Films

cover story
GUL Z AR //
the
Weaver
of
Words
To write about a poet with the sensitivity and
lyricism of Gulzar, one needs at least some level
of penmanship. Lacking that, it is best left to the
poet to describe himself. In this profile of the poet,
we have done just that—liberally used Gulzar’s
immortal lines to decipher the man behind the poet.
By Saba Mahmood Bashi r
Desig n by Charu Dwivedi | Imaging by
Peterson PJ
APRIL
2014
DEMOCRATIC
WORLD
11
cover story
\\ GUL Z AR
,d lcc ejus dk] ,d ryc thus dh
pkan iq[kjkt dk] jkr i”kehus dh
I have a copyright on moon,
says Gulzar saab..
Fit & Fun
At the age of 79, he
plays lawn tennis every
morning and goes to the
park every evening with
his grandson.
12
DEMOCRATIC
WORLD
...in mock seriousness when you prod him over the
recurrent image of the moon in his poetry. “I have
used the moon so much that I have a copyright over
it.” The leitmotif is so predominant in his work that
you can half believe him. Yet for him the moon has
many faces. “Maybe, a couple of times, the image
could be the same but otherwise, every time, it
comes out differently. I meet the moon in different
images. There is no repetition of the images of
the moon because it comes to me differently
every time.”
This is what makes Gulzar, one of the few Indian
poets whose appeal is two-fold, unique.
Taking the simile of the moon further, for him: “It
is a 50 paisa coin and a bundle of clothes as well. It
is a maathe ka teeka, it is the handle of a sword—it is
many things, many times.”
I interject at the point a little dryly: your
moon has gone playing into the galaxy as well. He
retorts with a laugh: Yes. It chews paan too. And in
the ghazal:
Moonh par ghaaza mal gaya hai
Dhund hai chaaron taraf
Powder laga kar aaya hai
Jaise photo khichane aaya hai
And in another place:
Jhenpa jhenpa aa raha hai chaand
Jaane kisse mil kar aa raha hai chaand
I play with the image of the moon. I play with it,”
he declares.
Apart from the imagery of the moon, of course,
there is that of the eyes, which is again, very distinct.
Then there is the play on water. So, what is that
these images hold for you when you come back
to them again and again, I ask him? Is there any
aesthetic dimension to them?
“It is my spontaneity and my ease which enable
me to try and catch and say the things that I feel
APRIL
2014
strongly. If I say something different, I say it
not because it is right or wrong but just that it is
different and it is more to do with my habit,” says
the wordsmith.
It is this spontaneity of the poet-writer that makes
him popular in the Hindi and Urdu literary world.
He is an out and out a people’s poet too. Gulzar
successfully travels between the literary and the
popular with his poetic craft. Who else can see the
moon doing something as mundane as chewing
paan? It is his ability to transcend the intellectual
biases of the medium and reach out to the masses
through his film writings that make him one of the
most memorable lyrical writers of this century in
both the popular and the literary anthologies.
Writing for more than five decades by now,
Gulzar is known as a lyricist, a filmmaker, scriptscreenplay and dialogue writer, short story writer
and translator. Through all the creative endeavours
that he picks to showcase his creativity, it is poetry
that shines through. Possessing a keen eye for detail,
his sensitivity permeates through the use of his
distinctive imagery and metaphors.
Born in August 1934 in Dina, which is now in
Pakistan as Sampooran Singh Kalra, Gulzar was
the fourth child of nine children of Sardar Makhan
Singh. His mother died when he was only an infant.
It was after the Partition, that he came to India.
One group of the family settled in Roorkee, one
moved to Udaipur, one had settled in Kanpur and
one in Mumbai. Although Gulzar was barely 10-11
years old at the time of the Partition, the memory
of the trauma left an indelible impression on his
young mind which found a voice in the collection
of short stories Raavi Paar and Other Stories, as he
mentions it in the foreword. Gulzar mentions how
the Partition left him bruised and scarred and goes
on to add that he cannot help but write about that
Fantastic
A striking characteristic of the
poet-lyricist-filmmaker-writerauthor is his wit—be it addressing
fans or friends—his eyes sparkle
with humour and a witty retort.
excruciating period. The pangs of Partition are also
reflected in many of his poems including Bhameree,
which delineates the family’s flight to save their lives
at the turbulent time:
Hum sab bhaag rahe the
Refugee the
Maan ne jitney zevar the, sab pahan liye the
Baandh liye the...
Chhoti mujhse...chhay salon ki
Doodh pila ke, khoob khila ke, saath liya tha
Maine apnee ek “bhameere” aur ek “lattu”
Pajame mein uddas liya tha
Raat ki raat hum gaon chodkar bhaag rahe the
Refugee the...
Communal tension in general occupied Gulzar
to a great extent and a large body of his poems gave
voice to his angst, so much so that he goes on to
question the existence of God. There are six poems,
titled Fasaadat 1 – 6 in the book Raat Pashmine Ki
where the existence of God has been
questioned. The poem, Fasaadat 3, ends
with the couplet Aazmaish ki thi kal raat
khudaon ke liye/Kal mere shaher mein
ghar unke jalaye sab ne!!
The sensitivity displayed by Gulzar in his writings
and the treatment of his films is the hallmark of
his character. He tried to give me a date for the
interview on a weekend, so that my daughter doesn’t
miss school. His staff is with him for decades now. I
spoke to some people who are associated with him,
and everyone talks of his down-to-earth attitude.
It is this remarkably sensitive and psychological
understanding of people and their motivations
and needs that are reflected throughout his life
and work.
From Pakistan the family initially came to Delhi
and lived in Basti Punjabia in Sabzi Mandi, where
the young boy tried to complete his studies. After
his matriculation from Delhi’s United Christian
School, Gulzar joined St. Stephens College but was
pulled out in the middle of the first term and sent
to Mumbai, to his brother. The poet claims with
his characteristic wry humour that he was already
“establishing the reputation of being the black sheep
of the family because of his love for poetry” and
remembers how his father would worry about him
that he was becoming a “miraasi”.
His love for lyrics, poetry and literature goes back
to his young days when he would participate in
antakshari, learn shairi, listen to Hindustani music
and attend concerts.
Gulzar’s perfection in Urdu comes from the love
for the Urdu poetry which began in the madarassa
that he attended while he was in Pakistan. It kept
growing even after he came to Delhi. The poet
fondly remembers Maulvi Mujib-ur Rehman who
taught him Urdu in Delhi, but after Maulvi Rehman
left for Pakistan, Gulzar only learnt Hindi in school.
This however did not stop his love affair with the
poetic language that he kept nurturing.
The makings of the Urdu poet in Gulzar began
in Delhi when he would indulge in bait baazi and
recite Urdu couplets that he learnt by heart. His
Awards
Filmfare Award for The Best..
Dialogues - Anand
Dialogues - Namak Haram
Feature Film (Critics) - Aandhi
Director - Mausam
Lyrics - “Do Diwane Shehar Me..” - Gharonda
Lyrics - “Aanewala Pal..” - Golmaal
Lyrics - “Hazar Raahen..” - Thodi Si Bewafai
Lyrics - “Tujhse Naaraz Nahi..” - Masoom
Lyrics - “Mera Kuchh Saaman..” - Ijaazat
Lyrics - “Yaara Seeli Seeli..” - Lekin
Documentary - Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan
Dialogues - Maachis
Story - Maachis
Lyrics - “Chal Chhaiya Chhaiya..” - Dil Se
National Award for The Best..
Screenplay - Koshish
Director - Mausam
“Yara Sili Sili..” - Lekin
Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan
Film - Maachis
Lyrics -
Documentary -
Lifetime Achievement Award
Lyrics - “Saathiya..”
Dialogues - Saathiya
Lyrics - Bunty Aur Babli
Padma Bhushan (2004)
APRIL
2014
DEMOCRATIC
WORLD
13
cover story
\\ GUL Z AR
Poetry
& Books
Gulzar’s poetry has
been partly published
in three compilations: Chand Pukhraaj
Ka, Raat Pashminey
Ki and Pandrah Paanch
Pachattar.
His short stories were
published in compilations Raavi-paar (Dustkhat in Pakistan)
and Dhuan
14
DEMOCRATIC
WORLD
opponent in bait baazi, Akbar Rashid, was better
at memorising poetry. Gulzar, not wanting to lose,
would add a line or a word to the original, marking
the beginnings of the legend that he would become.
This extempore trait he carried to his writings
for films. It helped him successfully bring in the
classical into the popular world, keeping earlier
poetry alive in today’s language. He would pick up
famous couplets of the masters of classical Urdu
poetry, add his own words to them, thus turning
them into beautiful songs; providing them with
a contemporary feeling and connecting with the
masses instantly. Be it Mausam’s Dil dhoodta hai phir
wohi fursat ke raat din/Baithen rahein tassawur-e-jana
kiye hue, which is actually a Ghalib couplet, built
into a song—Jadon ki naram dhoop aur aangan mein
let kar/Aankhon pe kheech kar tere aanchal ke sai ko/
Aondhe pade rahein/Kabhi karvat liye hue…/—or
be it a Jigar Moradabdi couplet—Yeh Ishq nahin
aasaan bas itna samajh leejiye/Ek aag ka dariya hai
aur doob ke jana hai—that he further moulds for
the requirement and the song for the film Kaminey
(2009)—Ye ishq nahin aasaan/Ajee AIDS ka khatra
hai/Patwaar pahen jaana/Yeh aag ka dariya hai/Ke
nayya dobe na/Yeh bhawra kaate na.
In Mumbai, Gulzar initially joined Khalsa College
which he left after a year to study in National
College, as the former did not have a faculty in Urdu
and Persian literature. However, he abandoned his
education in the second year, which he not only
regrets till date, but also mentions in conversations
regularly when discussing his past.
Throughout his years of struggle as a garage
mechanic in Worli, Mumbai, he kept his passion for
poetry alive, regularly penning lines. His film career
began with assisting the legendary Bimal Roy on
the iconic film Kabuliwala, (1961) for which he also
wrote the song Ganga aaye kahan se.
“But it was my song Mora gora ang lae le/ mohe
shyam rang dae de in Bandini (1962), based on
Vaishnawite poetry which was my entry-pass to
Hindustani cinema,” says Gulzar of his tryst with
Hindi cinema. With these two films, Gulzar made a
distinct mark for himself in Indian cinema, the rest
as they say is history.
His association with the Progressive Writers’
Association (PWA) and Indian People’s Theatre
Association (IPTA) helped widen his perspective
as it provided him a platform for discussion and
exchange of ideas with leading intellectuals, authors
and poets of the time. The varied influences he was
thus exposed to, Gulzar internalised, and they stayed
with him all his life.
APRIL
2014
The poet believes in keeping abreast with the
literature being produced round the world, even
reading contemporary translations. “One needs
to analyse the poetry of India to actually decipher
all that is happening,” is Gulzar’s profound
observation. Truly, poetry has always been
the medium of expression for all eras, from
the earliest oral history to the political poetic
expressions of today.
The vast repertoire of literature that absorbs the
author-poet-filmmaker is astounding. Apart from the
literature of Bengal, Gulzar is often left wondering
at the experiments in Malayalam poetry. “In Tamil,
to which the Indian Government has recently given
the status of classical language, there was poetry
in the pre-Christian era, often referred to as the
Sangam era,” he says. Then he goes on to discuss
the literature of Punjab, the place of his birth, where
Sufism came for the first time. “It came from West
Asia and spread to other parts of the country.” He
talks at length of the movement of Sufism and the
poetry of Farid, Sultan Bahoo and Bulle Shah.
Gulzar believes in changing with the changing
times, largely in terms of languages. “I am glad to
be working for the directors and composers of today
and am still learning to write according to today’s
world and era,” says the writer. The humility of
the man who the literary world looks up to as an
inspiration is touching.
The writer-poet emphasises on the fact that his
choice of words is “largely related to the sound
of the words…words that the generation of today
can relate better to”. He may be an intellectual but
he is clearly writing for the people. For instance,
“Jupiter and Mars have Hindi-Urdu equivalents,
but the generation of today does not connect
with it,” says Gulzar. Thus, he uses a mélange of
different languages as per the mood of the poem as
a characteristic. What is striking is that very often,
the titles of his poems are in English. For example,
some poems from his collection Pukhraaj are
titled as Landscape, Painting, Model and even Good
Morning, that would easily establish a connect
with the readers.
Gulzar’s use of language leads to yet another
aspect of his writing, his use of imagery, which is
actually his signature style. His unique images with
their extreme sensibility and sensitivity enhance
the daily mundane existence to a level of the fine
aesthetics which in their own turn challenge the
everyday realities. How does he conceive these
myriad images and their varied realities?
“You see a sun, a sunset, and immediately, a
Critics’
Choice
A Walk Down Bollywood
One can notice little steps
that Gulzar took in cinema,
starting as an assistant
director to Bimal Roy,
to writing songs to
writing screenplay and
dialogues and finally
directing films. Overall,
Gulzar has direct 17 fulllength films
thought comes to you that it is a ball of fire that has
exploded,” he begins his explanation, an attempt to
introduce me to his poetic worldview. “Obviously,
all that you have read comes to you in four–five
similes but how it comes to your mind, and how you
respond to it could be something different. Are they
coming only from books, feeding your memory or
are you feeling something beyond that? If you are
feeling something beyond, there would be a new
added image as well.” I nod my head and
he continues.
“It often happens, while writing, your memories
come flooding, like a computer, it feeds into it. You
just have to keep it aside and wait to see how you feel
about it. If you can pinpoint, then you are keeping
to the spontaneity. So, what have you felt? I try to
express what I have actually felt, whether it is a part
of the custom or not....ummm, for example when
you travel in a plane, you must have seen it... a milky
white lamb running after me in great speed and it
hits against the rear wing. It gets hurt, turns red. I
get up to see. Blood spreads over the entire horizon.
What you have seen, turning red and spreading the
crimson colour on the horizon is actually a cloud
when you see it from a plane. This is the image that
comes to you. If you can’t catch it, you have lost it.”
I am entirely lost…but am mesmerized by the man
and the power of the images that his words evoke.
Gulzar continues uninterrupted by my
thoughts. “So, it is up to your own sensitivities and
sensibilities, how to catch it and from where you
catch it. I have just felt the day going by, there is a
little sunshine coming from under the door. You can
Films
1971
Mere Apne
1983
Masoom
1972
Koshish
1987
Ijaazat
1974
Khushoo
1990
Lekin
1975
Mausam
1993
Libaas
1977
Gharonda
1996
Maachis
1978
Kitaab
1998
Dil Se
1979
Golmaal
1999
Hu Tu Tu
1981
Namkeen
2002
Saathiya
feel that the sunshine is turning red. It seems as if,
while passing by, it has left a chit behind, saying:
Kal aayon ki nahin, pata nahin, lekin ek khat
chode jaa raha hoon, tumne aaj ka din bhi kaat liya.
It depends on how you react to it. If you don’t
react to it, it is gone.”
He obviously has captured it well for me and
the readers. I bid adaab to him and take my leave
with the sun and the clouds casting strange images
around me and I under the spell of the moon:
pkan ftrus Hkh “kc ls pksjh gq,
lc ds bytke esjs lj vk,s
Saba is the author of the book, I Swallowed the Moon:
The Poetry of Gulzar. The profile uses excerpts of
interview from the book.)
APRIL
2014
DEMOCRATIC
WORLD
15