Phalke Award for Gulzar

Veteran poet and film lyricist Gulzar has been chosen for the coveted Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2013, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced in New Delhi on Saturday. The multi-faceted Gulzar, whose real name is Sampooran Singh Kalra, is a lyricist, director, screen writer, producer and poet. He is the 45th winner of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Gulzar's daughter Meghna took to Twitter, immediately after the news was announced, to share her joy. "Dadasaheb Phalke award for my father. So proud," she posted.

The award is conferred by the government for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema. Born in 1934 in Punjab in pre-independent India, Gulzar started his career in 1956. As a lyricist, he got his first break in Bimal Roy's ‘Bandini’. He then worked with leading composers like Sachin Dev Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Shankar-Jaikishan, Hemant Kumar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Madan Mohan, Rajesh Roshan, Anu Malik and the new age Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Gulzar has even had successful partnerships with Rahul Dev Burman, AR Rahman and Vishal Bhardwaj.

He has contributed to several films as a script, story and dialogue writer. His also ventured into direction with films like are ‘Mere Apne’, ‘Koshish’, ‘Aandhi’,‘Kinara’, ‘Khushboo’, ‘Angoor’, ‘Libaas’, ‘Meera’, ‘Lekin’ and ‘Maachis’. Gulzar's small screen stint included creating the series like ‘Mirza Ghalib’ and ‘Tahreer Munshi Premchand Ki’. He wrote lyrics for Doordarshan serials ‘Hello Zindagi’, ‘Potli Baba Ki’ and ‘Jungle Book’. The 79-year-old was conferred the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002 and the Padma Bhushan in 2004 . He has also won a number of National Film Awards and 20 Filmfare Awards.

At the 81st Oscars in 2009, he won the Academy Award for best original song for ‘Jai ho’ with AR Rahman. His poetry has been published in three compilations – ‘Chand Pukhraaj Ka’, ‘Raat Pashminey Ki’ and ‘Pandrah Paanch Pachattar’. His short stories are published in "Raavi Paar" and "Dhuan".