Geeta Bali

She wanted to adapt a film from Rajinder Singh Bedi's novel "Ek Chaddar Maili Si". She was to play the title role of a widow married off to her brother- in-law (Dharmendra). Her husband Shammi Kapoor agreed to give her the money to produce the film. She rushed off to Moga, a little village in Punjab, with their two children. Shammi was aghast. It was extremely cold in November and December, 1964 to film and had asked her to wait a few months until the weather was warmer. But Geeta was enjoying herself too much. The film was shaping up well. She had hosted a party for the unit on January 9, and she was her usual fun-loving self. The next day, she had a severe headache, then fever. Shammi brought her home. A couple of days later the doctors discovered she had small-pox. By the 17th the pox had not only ravaged her looks but infected her eyes. The fever which racked her had shot up to 107 degrees. She was kept on ice for two days. For a fortnight her condition was critical. On January 21, her fever dropped suddenly. She came out of the coma and opened her eyes. She looked around dazed. Five minutes later, she died on January 21, 1965 in her husband's arms. She was only 34. The film was left incomplete and unreleased. Her leading man Dharmendra tried to discourage his real-life wife Hema Malini from enacting Geeta's role 20 years later when another adaptation was being made, fearing that the film is cursed. But Ek Chadar Maili Si (1986) was produced and released without any problems, and Hema was very much alive afterwards.

Sister of Digvijay whose film Raag Rang (1952) she produced and starred in and Haridarshan Kaur.

She was an actress, known for Albela (1951), Dulari (1949) and Baaz (1953). She was married to Shammi Kapoor.

After her film debut in "Badnami", she was supposed to act in her second film "Chandra Kanta" in Lahore. It was Pride of India Theatre's first film and its inauguration ceremony was done on June 3, 1946 by Left hand Colonel H. Chand Lala. The film was directed by Shatir Ghaznavi and the cast included Kalawati, Suresh Kumar, Salim Raza, Miss Karna, Nasreen, Laila, Bhag Singh, Sawan, Krishan and a new face Kanwal. Partition riots started at the time of the completion of this film and the studio was burnt down. The negative of this film was destroyed during studio fire. Except for a few publicity stills, nothing remained of the destroyed film.

Geeta Bali was born in November 1930 in Sargodha, Punjab, British India as Harikirtan Kaur.