Meeting Gulzar Saab was on my bucket list. What really happened when I met him.Nothing seemed usual. The employees were all trying to spruce up an already squeaky clean recording equipment. The excitement was visible. Ten minutes more to go. Shantanu Moitra was pacing up and down lost in thought and humming something. This is not the time to disturb him. This has been a five year long project. He has interpreted some of Tagore’s most well-known songs that Gulzar has translated into his Urdu laced Hindi. Gulzar was expected to record his part of the album.
With Gulzar Sahaab
As someone who has admired his poetry and films forever, it was a dream come true to watch him at work.
I hear the heavy thud of a car door being shut. Gulzar walks into the studio with his starched crisp white kurta and pajama. He takes off his shoes as he enters the studio and Shantanu introduces me.Gulzar has charisma in abundance. He has just published a book of his poems and has also illustrated them with his own sketches. In the book he has not declared himself as the artist behind the sketches.
“I didn’t know you could sketch as well.” I remarked, half mumbling to myself, unsure if that remark was called for. I certainly hoped that Gulzar had not heard it. That was not meant to be my opening line. But what can you say to Gulzar without it sounding really meaningless? What could you say that he has not heard before from a million admirers?
With Gulzaar Sahab and Shantanu Moitra
“I love your poetry?”
I admonish myself silently, “As if he has never heard anyone say this to him ever…”Maybe I should tell him about my favorite movie or song. I keep talking to him in my mind.
“Ijaazat is my favorite movie. I think you wrote some of your best songs with RD Burman… actually even with SD Burman, you wrote some fabulous songs. I have read stories about how the song “mora gora ang lai le” was written with very contradictory briefs by Sachin Dev Burman and Bimal Roy. Actually my favorite Gulzar song is ‘hum ne dekhi hai un aankhon ki mehekti khushboo’ from Khamoshi…
It takes me a moment to realize that Gulzar is talking to me. The deep baritone voice fills up the studio.
“I have been sketching and doodling for many years now. But I did not want to add my name to the sketches because I wanted unbiased feedback on my drawing skills. If I sign the sketches, some people will immediately stop evaluating the drawings critically. I will never get to know what I should do to improve. It is hard for me to get honest feedback and a real assessment of my skill. Without that it is hard to improve. So getting the feedback anonymously seemed like a good idea.”
He flipped through his diary. It is filled with lines written in Urdu. He writes his poems the old fashioned way with paper and pen.I wish I was born with the superpower to understand poetry written in any language. What a treat that would be. To read Neruda in Spanish. Or Ghalib or Sahir or Gulzar in the language in which they think of the lines. I know about his love for Mirza Ghalib but his obsession with the poetry of Tagore was not known to me.
“I got introduced to Ghalib thanks to the Maulvi sahib who used to teach me Urdu. But I learned to read Bengali with the help of some friends. Once I got hooked to Tagore’s poetry it was impossible to ‘extricate’ myself from his spell.”
Watching him at work is one of the most awe-inspiring moments of my life.
He turns 81 (according to Gulzar) on 18th August 2015. I could have sworn that he was gloating about the tennis match he won a fortnight before.
He casually flings the line and adds, “Not bad for someone who is 83.”
Does he turn 81 this year or 84? It does not matter. Wish you happy birthday Gulzar saahab. May you never run out of paper and ink and good health to write without pausing. Yeh dil maange more.
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Gulzar on his writing secrets. I take notes whenever I listen to this one.
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