Gulzar’s word ‘play’

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If we admire him as a gifted poet, who gave us timeless lyrics like Mera Kuch Saaman…, how can we not be surprised when he does a raunchy Bidi Jalai Lay… That’s the magic only Gulzar can weave.

“I was told that I wear thick glasses and only do serious talking. So, I thought let’s do something about it,” laughs the multi-faceted lyricist, poet and writer. But don’t we already know that Gulzar has a thing for reinventing himself?
The legend is now patronising theatre and a set of his plays were staged at theatre festival, “Meri Aawaz Suno — Celebrating Gulzar” in the capital recently.
The fest, through three plays Kharaashein, Sunte Ho and Arre! O Henry serves a reminder that Gulzar is not only about Bollywood.
Kharaashein is a stage presentation of a bunch of Gulzar’s poems and stories about communal riots, since the Partition and has travelled to various places in the last 10 years.
“Communal riots is a very sensitive topic and each one of us is sentimental about the issue in a different way. And over the years, there has been a recurrence of riots, be it Mumbai or Gujarat. This play talks about the insanity of riots and how adversely they affect the lives and minds of people. If we remove politics from riots the entire state of affairs is going to change,” explains Gulzar.
The play Sunte Ho is Gulzar’s reflections on the status of women down the ages. And talking about Arre! O’Henry, an adaptation of four of American writer O’Henry’s short tales, Gulzar has introduce a splash of humour.
“The purpose, however remains the same — to share your thoughts, entertain and educate,” he adds.
What else is keeping him busy? “Along with English, Urdu and Hindi, I am fascinated by other local languages of the country. I want the youth of the country to connect with it. With this intention, I am doing a few books for children which are set for release,” he informs.
Gulzar says that the medium of the youth has changed. So, literature must be taken to them in their language, he says. He’s also excited to see some “vital” poetry coming from the youth of the disturbed North-East, and he wants to provide a platform to them.
“The healthy and thinking Indian mind has forever been finding new ways to reach out to, which is why despite all the brashtachar (corruption)’, Indian democracy is still alive,” he says.