#GoldenFrames: Gulzar, an artist with many facets

Be it poetry, prose or filmmaking, Gulzar is known for creating distinct expression through his work. Most of his movies were based on literary works. Gulzar often used flashbacks for the narration of his stories. The lyricist has won a total of 36 awards and honours, including 5 National Film Awards, 22 Filmfare Awards, Rashtriya Kishore Kumar Samman from the Government of Madhya Pradesh for 1999-2000, a Grammy Award (2010), an Academy Award for Best Original Song (2008), 2002 Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu, Padma Bhushan (2004) and 2013 Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

Gulzar was born as Sampooran Singh Kalra in a Sikh family, to Makhan Singh Kalra and Sujan Kaur, in Dina, Jhelum District, Pakistan.

When Gulzar was in school, he read translations of the works of Tagore. He recounted it as one of his life's many turning points.

After the partition, Gulzar was forced to leave everything behind in Pakistan. The lyricist united with his family in Mumbai, where he took up many small jobs to support them.

Gulzar used to touch up accident-damaged cars by mixing shades of paint, which allowed him a lot of time to simultaneously read, write, attend college and be involved with the PWA (Progressive Writers Association).

Shailendra and Bimal Roy encouraged Gulzar during one of the PWA Sunday meetings that he should join the movies. Gulzar began his career under film directors Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

In his career span of over seven decades, Gulzar has created stories of human relationships entangled in social issues. From lyrics to scripts, he excelled in all.

Gulzar is married to actress Bollywood star Raakhee. It was Raakhee's second marriage. The couple has a daughter, Meghna Gulzar. When their daughter was only one year old, they separated.

Gulzar's daughter Meghna graduated in films from New York University. She became a director of films, including 'Filhaal...,' 'Just Married' and 'Dus Kahaniyaan,' and authored a biography of her father in 2004.

Gulzar's poems are either in Hindi, Punjabi or Urdu and his work is highly translated into English. He also uses several dialects of Hindi in his writing—Braj Bhasha, Khariboli, Haryanvi and Marwari.