Music
Sikh Songster/Writer Wins Oscar
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Songster/writer Sampooran Singh Gulzar - popularly known as just "Gulzar" - won an Oscar on Sunday night (February 23, 2009) at the glittering 2009 Academy Awards held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. He shares this Oscar with composer A.R. Rahman for Best Song from Slumdog Millionaire.
Slumdog Millionaire - a daring Mumbai-based love story that exposes the poverty and corruption that still plagues Indian society and affects the masses - bagged an additional seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Score.
SAMPOORAN SINGH GULZAR - Short Bio
Date of Birth : 18 August 1936
Sampooran Singh Gulzar was India's first art-film director.
He is a writer, a lyricist, a director and, at heart, a poet. His films, sensitive, lyrical, and yet successful, were a welcome relief from the violent films that filled the 1970s and 1980s.
He joined Bimal Roy Productions in 1961 and got his first break as a lyricist writing for Bimal Roy's Bandini (1963). The success of this film made him Bimalda's full-time assistant and got him writing for films by acclaimed directors like Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Asit Sen. Some of the films he has written include Anand (1971), Guddi (1971), Bawarchi (1972), and Namak Haraam (1973) for Mukherjee; and Do Dooni Char (1968), Khamoshi (1969), and Safar (1970) for Sen.
He then went on to make Parichay (1972) (loosely based on The Sound of Music (1965)) and Koshish (1972), which gave a superb look at the trials of a deaf and dumb couple (played by Jaya Bhaduri and Sanjeev Kumar). From this film came a mutually beneficial partnership with Kumar, which resulted in fine films like Mausam (1975), Angoor (1982), Namkeen (1982), and the classic film Aandhi (1975), which had been banned for a while.
However, Gulzar didn't always depend on Sanjeev Kumar: the stars of the time, such as Jeetendra, Vinod Khanna, and Hema Malini, worked with him in unglamorous roles and gave some of their best and introspective performances in films like Achanak (1973), Khushboo (1975), and Kinara (1977).
Gulzar has also directed documentaries on Amjad Khan and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi as well as Shaira, a film based on Meena Kumari. He has also turned his creativity into other channels - he has written screenplays for films like Masoom (1983) and Rudaali (1993), and has written the lyrics for films like Dil Se (1998) and Saathiya (2002).
Trademark : Always uses a flashback technique in his films, due to his belief that the present is never complete until the past is reflected upon.
Trivia : Has written a number of books on poetry, children's stories and short stories. A children's storybook of his named Ekta received an award from the National Council for Education, Research and Training.
He is associated with the Progressive Writers' Association in Delhi. Though an Urdu writer, there was a strong influence of Bengali literature in his work.
Personal Quote : "Music has a natural place in our lives. Right from the shloka you recite in your morning puja and the milkman who comes whistling on his cycle, to the fakir singing as he begs for alms and your mother humming around the kitchen, music fills our spaces naturally. It will always be dear to us."
February 23, 2009
Born Sampooran Singh in Dina, in the Jhelum District, West Punjab - now in Pakistan - he came to Delhi after the partition of Punjab during independence, as a poet.
Gulzar made his directorial debut with Mere Apne (1971). Based on Tapan Sinha's Apanjan, the film looks at an old woman (played by Meena Kumari) caught between two street gangs of unemployed and frustrated youths.
Musically, Gulzar was unbeatable. Being a lyricist and collaborating with film composers, he always had a high quality of music in his films, especially with Rahul Dev Burman. And while Burman became a pop icon with his tunes from Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973) and Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977), he also gave Gulzar classic pieces with which to work in Khushboo(1975) and Ijaazat (1987).
Sadly, the 1980s and 1990s saw a decline in Gulzar the director, and although films such as Lekin (1990) and Maachis (1996) had their moments, his last film to date, Hu Tu Tu (1999), was a misfire. However, he tried his hand at television with the much acclaimed television film Mirza Ghalib (1988) (TV). Made about the poet's life and starring Naseeruddin Shah in the title role, the serial was a landmark in Indian Television.
Conversation about this article
1: Raj (Canada), February 23, 2009, 10:59 PM.
Congratulations to Gulzar Sahib for winning the Oscar. Unfortunately, his best work did not get the recognition it rightly deserved. I'm not a big fan of Indian cinema, but his movies like Rudali, Maachis, Akarman and Mere Apne did reach my TV screen. They were all well thought out and meaningful plots. In my opinion, his best work is the serial 'Mirza Ghalib'; it has amazing acting by Nasiruddin Shah and masterful music by Maestro Jagjit Singh.
2: Maninder Singh (Markham, Ontario, Canada), February 24, 2009, 9:16 AM.
Well done, Gulzar ji! But there is another Sikh - Sukhwinder Singh - behind the same song! I believe the singer is equally important as the lyricist.
3: Santokh Singh (Toronto, Canada), February 24, 2009, 11:43 AM.
Another success story and part of this Oscar saga is Sukhwinder Singh. The song 'Jai Ho' (Hail!), released as part of the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, was sung by Sukhwinder Singh, composed by A. R. Rahman, and written by Gulzar. The song was also nominated for Critics' Choice Award for Best Song and has won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Congratulations to him too.