Having written poems and film songs for more than half a century, lyricist Gulzar is now trying to keep pace with the Gen-X but can’t change his old habit of writing on pen and paper.
“My thinking process starts with my pen. So without lagging behind others I use my own method of putting pen on paper,” Gulzar said when asked if he has switched to computers and tablets to compose his works.
Showing his hand-written poems in a notebook during a visit to Kolkata, the 80-year-old legendary lyricist-poet said, “I write in Urdu and everything is written by my hand. You people write on computers and I respect that.”
It was long ago in the Sixties when Gulzar, born as Sampooran Singh Kalra, started his career as a songwriter with a Hindi film. As decades passed his grip on the sensibilities of the new generation remained firm as he even switched on to writing Bollywood item numbers such as Kajrare and Beedi jalai le.
“I am walking along with this generation and I have a rapport with this generation. I don’t live in the past,” said Gulzar, whose Jai Ho song in the Hollywood film Slumdog Millionaire brought him and A.R. Rahman an Oscar and Grammy.
