गुलज़ार

Gulzar, born Sampooran Singh Kalra on 18 August 1934 in Dina, Jhelum District (then British India, now Pakistan), is one of Hindi cinema's most celebrated lyricists, poets, and filmmakers. His family relocated to Amritsar and then Delhi following the 1947 Partition, an upheaval that left a lasting imprint on his poetry and writing, most of which he composes in Hindustani using both the Urdu and Devanagari scripts.

He entered Bollywood as a lyricist with the song "Mora Gora Ang Lai Le" for Bimal Roy's Bandini (1963), working with music director S. D. Burman, and went on to collaborate for decades with composers including R. D. Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Vishal Bhardwaj, and A. R. Rahman. He also built a parallel career as a director, making his debut with Mere Apne (1971) and later directing Aandhi and Mausam in the 1970s, as well as the acclaimed television series Mirza Ghalib in the 1980s.

Gulzar's honours include five National Film Awards, 22 Filmfare Awards, the Academy Award and a Grammy Award for the song "Jai Ho" (with A. R. Rahman) from Slumdog Millionaire — winning the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009 and the Grammy in 2010 — and India's highest literary honour, the Jnanpith Award, in 2024. He is married to actress Raakhee, and their daughter Meghna Gulzar is a noted filmmaker.