-screen presence and she acted in a variety of roles whether tragedy, drama or comedy and became favourite of the audience. she never became a typecast . She is now considered as the original Sridevi…perky and bubbly . She was a naturally spontaneous actress but barring some movies , her roles in other movies were not worthy of her super talent and her screen presence .
Kidar Sharma , The famous director of that era , had the following to say about geeta :-
“ I consider her one of our great artistes.There was nobody who performed like her. She was very versatile. When she entered the industry, everybody had written her off. I believed in her and made her a star”.
There was also her humanism that made her approachable. She didn’t have any starry pride and the then-junior actresses like Mala Sinha and Asha Parekh have been vocal in their admiration of her generosity towards them.
In 2022, she was placed in Outlook India’s “75 Best Bollywood Actresses” list. As one of the leading actress of the 50s, she appeared in Box Office India’s top Actresses’s list consecutively in 1951, 1952 and 1953 .
Unfortunately she died of small pox on 21 January 1965 at a very young age of 35 bringing the curtains down on a famous and budding , beautiful and talented actress.

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Four stars

It was a wedding in a temple which was not attended by any of their family members. There were a few question marks- Geeta was a year older to me. She had co-starred with my father Prithviraj Kapoor in a film called Anand Math (1952). She had also worked opposite my brother Raj Kapoor in film Bawre Nain (1950). I was not sure how my family would react to it. But the apprehensions were momentary. I was adamant that Geeta was the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with. But, ironically, the hurdle was Geeta herself. A pragmatic, down-to-earth woman, she kept cautioning me, ‘Shammi, I love you. I can’t think of living without you, but I just can’t marry you. I can’t let my family down. They depend on me. They have nowhere else to go to.”
Shammi further said, “Four months of agony, tears, cajoling, pleading, separation and desperation followed. Then one day, the inevitable happened, just out of the blue. On August 23, 1955, we were at Juhu Hotel, Bombay… I had been staying there as there was no one at home. My parents were out in Bhopal with the Prithvi Theatres troupe. I proposed to Geeta again, knowing she’d shake her head once more in NO and smile. But she didn’t. Instead, she knocked me out of my wits. She said, “OK Shammi, let’s get married. But it’s got to be now…”
With the help of their friend Hari Walia , they got married in Banganga Temple of Napean Sea Road, in South Bombay
He said, “Hari took us to the famous Banganga Temples off Napean Sea Road, in South Bombay… When we reached the temple at the crack of dawn, Geeta in her by-now crumpled salwar-kameez and I in my kurta-pajama, it was raining cats and dogs. With Hari Valia as the sole witness, the pujariji performed the ceremonial rites and we took seven pheras of the holy fire and were declared husband and wife. Geeta took out a lipstick from her purse and asked me to apply it on her maang like sindoor (vermilion) to proclaim our marital status.”

So that is how the love between them fructified in to marriage.

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