Gulzar Birthday

Bollywood poet and lyricist Gulzar was born on 18 August 1934. He is 84 years old.

Gulzar Family

He was born in a Kalra Sikh family, to Makhan Singh Kalra and Sujan Kaur, in Dina, Jhelum District, British India (now in Pakistan).

Later in school, he had read translations of the works of Tagore which he recounted as one of his life’s many turning points.

Due to the partition, his family split and he had to stop his studies and come to Mumbai (then called Bombay) to support his family.

Gulzar Status

He is married to actress Raakhee. The couple has a daughter, Meghna (Bosky). Meghna grew up with her mother and father.

Later she completed her graduation in filmmaking from New York University. She went on to become a director of films such as Filhaal, Just Married, Dus Kahaniyaan, Talvar and Raazi. Later she authored the biography of her father in 2004.

Gulzar Daughter

Meghna was born 13 December 1973 is an Indian director of Hindi films, and is the only child of lyricist and poet Gulzar and his wife actress Raakhee. She is also the author of a book about her father, titled Because He Is…

Gulzar Biography

Sampooran took up many small jobs in Mumbai to eke out a living, including one at a garage at Vichare motors on Bellasis road (Mumbai). There he used to touch up accident-damaged cars by mixing shades of paint.

His father rebuked him for being a writer initially. He took the pen name Gulzar Deenvi and later simply Gulzar.

It was during his interactions in the PWA Sunday meetings that Shailendra and Bimal Roy encouraged him to join films. He began his career under film directors Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

Soon his book Ravi Paar has a narrative of Bimal Roy and the agony of creation. Later he started his career as a songwriter with the music director Sachin Dev Burman for the movie Bandini (1963).

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.

Later in 1988, he 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.

In April 2013, he was appointed as the Chancellor of the Assam University.

Gulzar Songs

As a lyricist, he had a close association with the music director Rahul Dev Burman.

Soon he worked with Sachin Dev Burman, Shankar Jaikishan, Hemant Kumar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Madan Mohan, Rajesh Roshan, and Anu Malik.

Later he worked with Salil Chowdhury in Anand (1971) and Mere Apne (1971); Madan Mohan in Mausam (1975), and more recently with Vishal Bhardwaj in Maachis (1996), Omkara (2006) and Kaminey (2009); A. R. Rahman in Dil Se.. (1998), Guru (2007), Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and Raavan (2010) and Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy in Bunty Aur Babli (2005).

Gulzar Poetry

He primarily writes in Urdu and Punjabi. Later he wrote in several dialects of Hindi such as Braj Bhasha, Khariboli, Haryanvi and Marwari. His poetry is in the Triveni type of stanza.

His poems are published in three compilations; Chand Pukhraaj Ka, Raat Pashminey Ki and Pandrah Paanch Pachattar. His short stories are published in Raavi-paar (also known as Dustkhat in Pakistan) and Dhuan (smoke)

Gulzar Books

He wrote 17 books.
Raavi Paar(1999)
Dhuan.(2001)
Gulzar . Raat Pashmine Ki.(2002)
Kharashein.(2003)
Meera.(2004)
Pukhraj.(2005)
Triveni.(2005)
Autumn Moon.(2006)
Kuchh Aur Nazmein.(2008)
Magical Wishes: The Adventures Of Goopy & Bagha.(2010)
Mirza Ghalib A Biographical Scenario.(2011)
Selected Poems.(2012)
My Favourite Stories : Boskys Panchatantra.(2013)
Gulzar . Half a Rupee Stories.(2013)
Meelo Se Din.(2013)
Green Poems.(2014)
Suspected Poems.(2017)