poetically about all the ga ma of sa re , Introduction, 1972) and irrelevant Masterji’s letter arrived , book, 1977), like to pray Gunjan To give power to the mind, conquer the mind , Guddi, 1971) And Oh my country , Raazi, 2018), Gulzar has also created a catalog of songs dedicated to the innocent, impulsive and idealistic side of childhood over the years.
after jungle Book And Baba’s potli The defining entertainment for children on Doordarshan , Gulzar has now penned a song for the children’s television channel Nickelodeon.
in an interview with HinduThe master lyricist says that he sees himself as an intermediary between a child and a parent, as he wants to save the mother tongue through his songs. “If I don’t,” he says, “the kids will soon be at a loss for words.” Scorpion And chipmunk Because their parents use ‘scorpion’ and ‘lizard’ in everyday conversation. it’s the same with games like pittu (Seven Stones) that defined our childhood.
He says that the words translated into English fail to capture the nuances of the original. he cites words like rash, For which ‘hurry’ and ‘haste’ are lost in translation. He says it is like, when a friend comes home, we can give packaged coconut water, but it will not taste like fresh coconut water brought from the tree in the garden. “It’s fresh coconut water It is like our mother tongue.
Indian Urdu poet, lyricist and screenwriter Gulzar | Photo credit: Sujit Jaiswal
Gulzar says, “There was a time when I wrote for my daughter, and then I started writing for my grandson.” Children through his writings “You can no longer ask children to concentrate like Arjuna, who can shoot an arrow into the eye of a fish, because the bow and arrow are no longer present in the child’s immediate environment.”
He says that when he saw his daughter and the children of his close relatives grow up, it was reflected in his writings. “If you observe them, you would like to engage with them, listen to them. And if you notice, they don’t want to hear such trivial things like they are the future of the country, etc…’ He smiles. Are.
Gulzar recalls what a great storyteller he is, once director Shaad Ali couldn’t believe it give us the power of the mind was written by him. Composer Shankar Mahadevan believed it to be a folk song which was adapted into the film and is played as morning prayer in many schools. Gulzar says, ‘When I told this to Hindi litterateur Kedarnath Singh, he said,’ Gulzar you should be proud that the song has become bigger than you. It now belongs to the world.’ And I made peace with this fact.
Gulzar (left) and actress Tabu attend the promotion of their upcoming Indian Hindi language action thriller film ‘Kutte’ in Mumbai. Photo credit: Sujit Jaiswal
Gulzar has just completed a poem a dayA collection of 365 contemporary poems that he selected and translated. It took him nine years to sift through the writings of 279 poets in 34 languages. An authority on Tagore, he is now exploring the poems of poet-philosophers Kazi Nazrul Islam and Lalan Shah or Lalan Fakir, whose works he translated into Hindi for performances with classical singer Ajoy Chakraborty, a National Center of Performing Arts program For. the songwriter underlines that word Religion He used the prayer in reference to actor Dharmendra, on whom Guddi had a crush on in the film.
This is the beauty of Gulzar’s writing. His songs not only work in the given situation of the film and provide a sense of the world in which the story is set, but also have the standing power that keeps them relevant across generations. The prayer works because it reaches out to a formless divine and tells children to believe in themselves first: “Glorify yourself before others glorify.”
Gulzar (left) attends the book launch of Indian poet, lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar’s (right) journey titled ‘Jadunama’ in Mumbai. Photo credit: Sujit Jaiswal
However, there are some songs that Gulzar feels should have been relevant not so long ago. One of them is his directorial debut “Haal Chal Theek Thaak Hai” ( My Own, 1971), The song makes a scathing comment on unemployment and law and order when it says, “Ma kiya hai, ba kiya hai, lagta hai woh bhi ainwai kiya hai, kaam nahi hai varna yahan.” ,
I feel sad that our country has not recovered from these deadly issues in the last 50 years and the song still makes sense,” he says.
“Poetry is not just for the syllabus; It should be woven into life. People living in such a diverse nation can easily learn at least five languages. I would like to thank two of my favorite authors, (Vaikom) Basheer and K. Learning Malayalam to understand Satchidanandan better,” concluded Gulzar.