Sampooran Singh Kalra, more famous as Gulzar, is an eminent Indian lyricist, film director, screenwriter, poet and author. He stepped into the Indian film industry as part of Bimal Roy Productions and got his first break as a lyricist working with legendary music director S.D. Burman in Bimal Roy’s film Bandini. Success of the film led him to become Roy’s full-time assistant. Moving on Gulzar wrote for acclaimed directors like Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Asit Kumar Sen. Some such classic films include Guddi, Anand, Bawarchi, Khamoshi, Do Dooni Char and Safar. He has worked with many famous music directors like Salil Chowdhury, Hemant Kumar, A. R. Rahman, and R. D. Burman and shared a close bond with the latter. Gulzar donned the director’s cap with the film Mere Apne and went on to give classics like Parichay, Koshish, Mausam, Namkeen and Aandhi. This multi-talented luminary has won several national and international awards and honours including Padma Bhushan, Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Sahitya Akademi Award, a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, several Indian National Film Awards and 21 Filmfare Awards among others.
