By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
तुम आ गए हो, नूर आ गया है
नहीं तो चरागों से लौ जा रही थी
जीने की तुमसे, वजह मिल गयी है
बड़ी बेवजह जिन्दगी जा रही थी
Sampooran Singh Kalra known professionally as Gulzar in film circles, is unarguably peerless. Born Sampooran Singh Kalra, he started as a song writer with “Mora Gora Ang Lai Le” in ‘Bandini'(1963) starring Ashok Kumar, Nutan & Dharmendra. The film won National Award & 5 Filmfare Awards. He came into limelight with “Mere Apne” featuring Meena Kumari , Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna & Danny, a story of two rival groups of youths . In the days that followed all the major characters became top stars and ruled the roost for decades. The film was directed by Gulzar in 1971.
“Koshish” & “Parichay” added more feathers into his cap to further add to his popularity. In mid 1970s Gulzar made a hat-trick with three wonderful movies-‘Aandhi’,’Khushboo’ & ‘Mausam’ & received appreciation from various quarters as a man of substance.
He also penned lyrics of films like – ‘Thodisi Bewafaii’, ‘Chachi 420’, ‘Lekin’, ‘Rudaali’, ‘Maya Memsaab’ & ‘Maachis’ to mention few. Married noted actress Rakhee Gulzar in 1973. Meghna Gulzar is their daughter.
Bestowed with many accolades including 5 National Film Awards, 22 Filmfare Awards,1 Academy Award for Best Original Song (2008), 1 Grammy Award (2010 )Padma Bhushan (2004), and Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2013.
