Gulzar gets Phalke award, says it’s better than Oscar
NEW DELHI: Veteran poet, lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar was chosen on Saturday for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest official recognition for film personalities in India.
The 79 - year- old Padma Bhushan awardee, best known for penning thousands of memorable hits like ‘Tujhse Naaraaz Nahi’ and ‘Tere Bina Zindagi Se’ and directing critically-acclaimed films like ‘Aandhi’ and ‘Maachis’, was happy the honour came his way on the birth-centenary year of Dadasaheb Phalke, the father of Indian cinema.
“I am still working so it’s good to be appreciated when you are still active,” said Gulzar, who started off as a car mechanic.
The 45th recipient of the award, Gulzar holds the record for winning the most number of awards in the industry. In spite of winning the Oscar and Grammy, Gulzar considered this award most special. “All my earlier awards were for a particular film or a song but Dadasaheb Phalke is for my entire work. It’s the biggest recognition that one can think of,” he said.
Counting Salil Chowdhury and SD Burman as inspirations ,Gulzar said, “After them, the younger generation – RD Burman and Vishal Bhardwaj held my hand. I am also grateful to AR Rahman.”
Congratulations are in order for you Gulzar sahab and naturally so. A big one from me and my family. It’s time for you to live up to the success that you’ve well earned. Mein bahut khush hun ki itna bada award aapko mila. Yeh bahut kam logon ko milta hai. (I’m very happy that you’ve got this coveted award, as few are qualified for this honour).
On such occasions one tends to revisit some lovely memories. My first song with you as a lyricist was ‘Mera gora ang lei le’ from Bandini by Bimol Roy. The track was composed by SD Burman with whom I was not on talking terms at that time. I had even stopped singing for him. Suddenly, one day I got a call from him in his usual Bengali-coated Hindi asking me to come over. “Lota, ghor aao, tumhare liye ek gana hai. Ek naya ladka ne likha hai, bahut accha likhta hai. (Come over Lata. There’s a nice song for you written by a new boy. He writes well.)
I went over, met all of you and recorded the song which went on to become quite popular. Slowly, we got to know each other. And the rest, as you know, is musical history.
Lending my voice to your lyrics has been an honour. The power of your writing is very deep and identifiable. I occasionally felt that you wrote certain songs for me. I could be wrong, but I felt ‘Naam gum jayega’ (Kinara, 1977) was written for me.
‘Surmayee sham’ from Lekin, the lovely film you directed, is one of my all-time favourites. Songs from your film Maachis (1996) are equally heartfelt. Your poetry has a surreal quality; it just elevates a simple composition to a different level. Equally remarkable is your knowledge about music. You have, unwittingly guided me a lot and I owe you for that one. You’re one of the finest writers, not only of Hindi cinema, but of all times.
Success comes to those who have worked hard. Gulzar sahib, congratulations, once again.