Gulzar, the director who could juggle comedy classic Angoor and political drama Maachis with equal ease

Veteran lyric-poet Gulzar: That’s how usually the Indian arte is addressed or referred to in passing. Although his primary identity as a creator is that of a songwriter who pens lovely, introspective tracks, Sampooran Singh Kalra (Gulzar’s birth name) has also given us some wonderful movies, full of the same kind of candour and lyricism that his songs contain.
Right from his directorial debut in 1971, Mere Apne, it was clear what Gulzar wanted to do, create realic cinema inspired the harsh beauty of literature. Mere Apne was said to be a frame–frame remake of Tapan Sinha’s Bengali movie, Apanjan. The late and legendary Meena Kumari played an ageing widow who gets entangled in the violence of unemployed youngsters living around her. The movie focused on the nature of violence and how it ultimately bears no result and causes a lot of avoidable pain. Co-written Indira Mitra and Gulzar, the movie also starred Shatrughan Sinha and Vinod Khanna in pivotal roles. Mere Apne was received decently at the box office, and Gulzar was recognised as a director with immense potential, which he successfully displayed in his following films.

In the next year, Gulzar directed three movies — Achanak, Parichay and Koshish. Inspired the KM Nanavati vs State of Maharashtra case, Achanak was an emotional thriller of sorts, in that it had both these elements in abundance. Vinod Khanna was once again seen collaborating with the filmmaker after Mere Apne, where he gave a credible performance. Achanak is a unique movie in Gulzar’s filmography as it has no songs in it.

Another strength of Gulzar was his ability to experiment and make films of different genres. As a result, we have Parichay, Koshish, Angoor, Aandhi and Maachis. Each film had its own dinct voice. For instance, Parichay, said to be inspired Hollywood’s celebrated Sound of Music (1965) and reportedly based on the Bengali novel Rangeen Uttarain, is still considered a classic family entertainer. It interspersed the heavy sentiments with comedy. Through Parichay, Gulzar showed everyone how to adapt another region or country’s story to make fresh material. Parichay, despite its borrowed elements, is a film that till today stands on its own feet. Modern moviemakers, please take note.
Koshish was a romantic drama of a deaf and mute couple who had to fight life’s struggles and a society who could not be bothered about their condition. In Angoor, Gulzar once again paired with Sanjeev Kumar (two of them this time!) to bring to life a Hindi adaptation of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. One of his most frequent collaborators, Gulzar shared a deep friendship with Kumar, who invariably became his first choice to play the lead in his features. In a recent interview with PTI, Anil Kapoor compared the duo’s work with Robert De Niro-Martin Scorsese’s professional relationship. De Niro and Scorsese have worked together on nine feature films, while Sanjeev Kumar and Gulzar worked together on six.

Another Gulzar classic is Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen’s 1975 release, Aandhi. The political drama, which is said to be based on former PM Indira Gandhi’s estranged relationship with her husband, was not modelled on their lives at all. It was later said that only Sen’s look for the movie was inspired Gandhi and the Bihar-based politician Tarkeshwari Sinha. The film was banned soon after its release. Gandhi was the Prime Miner at the time. Aandhi was Suchitra Sen’s last movie, post which she quit showbiz altogether.
In his second-last film as a director, Gulzar helmed Chandrachur Singh-Tabu’s political thriller Maachis (1996). Also featuring Jimmy Sheirgill (in his Bollywood debut) and Om Puri, Maachis’ story was set against the backdrop of 1980s Sikh insurgency in Punjab. Tabu delivered a heartrending performance as Veeran, which ended up winning her a National Award. During a period when directors were busy churning out escap fantasies and love triangles, Gulzar delivered a socio-political gem.

But post 1999’s Hu Tu Tu, Gulzar has not returned to the director’s chair. And if his interview of a few years ago is to be believed, he might be done with helming projects for good. In a 2019 chat with PTI, Gulzar said that he is done making movies: “I don’t need to return to films because the ones who are walking ahead of me, whose fingers I am holding, they are Shilpa Ranade, Meghna Gulzar and Vishal Bhardwaj. They are making good films; Vishal, Meghna have made films on relevant topics. I might’ve had some thoughts earlier in my films but they weren’t so cinematic and good as these films are now, made this generation. I think they are much ahead of me, I can’t pace off that fast.”
But hope springs eternally. So maybe one fine day…Until then, we have his entire filmography to go through, again and again.