Kuch bhi kayam nahi hai, kuch bhi nahi... .

- Cinema Express - Shishir Ramawat

- Gulzar

Gu Lazar fans are in a frenzy. Why not? He has recently been announced to be conferred with Ati Pratithi Jnanpith Award in the field of literature. In fact, the names of two writers have been announced for the 2023 Jnanpith Award - Jagadguru Ramabhadracharya for his contribution to Sanskrit literature and Gulzar for his contribution to Urdu literature. For the first time in India, a film personality has been selected for the Jnanpith, and not as a 'literary' or 'writer', but as a 'lyricist'.

Jnanpith Award has been given since 1944. Gulzar is the fifth Urdu writer in as many years to receive this award. Many critics have objected to the fact that Gulzar is a film man. He is famous for film songs, film writing and film direction. Why do you consider him as 'Urdu literature' and give him such a big award? What these people may not remember is that Bob Dylan, a very famous American pop singer and songwriter, did not 'create literature' in the traditional sense, but was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016.

Gulzar has created an independent genre in poetry called Triveni. As the share has two lines, the triveni has three lines. At one place Gulzar writes, 'Shuru shar mein to jab yah form banai thi, to pata nahi tha yah kiss sangam tak pahunchegi. Triveni naam islie diya tha ki pahale do misre, Ganga-Jamuna ki tarah millate hain aur ek kharte, ek share ko mukammal karte hain, lakin in do dharaon ke down ek aur nadi hai - Saraswati. If Gupta Hai, Nazar Nahi Aati. Triveni Ka Kam Saraswati Dikhana Hai.'

Let's understand with examples.

Udke myself hue panchi ne bus itana hi dekha

Der tak hand hilati rahi wah shakh fiza mein.

And now the third row-

Who said goodbye? Ya pas bulane ke lie?

Another example-

Raat ke pad pe kal hi to use dekha tha-

Chand bus girne hi wala tha falak se pak kar.

Suraj Aya Tha, Jara Uski Talashi Lena.

In the period of 1972-73, these Trivenis composed by Gulzar started to be published in the magazine 'Sarika'. At that time, Kamleswar was the editor of 'Sarika'. It took two-and-a-half decades for Triveni to become an accepted, mature verse form. Gulzar never slows down. His creative consciousness is constantly developing. Besides, why should they plow in a prose form like a novel? 'Do Log' is his first novel, which he wrote at the age of 82!

Gulzar, 90, has achieved a lot in life, yet - perhaps that's why - arrows keep coming at him. At the Jaipur Literature Festival, a senior poet named Sheen Kaf Nizam once said from the stage that if Gulzar had not been a filmmaker, would anyone have bothered to listen to his poetry?

This is a comment that can make anyone angry, embarrassed. In Gulzar's poetry, however, the feelings of anger, outrage and despair are not particularly strong. So when writer and documentary filmmaker Nasreen Munni Kabir asked Gulzarji, are you always an optimist? To which Gulzar replies, 'There are times when I become very pessimistic, and there are times when I am completely optimistic. But you see, I'm not particularly into 'dark moods'. Problems and setbacks may come, but a dark mood? No. The beauty of life is that it keeps changing.'

Saying this, Gulzar quotes a poem of his own:

Kuch bhi kayam nahi hai kuch bhi nahi

Night and day gir rah hai Chaucer

Aundh-sidhi-si kaudion ki tarah

Mah-o-sal is at hand

Fingers se fislate rahte hain

Kuch bhi kayam nahi hai kuch bhi nahi

Aur jo kayam hai ek bus main hoon

I keep changing every moment...

Gulzar: Insider or Outsider?

Is Gulzar satisfied with the way his life has turned out? Gulzar's answer to this question twelve years ago is preserved in Nasreen Munni Kabir's Goshti with Gulzar. This answer is probably still present today:

'I always thought that one day I would become a successful writer. Successful in the sense that my writings will be solid, meaningful, not boring. I have been a member of PDBUE (Progressive Writers Association) for a few years, so I had such confidence that what I write will be related to the life I live and it will have some social relevance. Success means success in one's own eyes. There must be conviction in what you say and do. This conviction must come from within you. If you are not confident about your work, you will not be able to convince anyone. Nothing matters after such work.'

Cinema is a popular medium. Popularity takes its toll, popularity has to pay. Established writers of fiction often feel a subtle jealousy of popular filmmakers. Many writers consider Gulzar an 'outsider'. Gulzar has been working in the film industry since the 1960s. Do they think they are at least film industry insiders? Gulzar says, 'When I am asked such a question, I question myself. where am i from What is called mine? I came to cinema from literature. I had to learn to write film songs and screenplays and then to direct films. Although I entered the film world reluctantly, I left here of my own free will. I still circle around this world of cinema, but from the outside. Even after all these decades, I feel that I am not the life of cinema. I don't belong to films...'