Gulzar to direct campaign for healthcare business - Oct 1, 2002

The advertising campaign for Ranbaxy’s new consumer healthcare business has been directed by noted lyricist Gulzar.

“The television campaign consists of two television commercials — one in Hindi and the other in English — of 40 seconds each,” Atul Malhotra, head, global consumer healthcare, Ranbaxy, said. The commercials, which will go on air on October 7, have been conceptualised by the healthcare division of Ogilvy & Mather (O&M).

Besides Gulzar, who has also penned the lyrics for the Hindi version of the campaign, there are many other big names of the film world associated with the campaign. The commercial has been produced by Bobby Bedi of Train to Pakistan and Bandit Queen fame.
posted by v9y at 6:20 PM

rediff.com: Water in melancholy, a new sound

Excerpts from a Rediff interview with Gulzar about "Udaas Paani" - his new album with Abhishek Ray

I ran into Abhishek Ray in Delhi. He wanted me to hear some of his compositions; I gladly agreed. That is how we decided to collaborate on Udaas Pani. This album can neither be called a music album nor a poetry album. The music and poetry merge with seamless splendour. It is not an album where listeners stop short in the tracks to wonder, 'Ab beech mein poetry kahan se aa gayee [How did the poetry fit into this]?'
..
"I see Abhishek as a composer of emotions. He reminds me of Salil Chowdhury. Abhishek's compositions are intricate. He is crazy about Nature and wildlife. He goes on tiger-counting expeditions. Last year, he was injured when he was chased by a wild elephant. Both his parents are classical musicians. So he has inherited a flair for ragas.

"Abhishek's father has played the sitar in Udaas Paani. Abhishek has also studied in Western classical music. So he has imbibed the best of both the worlds. Ultimately he will be absorbed into film music. He deserves it."
posted by v9y at 6:17 PM

Rediff interview with Gulzar (January 1999)

You are quite taken up with Bengali literature... Is it because you worked with Bengali film-makers like Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee?

Certainly not, because I even married a Bengali! It's the influence and the fascination of Bengal that made me marry one.

Since my schooldays, I've read the translations of Bengali writers. I'm Punjabi, but I read a lot of Bengali and Urdu literature. But somehow I wanted to read the original Bengali literature. That forced me more into the language and, finally, Bengali food --macch bhaat. She (Raakhee) fed me machand... that's how it came about.

I had also read translations of Tagore and the modern poetry of that period that I also translated for a Urdu magazine. I made Ijaazat from a novel by Subhodh Ghosh who I called the Maupussant of India. Bengali literature was one of the richest literatures and it is very fascinating. I think only two languages have contributed to children's literature, which is again very fascinating -- Bengali and Marathi.

You said once that you wanted to be a poet. How did you become a film-maker?

I only wanted to be a litterateur. I wasn't very keen to become a film-maker. I fended off many offers from my friends who were in films then -- people like Salil Chaudhary who I met in Bombay, in IPTA, Balraj Sahni, Shailendra... I was working in a motor garage that time as an administrator. I was there because I knew I'd have more time to read and study. My friends were working with Bimalda at that time.

They took me over to him to write a song for Bandini. That was the beginning. He asked me to be his assistant. I don't know, maybe I should have blushed. But he did give me that offer. I thought that writing lyrics wasn't poetry and so wasn't keen. He told me that he was starting a film called Kabuliwalla and that I should be his assistant there. I agreed.
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Your first film Mere Apne was a remake of a Bengali film Apunjan.

My first film was a remake of a Bengali film in a way. But I really did not base it on that film. I based it on a short story on which that film was based by Inder Kumar Moitra.

When will you direct your next film?

At the moment I am not working on any film. I am committed to writing scripts for my daughter and my associate, Salim Arif. After these two scripts, I'll consider making another film. Till then, I'll enjoy my unemployed state.

posted by v9y at 6:13 PM

Rediff interview with Gulzar (April 1997)

"Libaas is about a husband and wife relationship, it has great performances by Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi," says he, about the film which is yet to secure commercial release. "How we admire the great works of fiction, and how when fictional circumstances become real we react differently, is what the film's underlying theme is."
...

And what of his own films? Which, we ask, are his favourites? And why?

''I like Ijaazat for its mood, the relationships between its characters. All three angles in the triangle are positive characters who care for each other's happiness, and through this film I brought out of the closet for the first time, on screen, the live-in relationship which has now become quite common."

''Kitaab is, for me, special because of its observation of the growing up of a child, of what children observe when they are growing up. The film is obviously subjective, when I myself was growing up what I observed was the high-handedness of grownups and this has been reflected in my film. Its like, they would gift me a costly pen, then keep it locked in the cupboard. This would make me fume, because no matter how beautiful the gift, it meant nothing unless I could use it."

''Then there was Namkeen - again, special for me because of the relationships it explores, and for its delicate screenplay. The film is about a relationship between two cousins - not an affair, but something much more delicate and sensitive. I think this is the best screenplay I have done.

''Lekin, for me, is special because of its element of mystery. Usually, when you make a mystery film, you provide a solution at the end. Lekin however doesn't - it just leaves you wondering."

posted by v9y at 6:07 PM