Gulzar

Gulzar has come to occupy a place among the most illustrious literary and cinematic sensibilities that modern India has produced. As poet, lyricist, litterateur, screenwriter, and director working chiefly in Urdu, he has left an indelible imprint upon the idiom of Hindi cinema, wedding to it a literary refinement, an emotional subtlety, and a philosophical gravity rarely achieved within the popular form.

Born Sampooran Singh Kalra in Dina, in the Jhelum district of an as-yet-undivided India, he emerged as one of Indian cinema's most poetic voices, celebrated in equal measure as a lyricist, screenwriter, and director whose work is marked by lyrical depth and emotional restraint.
The cataclysm of Partition proved a decisive and irrevocable turn in the trajectory of his life. His family scattered in its wake, and the young Sampooran Singh was compelled to relinquish his studies and journey to Bombay, there to assume the burden of his household's sustenance. A succession of humble occupations followed, among them employment at a garage, where his task was the blending of paint to restore the disfigured bodies of automobiles — a discipline of colour which, as he would later reflect, quietly honed the aesthetic instincts that were to define his art. It was in these years, too, that he gave himself over to literature in earnest, finding in the translated verse of Rabindranath Tagore and in his association with the Progressive Writers' Movement a wellspring of formative influence. Encouraged, in the course of that movement's gatherings, by the poet Shailendra and the filmmaker Bimal Roy, he was drawn into the world of cinema, upon which he would leave a lasting mark.
Gulzar began his career as a lyricist in the 1963 film Bandini under the music direction of S. D. Burman, writing the evocative song Mora Gora Ang Layle sung by Lata Mangeshkar. His early collaborations with filmmakers such as Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee introduced him to a creative environment deeply rooted in literary sensibilities. He soon emerged as one of the most distinctive lyricists in Hindi cinema. Songs such as Humne Dekhi Hai Un Aankhon Ki Mehekti Khushboo from Khamoshi and the prayer Humko Man Ki Shakti Dena from Guddi revealed his daring poetic style, marked by an imaginative blending of sensory imagery.
Across decades, Gulzar forged enduring partnerships with some of India's greatest composers, including Rahul Dev Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Madan Mohan, Vishal Bhardwaj and A. R. Rahman. His lyrics enriched landmark films such as Anand, Maachis, Omkara, Kaminey, Dil Se.. and Guru. The global success of Slumdog Millionaire brought him international recognition when he and A. R. Rahman won the Academy Award and the Grammy Award for the song Jai Ho.
As a filmmaker, Gulzar made his directorial debut with Mere Apne in 1971 and went on to create a series of thoughtful and socially perceptive films including Parichay, Koshish, Achanak, Aandhi, Khushboo, Mausam and the celebrated comedy Angoor. His television series Mirza Ghalib further demonstrated his ability to translate literary heritage to the screen with sensitivity and grace.
Parallel to his cinematic work, Gulzar has remained a prolific writer of poetry and prose. His collections such as Chand Pukhraaj Ka, Raat Pashminey Ki and Pandrah Paanch Pachattar, along with the short story volume Raavi Paar, reaffirm his stature as a major contemporary Urdu poet.
Gulzar occupies a singular place in the annals of Hindustani letters as perhaps the first poet-lyricist to embrace blank verse as his chosen mode, both in poetry and in film lyric alike. His ascent to eminence was swift and enduring, his appeal spanning generations — cherished by the old, yet claimed with particular fervour by the young. Of his mastery over blank verse, the critics observe that Gulzar possessed the rare gift of honing a single thought to its utmost potency, until it struck the reader with something approaching physical force; working within the deceptive simplicity of Hindustani blank verse, he ventured into terrain hitherto unwritten, giving voice, among other things, to the shadowed underbelly of Mumbai itself.
His extraordinary body of work has been crowned with honours in abundance: five National Film Awards, twenty-two Filmfare Awards, the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Padma Bhushan, and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. In 2024, he was conferred the Jnanpith Award — India's most exalted literary distinction — a crowning recognition that affirmed, once and for all, his stature as among the most influential creative minds in the cultural history of modern India.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulzar
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/interviews/let-partition-remain-in-history-gulzar/articleshow/62120472.cms
https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/gulzar-says-his-novel-on-partition-has-stories-of-how-life-planted-refugees-all-over-the-world-4235267.html
https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/festival-diary-day-1/article5569955.ece#google_vignette