On His 90th Birthday, A Tribute To Gulzar From Pakistan

When the innocence of childhood clashes with the material realities, then a world of ideas is populated and the fire burning at the level of imagination carves new paths and lands while finding a way. One introduction to this entire process is the creative journey of Gulzar, who was born 90 years ago this week on August 18; a journey within the depth of which we feel the whispers of love in the diverse colours of musicality, melody, spontaneity, legend, poetry and artistry very closely.

Gulzar sahib is a renowned film personality and the visionaries related to this field are well aware of his artistic expertise. He has also been praised for his songs and scripts from popular circles. But away from this, is another role of his which thrived in a small town of Punjab, Dina, and which, crossing the border during the process of Partition, passing difficult and different stages succeeded in reaching the film world.

So this Dina is the important centre for the self of Gulzar; his thought and art began from the experiences of his life here. Many in Pakistan were introduced to his creative endeavours through the quarterly Urdu journal Funoon since long. And they came to know that the flow of his creative innocence reveals the ability to carve a unique album in relation to the embodiment and form-shaping of the agonising crises of life. Within this flow he creates drama and innocence with dialogues whenever he wants and sometimes carves new stories by kneading the soil in the innocent atmosphere of Punjab.

The late Dr. Gopi Chand Narang while studying his short-stories did not bring poetry under discussion, but the reality is that if we evaluate the colours of his poetry, then the characters of history, the experiences, events and mythological characters of contemporary life, tying all the diverse stories together, assume the form of a montage. Along with poetic imagination, Gulzar has kept the bitter facts of social life and sufferings of common people in view in his endeavours. He has raised contradictions in relation to his characters, making the life of crushed subordinate people a part of his feelings in the long background of the neocolonial era.

In this background, the characters of his story also appear to be penetrating into poetry with spontaneity. He also brings in front the pictures of the wisdom which grows with the struggle of life and sustenance in (his) poetic reaction and the juicy lines of his poetry are seen to create a mixture with the dialogues emerging from the battlefield of life. A character ‘Adha’ in his short story is not a part of some movement but in relation to a personal reaction against social injustice is a sign of resistance. Gulzar has raised this character with a daring simplicity while also studying the experiences and accidents of the world. The fire burning in this simplicity is very much his art. This fire makes its way by resisting patriarchal codes.

A character Munni emerging from the cheerful memories of childhood promptly tells what she has to say in relation to ‘The Paper Cap’ (Kaghaz Ki Topi). Why doesn’t she say so directly? The metaphor comes in front as an aid in the atmosphere of centuries of fear and oppression. The spontaneity of the Punjabi language can also be prominently seen in the background of the effectiveness of the characters of Gulzar’s short-stories. The short story Khauf (Fear) is a picture of the sudden reaction and soliloquy of a person passing through the apprehension of death in the partition riots. The ‘Mama Chakor’ of the dusky moonlit night, living in the fantasy of a matriarchal world, the lover of moonlit nights, passing through the arduous paths of life, how does he change? But with reference to this creation, the real character is not Mama Chakor but in relation to the warring societal values, is the archetype growing due to the reaction to backwardness, which makes the character or figure of Mama embrace the significance of love.

The short story Saans Leta Sona (Breathing Gold) is the story of an emerging labour being cast into a commodity in the background of kinship. Darshan Singh of the short story Ravi Paar (Across the Ravi) too is the prisoner of an agony like ‘Toba Tek Singh’ of Saadat Hasan Manto. This torment is seen to be shadowing like an evil spirit or a viper upon a branch having flowers. Now if we come towards poetry, then the poems Refugee, 1857, Kachehriyan (Courts), Fatehpur Sikri, Ghalib, Siddharth supply a thought provoking index. When he sees the night arriving in the moon’s boat, in a collective capacity in his poems, trivenis and songs, a series of extraordinary scenes keeps untying the knots of the meaningfulness in harmony with the music of words. In this journey Gulzar while watching the moon also keeps in view the blemish on its forehead. An important quality of his poetic style is the effectiveness of dialogue, which dominates his oeuvre in cinema in addition to short stories and poetry. When he brings this very dialogue within the paradise of one-liners to obtain meaningfulness from musicality, then it emerges in a voice choking with the crucifix of solitude, fear and pain.

In this background, the symbolism of the short story and the tradition of historiography too is seen to be penetrating in his poetry. When he gropes the sensitivity of his temperament in the background of social history, the dialogues of the film Ghalib are made public. In the creative endeavours of Gulzar, the desire to love or live is seen to be constantly resisting death and oppression. When this becomes raw moonlight to melt into blood, then all the flowers of twilight become scarlet. Binding the pictures of love with musicality, Gulzar strengthens the harmony of words in many ways and amazes the reader by bringing them to the junction of poetry and short story.

Galli Ka Mod Mudte Hi Mera Ghar Tha (My House Was Just At the Turn of the Lane), Dina, Ankhon Ko Visa Nahin Lagta (Eyes Do Not Need a Visa Stamp), Mujhe Wagah Pe Toba Tek Singh Vaale Bishen Se Ja Kar Milna Hai (I Have to Go to Wagah To Meet Bishen of Toba Tek Singh), Kaise Chup Chaap Barasta Hai Tassavur Tera (How Silently Your Image Pours), Pas Manzar (Background), Kuch Beva Aavazein (Some Widowed Voices), Qabaristan Mein KalIk Laash Par (In the Cemetery Upon A Corpse Yesterday), Raat Bhar Aisi Ladi Jaise Ke Dushman Ho (She Fought All Night As If An Enemy), Barsi (Death Anniversary), Shehad Ka Chhattaa (Beehive), the themes, lines and titles of his poems all create such a unity of impression from which the highlights of the poet’s  own story or narrative are obtained prominently.

An atmosphere is indeed created to narrate one’s story in the style of a ghazal. But the appeal of the subjects of concern for livelihood and the love of idols too depends upon the access of the poet’s imagination. Gulzar has expanded the topics of the ghazal, too, with his manner. And the talk of Dina on its way becomes entangled with the pashminas of the night. Thus, the embodiment of a condition is done in every verse of the ghazal and in relation to feelings, a sculpture is made. With reference to this, the ‘moonlight’ in Gulzar’s ghazals becomes an aid for the painting of pain at a symbolic level.

Be-sabab muskura raha hai chaand

Koi saazish chhupa raha hai chaand

(The moon is smiling without a reason

 It is hiding some collusion)

Honton mein le ke raat ke aanchal ka sira

Ankhon pe rakh ke chaand ke honton ka mas jiye

(Holding the end of the night’s mantle in the lips

 We lived putting the touch of the moon’s lips upon the eyes)

Raat ko de do chaandni ki rida

Din ki chaadar abhi utaari hai

(Give the mantle of moonlight to the night

 It has just shed the veil of the day)

A detailed review of Gulzar’s art is not really possible in this brief tribute. The short stories, poems and verses which have been referenced selectively are merely footnotes and in a collective capacity his creative journey is an album of the pictures of pain and also points out the blood-drenched thorns of spring along with the touch of flowers. All these pictures bring Gulzar’s own point of view to the fore. This thing too comes to the front that he does not set over the memories of the past or the days and nights that have passed in Dina over his self like an evil spirit rather considers his past to be a means and reference to love life.

We find highlights of contemporary Bombay and its characters in his writings as well. Before this, Saadat Hasan Manto had provided access to a conscious reaction to the depths of the film and commercial life in sketches titled Ganje Farishte (Bald Angels) and many short stories. Besides, Miraji, Krishan Chander, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Ali Sardar Jafri, Akhtar ul Iman, Ahmad Bashir, Hameed Akhtar, Zoe Ansari and many other writers too had made the social anarchy penetrating this very city during the period of World War Two a part of their feelings. Gulzar too has furthered the tradition of this observation. But along with it one also comes to know that he also expresses love for the art of Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, the personality which emerged in the reaction to the upheaval of the life of the subjugated classes and peasants of Punjab. He appears to be an envoy of love and peace while portraying all his memories, stories of agony and pain, and the bitter realities of social life.

Note: All translations from Urdu are by the writer.

The writer is an award-winning researcher and translator based in Lahore and President of the Progressive Writers’ Association. He may be reached at razanaeem@hotmail.com. He tweets at @raza_naeem1979