Gulzar On Shailendra
Sukesh
Gulzar’s words, whether prose or poetry, leave readers spell-bound. In his column in a Hindi literary magazine, Gulzar has penned a brief yet evocative piece on Shailendra, Bollywood’s legendary poet-lyricist and a one-time Central Railway employee. Describing his illustrious predecessor as Hindi filmdom’s “best lyricist ever”, Gulzar recalls the days when Shailendra had hired a cosy Juhu cottage on rent to practise in tranquillity. Soon, a gaggle of artists, including Bimal Roy’s assistant (and film maker of later years) Basu Bhattacharya, music director Salil Chowdhary and vocalist Ruma Ganguly (a gifted singer and Kishore Kumar’s first wife), among many others, began to crowd the cottage. Animated sessions on art and literature, musical soirees and innumerable rounds of chai added flavour to the pad, and this Shailendra liked very much.
A small quarrel with S D Burman and Shailendra was briefly out of Bandini, paving the way for Gulzar’s entry into the Bimal Roy film as lyricist. The wannabe poet, who then worked in a Mumbai garage as a mechanic, was summoned by Sachinda to write a song. Gulzar says he agreed as Shailendra prodded him to do so. Thus, Gulzar wrote Mora gora ang layee le, mohe shyam rang daiee de. His debutante number was rendered by Lata Mangeshkar. Gulzar, who is indisputably a landmark in the annals of Hindi film music after Shailendra, ends the tribute on a poignant note: ‘Shailendra made a little space for me and asked me to occupy his seat — till he came back. He did come back for Bandini, but went away soon. Since then I have been standing by his seat, waiting for him to return. No one has yet filled in the vacancy. None dare to.’
vrk
> The Times of India, dated June 20, 2011
>
>
> Gulzar’s words, whether prose or poetry, leave readers spell-bound. In his column in a Hindi literary magazine, Gulzar has penned a brief yet evocative piece on Shailendra, Bollywood’s legendary poet-lyricist and a one-time Central Railway employee. Describing his illustrious predecessor as Hindi filmdom’s “best lyricist ever”, Gulzar recalls the days when Shailendra had hired a cosy Juhu cottage on rent to practise in tranquillity. Soon, a gaggle of artists, including Bimal Roy’s assistant (and film maker of later years) Basu Bhattacharya, music director Salil Chowdhary and vocalist Ruma Ganguly (a gifted singer and Kishore Kumar’s first wife), among many others, began to crowd the cottage. Animated sessions on art and literature, musical soirees and innumerable rounds of chai added flavour to the pad, and this Shailendra liked very much.
> A small quarrel with S D Burman and Shailendra was briefly out of Bandini, paving the way for Gulzar’s entry into the Bimal Roy film as lyricist. The wannabe poet, who then worked in a Mumbai garage as a mechanic, was summoned by Sachinda to write a song. Gulzar says he agreed as Shailendra prodded him to do so. Thus, Gulzar wrote Mora gora ang layee le, mohe shyam rang daiee de. His debutante number was rendered by Lata Mangeshkar. Gulzar, who is indisputably a landmark in the annals of Hindi film music after Shailendra, ends the tribute on a poignant note: ‘Shailendra made a little space for me and asked me to occupy his seat — till he came back. He did come back for Bandini, but went away soon. Since then I have been standing by his seat, waiting for him to return. No one has yet filled in the vacancy. None dare to.’
thanks.
would love to read this in hindi. do you know which literary magazine
is this.
suhas
to read Gulzar,s speech on receiving shailendra sandman
Pavan Jha
its published in June issue of Naya Gyanodaya in his regular column
titled "Mere Apne"
On Jun 20, 9:42 am, vrk <kumar.vr...@gmail.com> wrote:
Pavan Jha
vrk,
you can read the article here..
enjoy!
Pavan
bnadig
> The Times of India, dated June 20, 2011
Gulzar saab is a class act, indeed.
vrk
thanks pavan
gulzar in translation should be banned :)
the fluidity and poetry in his native tongue is unmatched. the
effortless inclusion of persian and english words is unique.
surjit singh
His native tongue is Panjabi, not Hindi, and they are two different
languages with equally rich traditions.
Vijay
Indeed. One should listen to him recite Amrita Pritam!!
Vijay
vinayak
> On Jun 21, 5:54 pm, surjit singh <surjitsi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDNCbr010YY
Vinayak
Vishwanath
> On Jun 21, 1:54 pm, Vijay <guz...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Jun 21, 5:54 pm, surjit singh <surjitsi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Here is the link of Gulzar's interview where he says the same thing.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDNCbr010YY
>
> Vinayak
Thanks. In part-2 (around 14:00) he recites a few lines that relate
to Mehdi Hasan. So nice. Gulzar is indeed one of a kind.
Vishwanath
tanqee...@gmail.com
http://tanqeed.com/forum/blast-from-the-past-how-gulzar-wrote-his-first-song/