Well-known Indian film-producer, writer and lyric writer Gulzar, whose visit to the city has attracted huge attention, is here primarily to enquire about the health of writer Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, who has been ailing for several months.
Gulzar, speaking to newsmen at a dinner hosted in his honour on Tuesday night by local film producer Khalil Rana, described Qasmi, one of the country's best known writers, as "my mentor and guru". Gulzar also told journalists that he belonged to Dina near Jhelum, around 250 kilometres from Lahore, and was thrilled to be in Pakistan.
He also thanked the Pakistan High Commission for granting him a visa at a day's notice, saying he had wished to come the moment he heard Qasmi was seriously ill.
Yesterday, Gulzar, before returning to India, said he had been very fortunate to quickly see important Mughul buildings and sites in Lahore. He hoped he would be able to come again.
Television's popular male star Humayun Saeed came from Karachi to meet Gulzar and said that he "could not believe" he had seen him. Others who paid tribute to him included actress Reema, emerging as an ambassador of Indo-Pak unity as far as the film world is concerned; Riazur Rehman Sagir, a film songwriter; producer Khalil Rana and writers Asghar Nadeem Syed, Amjad Islam Amjad, Munoo Bhaie, Khawaja Pervaiz and Shehzad Rafique.
Immaculate in his legendary white kurta pyjama and white shoes, Gulzar talked easily about his early life in Dina, where he was born to a Sikh family on August 18, 1936. After Partition he went to Delhi and started working as a poet. He began his film career in 1961 as an assistant to Bimal Roy.
Gulzar's films have a huge following in the country, and even though his trip across the border was short, it immediately attracted huge media attention.
