Gulzaar - A poet unmatched.

My earliest introduction to Gulzaar was when I developed some sense of life. Until then , it were general melody songs that fascinated me, with Mukesh being my favorite singer. It was often said to me, as long as you are kid you would like Mukesh, but not after you have grown up and it proved very true. For Mukesh was seamlessly supplanted by the likes of Kishore, Asha etc.

But, what gave worth to that music? For me , it started with Gulzaar. His words were like crafted pearls, woven into a long thread finely and yet effortlessly. The fascination started with the admiration of, a mellifluous Lata humming Tujhse naraaj nahi zindagi. And then it was an unending chain of lyrical gems from Gulzaar that drove me to a higher plane. Few remarkable ones were , Mera kuch samaan,Tum aa gaye ho,O manjhi re,Humne dekhi hai,Huzzoor iss kadar,Tere bina zindagi se.

The greatest quality of his songs are that they do not appear to be the work of a contrived genius , but rather of an accidental genius , writing out of careless regard of words,with most of his songs looking into the simple and ingenuous yet unnamed facts of daily life.The variety of lyrics that he has provided could be hardly believed by a casual onlooker. It ranges from such deeply abstract , "Humne Dekhi hai" , to childish hum "Lakdi ki kaathi". I think "Masoom" is symbolic of his eclectic variety. Nonetheless, his song in parichay ,"Musaafir hoon yaroon" , appears as restless yet composed as a lost yet untiring traveler.

However, in non-films category as well, he hasn't been any less active. His album, "Sunset point" , has several gems embedded in it. He narrates the story in his rugged yet silken voice and along with it moves the entire series of events. One of the particularly beautiful piece from that album is ,"Kacche rang utar jaane do", sung huskily yet deeply by Chitra.

In the contemporary period , he has written a whole basket of varying songs. Ranging from "Bidi jalai le" in Omkara, to Oscar winning "Jai Ho" in Slumdog millionaire. Once you have known his quality of work , you could instinctively tell which of the song could be Gulzaar's, but he nevertheless doesn't fail to spring surprises, like "Jabaan pe laga namak ishq ka". Whatever he writes, there is a sort of implicit guarantee associated with it, the guarantee that the song would be a piece of woven literary blanket, where words would play with each other and yet send out something so deep and ingenuous.

To Know more about his songs and his works, you could browse here,

http://www.gulzar.info/