Gulzar (lyricist)

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Sampooran Singh Kalra (born August 18, 1936), better known by his pen name Gulzar (Hindi: गुलज़ार) [1], is a noted Indian poet, lyricist, film-maker, director, and playwright, who works primarily in Hindi and Urdu languages. He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan and Sahitya Akademi Award.

As a lyricist, Gulzar is best known for his association with the music director Rahul Dev Burman, and has also worked with other leading Hindi movie music directors including Sachin Dev Burman, Salil Chowdhury, and Madan Mohan.

Image:Gulzar.gif

Contents

[edit] Biography

'Sampooran Singh Kalra' was born on August 18, 1936, to Makhan Singh Kalra and Sujan Kaur in Dina, Jhelum District, British India, located in the current-day West Punjab, Pakistan.

Gulzar is a clean-shaven Sikh. Before becoming an established writer, Gulzar worked as a car mechanic in a garage. Gulzar has worked exhaustively in the Indian film industry for over forty three years. Gulzaar saab, as he is affectionately known has written in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, and dialects of Hindi like Marwari (Rajasthani) and Bhojpuri.

He is best known in India as a lyricist for songs that form an integral part of Indian cinema. Gulzar began his career under two other artists - Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. His book Ravi Paar has a narrative of Bimal Roy and the agony of creation. Gulzar started his career as a songwriter with Sachin Dev Burman for the movie "Bandini" (1963). The song was "Mora gora ang layle", pictured on Nutan. His most famous songs have been associated with Rahul Dev Burman in movies such as "Parichay" ("Musafir hoon yaron" sung by Kishore Kumar), "Aandhi" ("Tera bina zindagi se koi" sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore), "Kushboo" ("Ghar Jaayegi" sung by Asha Bhonsle) and "Ijaazat" ("Mera kuch saaman" sung by Asha) to name a few. However he has had award-winning associations with Salil Chowdhary (for the movie "Anand"), Madan Mohan ("Mausam"), and more recently with Vishal Bharadwaj ("Maachis"), A.R.Rehman ("Dil Se", "Guru") and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy ("Bunty aur Babli").

Gulzar had leftist leanings (from an Indian perspective) in his early days that can be seen from his early movies (as director) like Mere Apne (translated as 'My dear ones'). His film Aandhi is an oblique criticism of Indian polity, and was banned for a time because it was seen as a criticism of Indira Gandhi for the imposition of the emergency. He also depicted a flair for adapting stories/concepts from literature as well as from other films. Angoor ("Grapes") is based on Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, and Mausam ("Weather") is an adaptation of A.J. Cronin's The Judas Tree. Gulzar also adapted the Hollywood classic The Sound of Music into Parichay. He directed an eponymous Television serial on Mirza Ghalib starring Naseeruddin Shah shown on Indian Television Channel Doordarshan in 1988. Gulzar also worked, as a song writer or dialogue writer for several Doordarshan programs on kids such as Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland, Guchche and Potli Baba ki together with Vishal Bharadwaj.

Gulzar is known for making brilliantly sensitive portrayal of subjects ranging from human relations, biographical profiles and often controversial social issues. For his contributions to Indian cinema, Gulzar was honored with Padma Bhushan in 2004, the third highest civilian award in India. Also, Gulzar and his movies have won numerous awards at the National level including awards for best director and best lyrics. He also won the 2002 Sahitya Akademi Award for 'Dhuan' (Short stories) [2]

Gulzar has developed a new style of writing poems called Triveni which comprises stanzas comprising three lines rhyming with each other. His private album "Koi Baat Chale" with Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh has all the songs written in Triveni.

Gulzar is married to actress Raakhee. They have one daughter, Meghna Gulzar who has turned film director and made a sensitive film on surrogate motherhood, Filhaal. Her next movie has a lighthearted take on the marriage institution and is called Just Married. It was released in Feb 2007. Gulzar has given her nickname 'Boski', which is also an eponym for their home, 'Boskiana'.

An insight into the life of Gulzar can be taken though a book called 'Because he is...', a biography written by his daughter Meghna Gulzar.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Filmography (as lyricist)

(* indicates unreleased/under production)

  • Title song of 'The Jungle Book'
  • Dil Padosi Hai - A private album with Asha Bhosle and R. D. Burman
  • Sunset Point - A private album with Music director Vishal Bharadwaj and singing duo Bhupinder and Chitra Singh.
  • Vadaa - A Private album with "Sarod" player Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
  • Ishqa Ishqa - A private album with Music director Vishal Bharadwaj
  • Main Aur Mera Saaya - A private album with Singer Bhupen Hazarika
  • Udas Pani - A Musical Poetry album with Music composer Abhishek Ray
  • Visaal - A Private album with Ghazal singer Ghulam Ali
  • Koi Baat Chale - A private album with songs written in 'Triveni' with composer and singer Jagjit Singh
  • Marasim-A private album with Jagjit Singh
  • Raat Chand Aur Main - A private album with singer and composer Abhishek Ray. Poetry narrated and written by Gulzar
  • Amrita Pritam recited by Gulzar - A tribute album to Hindi writer Amrita Pritam in which gulzar recites the poem written by the author

[edit] Filmography (As a Director)

[edit] Awards

[edit] Books written on Gulzar

  • Echoes and Eloquences, The Life and Cinema of Gulzar by Saibal Chatterjee, 2007, Rupa & Co. ISBN 9788129112354.
  • Because He Is... by Meghna Gulzar, Rupa & Co. ISBN 8129103648.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Amar Chandel. "The poet as the father", Spectrum, The Tribune, January 4, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-03-03. 
  2. ^ Sahitya Akademi Awards.

[edit] External links

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