What does Gulzar evoke (in you)?

The pen-name of an outstanding poet, lyricist, writer, director, filmmaker et al. But those are just little details relevant only if you were preparing for a quiz or writing a pedantic thesis where Gulzar just happened to be a mere subject.

But anyone who has experienced love, happiness, joy, bitterness, belonging, sorrow, sadness, tragedy-basic human emotions-knows Gulzar or more accurately… experiences Gulzar. How does one judge an artiste’s impact….by reading, writing, critiquing or eulogizing (his/her works)…..but the ultimate compliment could be not expressing anything at all……but simply enjoying, experiencing and communing. Gulzaar Saab simply touches soul…….he will stir up feelings that one is extremely familiar to as well as alien to, force one to conduct soliloquies and jugalbandis, makes it nigh inevitable that everyone joins the (his) Caravan swept away by  joys and sorrows of life. Feelings, feelings, feelings….the fundamental essence of life as well as the very personification of Gulzaar Saab!

Back to the mundane……..let’s try to run an outline since fleshing it out fully is an impossible task. Let’s leave the hard to express, unexplainable, un-writable (see Gulzaar Saab is messing with the writing) raw material of Gulzaar Saab – the deep feelings, the profound sensations, the intense emotions- just for a moment and lamely attempt to capture some facets that do not intimidate the one writing it nor the unfortunate one reading it!

A genre unto himself

When you see the creative genius in white kurta, in that serene visage with a beatific smile- you smell the literary fragrance, levitate a little in exuberance and not a little enchanted by elegance in blood and flesh and spectacles. He was an important cog or rather yoke in the wheel of literary giants who had their hearts in the right place; confiding  and confabulating with humanity in general and humanness in particular. One look around and we instantly know that Gulzaar Saab is an endangered species in a sense for his ability to connect deeply with audiences and imperceptibly making them journey into themselves.

When he narrates soul of the song in his baritone voice, the immaculate expressions, his love for rhythm, the intense simplicity soothes the soul........and makes it hear more

Does recognition, international or otherwise, really matter to him? Yes it does….but not to him but for unaware masses, fraternities and groups as the only way they can get to the experience is by bestowing an award or an honor. These folks must be exchanging conspiratorial smiles fully realizing that ‘award’ is just a means to an end….entry into Gulzaar Saab’s world.

Re-discovery and renewal

Thoughts are ageless, Thinkers don’t age, and he is a reverse-aging wonder who gets younger day-by-day.  He’s churning foot tapping numbers like nobody’s business at 77, while producing the deeply contemplative stuff barely out of teens…..nothing is linear with Gulzaar Saab! The multi-talented maestro has been flowing like a gentle but perennial river, enriching everything that came across/along its path for better part of the last 5 decades while a cavalcade of writers across generations gurgled, spurted and vanished in the sands of time. Gulzar Saab’s captivating spell is varied, voluminous and only finessed with age, his constant re-discovery is not a bad template for people in any profession. Class is permanent but Genius is getting classier, better, newer...forever..!!

Intense Sensitivity                

There is no single, absolute emotion, even in life’s extremities we are engulfed by myriad emotions – tragedy with a tinge of hope, memories that convey an eternal wait, a dead-end that asks us to reflect… many such ordinary yet extraordinary human moments, Gulzar captures these intricate corners and blind alleys with uncanny understanding and empathy, artistic dexterity, poignant poetry- it’s a rare craft to capture what’s in between pure dusk and dawn.

3-Dimensional poet

Gulzaar Saab’s words vivify….instead of confounding the reader and listener alike they become friends and compadres that one recognizes and confides. The voice, the words haunt and resonate deep, transport us to the eternity and make a passive listener into a method actor.

It might be possible to peek into a writer’s heart and mind through reading a story, lyric, poem but with his works just a few words would suffice…they quiz us, create their own world, invite us to be guests- how is it possible when you add two words, it creates a story and stays with us…forever - ‘dil dhoondtha hai’, ‘naam gum jaayegaa’ ‘tum pukar lo” just to name a few inexplicable phrases that reverberate forever in the ears, minds and hearts. Gulzaar Saab is a 3-d poet, rather than simply multi-dimensional…the listener doesn’t need the glasses, the poetry will transport us, where ever he wants us to go, where ever we want to go- the mood, the setting, nostalgia, longing  will take us on the roller- coaster called life..When you hear the opening tune of ‘Dil Dhoondtha hai’ you know you are in for an emotional odyssey with reverberations far and near, some stirring and a conversation with the soul. When you listen to his songs your perspective towards life changes, every time you listen there is a new interpretation. To say his works are multi-layered is a passé…the more you unravel the more you find and the pursuit continues.

Signature style

Gulzar Saab uses simple words, inanimate objects and gets an exponential impact on the listener “Umrisi lambi sadkon ko”- Endless roads that take you nowhere   “Din khaali khaali bartan hai”- Days are empty vessels and offer no  hope,  “Aane Waala Pal, Jaane Waala Hai”- Do you need countless Eckhart Tolles, when Gulzar sums up all in a single line... power of the present moment..!! Words that distill and capture the essence of emotions or whole experiences- melancholy, the power of a moment, nostalgic longing, hope...you name it and there’s Gulzaar Saab potion waiting for you.

High Literary, uncompromising standards

I remember an article on the popular song ‘chaddi pehne ke phool khila hai’ from Jungle book which reinforces his uncompromising standards and integrity. While his pen wrapped and embellished everything in grace and beauty his far more successful contemporaries were busy doing the opposite with “choli ke peeche”. Gulzar saab has the versatility to bless any genre with equal aplomb- “He is a man of all seasons and a man for all reasons”