Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known popularly by his pet name Gulzar, is an Indian poet, lyricist and film Director. Born in Jhelum District in British India (now in Pakistan) his family moved to India after partition. He started his career with music Director S.D. Burman as a lyricist in the 1963 film Bandini and worked with many music Directors including R. D. Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Vishal Bhardwaj and A. R. Rahman. He directed films such as Aandhi and Mausam during the 1970s and the TV series Mirza Ghalib in the 1980s. He also directed Kirdaar in 1993. He also wrote the theme song for Motu Patlu, an Indian animated sitcom.
It was during his interactions in the PWA Sunday meetings that Shailendra and Bimal Roy encouraged him to join films. Gulzar began his career under film Directors Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. His book Ravi Paar has a narrative of Bimal Roy and the agony of creation. He started his career as a Songwriter with the music Director Sachin Dev Burman for the movie Bandini (1963). In films, he found an environment associated with literature in the group he worked with, including Bimal Roy, most of whose films were based on literary works. Shailendra, who has penned the rest of the songs in the movie requested Gulzar to write the song "Mora Gora Ang Layle", sung by Lata Mangeshkar.
Directed and produced by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the 1968 film Aashirwad had dialogues and lyrics written by Gulzar. Song lyrics and poems written by Gulzar gave the poetic attribute and the "much-needed additional dimension" to Ashok Kumar's role in the film. Ashok Kumar received the Best Actor at the Filmfare and at the National Film Awards for this role. Gulzar's lyrics, however, did not gain much attention until 1969's Khamoshi, where his song "Humne Dekhi Hai Un Aankhon Ki Mehekti Khushboo" (lit., "I have seen the fragrance of those eyes") became popular. Ganesh Anantharaman in his book Bollywood Melodies describes Gulzar's lyrics, with the purposeful mixing of the senses, to be "daringly defiant". For the 1971 film Guddi, he penned two songs, of which "Humko Man Ki Shakti Dena" was a prayer which is still sung in many schools in India.
After writing dialogues and screenplay for films such as Aashirwad, Anand and Khamoshi, Gulzar directed his first film Mere Apne (1971). The film was a remake of Tapan Sinha's Bengali film Apanjan (1969). He then directed Parichay and Koshish. Parichay was based on a Bengali novel, Rangeen Uttarain by Raj Kumar Maitra. He wrote the story of Koshish based on the struggle faced by a deaf-dumb couple. In 1973, he directed Achanak, inspired by the 1958 murder case KM Nanavati v State of Maharashtra. Later he directed Aandhi, based on the Hindi novel "Kaali Aandhi" by Kamleshwar. His next film Khushboo was based on Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay's Pandit Mashay. His Mausam, which won the National Award for 2nd Best Feature Film, Filmfare Best Movie and Filmfare Best Director awards, along with other six Filmfare nominations, was loosely based on the story "Weather", from the novel, The Judas Tree, by A.J. Cronin. His 1982 film Angoor was based on Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors.
In 1988, Gulzar directed an eponymous television serial Mirza Ghalib, starring Naseeruddin Shah and broadcast on Doordarshan. Later he also directed Tahreer Munshi Premchand Ki about the novels of Premchand.
For the peace campaign Aman ki Asha, jointly started by India's and Pakistan's leading media houses, Gulzar wrote the anthem "Nazar Main Rehte Ho", which was recorded by Shankar Mahadevan and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Gulzar has written ghazals for Ghazal Maestro Jagjit Singh's albums "Marasim" (1999) and "Koi Baat Chale" (2006).
Gulzar is married to Actress Raakhee. The couple has a daughter, Meghna Gulzar (Bosky). Meghna Gulzar grew up with her mother and father and, after completing her graduation in filmmaking from New York University, went on to become a Director of films such as Filhaal, Just Married and Dus Kahaniyaan, and authored the biography of her father Gulzar, in 2004.
In April 2013, Gulzar was appointed as the Chancellor of the Assam University.
Two is Gulzar’s debut novel released in English. It examines the status of refugees after partition. Two was originally written in Urdu.
