Entertainment News Desk – Geeta Bali was one of the famous actresses of Bollywood. She had made a special place in the hearts of the audience with her brilliant acting and beauty. But, Geeta left this world at a very young age. Time mercilessly snatched Geeta Bali from us on this day in 1965. Smallpox disease became fatal for the actress and she died. Geeta Bali, born in Sargodha city of Punjab, Pakistan before the partition in 1930, appeared in films like ‘Badnaami’, ‘Bawre Nain’, ‘Anand Math’ and ‘Jab Se Tumhe Dekha Hai’. Talking about personal life apart from films, Geeta Bali became the daughter-in-law of the Kapoor family. She married Shammi Kapoor, younger than her. Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali’s love story is as interesting as their marriage story. Let us know…
Geeta Bali had established herself in Hindi cinema in those days, while Shammi Kapoor was going through a period of struggle despite belonging to the Kapoor family. Shammi Kapoor got this film only on the recommendation of Geeta Bali. Their love story started from here. The series of meetings that started between the team of ‘Rangeen Raatein’ and the keen eyes of director Kedar Sharma, who went to Ranikhet for outdoor shooting, had reached full swing by the time the team returned to Mumbai. After reaching Mumbai, both of them had decided to get married. But, this path was not so easy.
Even though Shammi Kapoor had sworn to live and die with Geeta Bali, he also knew that it was not easy to get consent from the family. Shammi Kapoor was younger than Geeta Bali and secondly, her career had not taken off much at that time. Apart from this, Geeta had also been the heroine of Shammi’s elder brother Raj Kapoor in ‘Bawre Nain’ and father Prithviraj Kapoor in ‘Anandmath’. Shammi Kapoor was in a strange dilemma, then his close friend Johnny Walker advised him to run away and marry Geeta Bali. Shammi Kapoor liked Johnny Walker’s suggestion. Although Geeta Bali did not like Johnny Walker’s suggestion, she could not do anything in front of Shammi Kapoor’s insistence. Well, she agreed.
At midnight on 23 August 1955, Shammi Kapoor, Johnny Walker and Harivaliya reached Mumbai’s Wanganga temple to marry Geeta. When Shammi Kapoor reached the temple, the doors of the temple were closed. Therefore the priest refused to get them married. Seeing Shammi’s insistence and circumstances, the priest advised him to come in the morning and assured that the marriage would be conducted as soon as the doors of the temple opened. Shammi was present in front of the temple at four in the morning. After all the rituals were completed, when the priest asked him to fill the bride’s bed with vermillion, he realized that in his haste he had forgotten to bring vermillion.
Then Geeta Bali handed over her lipstick to Shammi. In this way, Shammi Kapoor made Geeta his own by applying lipstick instead of vermilion. Geeta and Shammi could not live together for long. Geeta Bali died of smallpox in 1965. Both have two children – Aditya Raj Kapoor and Kanchan.
