I haven't lost my childishness: Gulzar on youth and creativity

New Delhi: Hindi cinema veteran Gulzar on Saturday said he believes that he hasn’t lost his childishness and it is probably why he is able to come up with songs that resonate with audiences of all generations.

“I feel I haven’t grown up, and that’s why I’m still a child. I haven’t lost my childishness. I still play, write, and share the thoughts of young people and children like I did in the earlier days,” the 90-year-old writer said.

He was speaking at a session during the Sahitya Aaj Tak at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here.

Asked about his ability to connect across ages, Gulzar referenced the writings of Rabindranath Tagore.

“In Tagore’s writing, there is a mention as well… Someone once asked him, ‘Your hair is all white now, do you worry about ‘pralok’ (the afterlife)?’ He said, ‘Why do you just see my hair? I’m a poet of all ages.’ “Whether you are with children or people of different ages, you speak differently with all of them, whether it is your grandfather, mother, brother or sister. One should remember that you live different lives in one life. And so I write songs for different ages,” he said.

According to Gulzar, a song must feel like a part of the movie, otherwise, it will feel out of place.

“When we write a song, we have the story and the situation in front of us. If it doesn’t justify the situation, then the song would feel wrong in a movie. But it always has an adaptability factor—the film’s story would resonate with others. Someone else might have faced a similar situation and, therefore, could interpret the song differently,” he said.

He recounted how he came up with the song “Mera Kuch Samaan” for his 1987 movie “Ijaazat”, starring Rekha, Naseeruddin Shah and Anuradha Patel.

“It’s a long song and when I told RD Burman about it, he said it is a nice scene. I told him it is a song and he looked at me and then tossed it aside. He said it is a scene, not a song. He said one day you will bring a newspaper and ask me to write a tune for it. Asha ji was sitting there only.

“I told Pancham that it is not a prose. Then he heard Asha ji humming something. He asked her about it. Then she sang a bit of that song, and then one sentence, then another and in the process, he composed the entire track,” he said.

Gulzar also said the success of the songs that he wrote belonged to the composers.

“But if it reaches the people and they feel what I’m trying to convey—whether it’s pain or something else—then it is my credit. Like the song ‘Tere Bina Zindagi Se’ (from ‘Aandhi’), if you feel what I’m trying to say, then that is my success,” he said.