On August I8 this year, writer, director Gulzar turned 90. A day earlier, I left a message on his phone to wish him. Gulzar has always been shy of people fussing over him on his birthday and as far as possible, always disappeared with his family to an undisclosed destination.
Initially, it felt a little strange that a celebrated artist like him didrn’t want to stay connected with his loved ones on his special day but the film industry is made up of all kinds of people—the socialites, the show-offs and the recluse— Gulzar falls in the last category, consistently low-profile and avoiding the spotlight. Part of it is his inherent nature and part of it probably impacted by the creative minds surrounding him at that time. Gulzar was part of Bimal Roy Productions and it was here that he met the legendary composers D Burman and Salil Chowdhury and befriended filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee and soulmate R D Burman.
Over a period, Gulzar emerged as a bankable lyricist-writer-director of his time. With success came security. He now had a home of his own, a bungalow on Pali Hill, married Raakhee and then came along their daughter, Gulzar's heartbeat, Meghana.
In the coming decades, Gulzar was the favourite of both the audience and the film fraternity. Superstars, be it Rajesh Khanna in Anand or Dharmendra in Chupke Chupke, mouthed his dialogues or sang his songs on screen. He worked with all generations of superstars.
Sharmila Tagore-Sanjeev Kumar in Mausam; Jaya Bhaduri-Jeetendra .