GULZAR’s Beauty of Words

Through his illustrious career, lyricist Gulzar has managed to connect with his audience, through songs like Tum Aa Gaye Ho and Dhan tan nan

Gulzar has had an illustrious career graph and his current phase is one of his best. By blending contemporary lyrics with trendsetting music for Dhan tan nan in Kaminey, Gulzar has raised the bar for music in the Hindi film industry. It is interesting to trace the lyricist's career, from his initial foray with SD Burman to his iconic partnership with AR Rahman and now, a pursuit to be accessible to the youth.

The second distinct phase was when Gulzar came into his own with movies like Mausam, Kinara, Khushboo and Ijaazat. Gulzar kept the inspiration to write good poetry going for movies when all around him music and good lyrics in general were at an all time low. The mid '70s and '80s would be the nadir of our film music, yet Gulzar did not fail to illuminate it with songs like Tum aa gaye ho and Noor aa gaya hai.

After a short lull, a partnership with AR Rahman's innovative sound and melodies on Dil Se ...became the perfect foil for Gulzar's earthy and Sufi poetry. Dil Se ... marked the third phase and his second unbeaten innings. The creativity of the pair would fetch an Oscar ten years later.

Music in the new millennium has changed and with it changed the grammar of song-writing. The typical Mukhda-interlude-Antra phase is slowly dying. Different genres, bold arrangements and even bolder instrumentalism have emerged. One would think a purist like Gulzar, like his peers Sahir and Shailendra, would throw in the towel and fade into oblivion. Instead he wrote Kajra re and Beedi Jalai Le. Both are high-energy songs which rely on rhythm over melody and cater to the masses. Yet lyrically both the songs manage to rise above mediocrity. The tracks have an aesthetic vocabulary with lyrics like Baton me kimam ki khushboo and Aisa kaate ke daant ka nishaan chhod de.

Gulzar has managed to straddle two generations of songwriting with ease. Gulzar can turn a sweet feeling of love on its head with the raunchy Namak Ishq ka, can urge the beloved to wake in the Lori Jag ja and can talk about deceit in Naina thag lenge. All these songs along with Beedi ... were part of one soundtrack! Only Gulzar can make a derogatory word like 'kaminey' seem alluring when he writes, Ek dil se dosti thi, yeh huzoor bhi kaminey.