Day 3 of the Times Litfest 2017 saw the legendary filmmaker-poet and his protégé, filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj talk on how they inspire each other
Bharati Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; December 18, 2017)

The hall was brimming with young and old faces with shared affection and admiration for lyricist-writer-filmmaker Gulzar and his protégé, filmmaker-composer-writer Vishal Bhardwaj. The latter was seen occupying the front row with his wife Rekha and son Aasman during Gulzar’s independent session, revolving around his books, his first novel, Two, and Footprints On The Zero Line, a compilation of stories and poems revolving around India’s partition in 1947.

Prior to that, Gulzar was on the dais with Vishal, talking about the latter’s first book as a poet, titled Nude.

When Vishal was asked what drove him to become a published poet, three decades after he first wrote poetry, he said, “Gulzar saab drove me to do this. He had been driving me to have my poetries published for two-three years now. Mujhe jhijhak thi. My poems were too personal. But Gulzar saab gave me an ultimatum and I had to get this going. My father was a poet and I have grown up reading poetry by an array of poets. So, shayari was always a shaukh.”

According to Vishal, his poems are pirated versions of his mentor and friend Gulzar’s works. Reacting to this, the legendary wordsmith said, “Ek gharana jismein hum sab pale hain. Vishal is a keen and persistent learner. He even learnt classical music to win his wife over. I remember, during one of our early days, he had said, ‘Gulzar saab, iss industry mein yeh peti leke main nahi ghoom sakta hoon.’ I then encouraged him to write and make his own films. Over the years, we’ve collaborated on so many occasions. Isne mujhe meri umar ke bawajood jawaan rakha. My foreword says that this man has learnt some of the things that I didn’t learn. I will now learn them from him.”

The highlight of the session was the poetries read aloud by Vishal, most of which were profound, and drew immensely from the current cultural and political atmosphere of the country. Last, but not the least, he read out the poetry he had written for his mentor of many years. And this time, it was Gulzar’s turn to be left overwhelmed.

If the first session was punctuated with light moments, the second session was intense and driven by emotional anecdotes about the partition that Gulzar witnessed as a teenager in 1947 — his family moved from Dina, in Pakistan to India when the country was divided into two. The session was moderated by writer Rakshanda Jalil, also the translator of one of the books.

When asked why the memories of the tragic division continue to trouble people even today, Gulzar said, “It should become history in the real sense. It was a haadsa…hamara mulq taqseem ho gaya. The India we knew as kids was divided. Itna khoon kharaba maine apni aankhon se dekha tha. For 25 years, I used to get nightmares of those visuals that I’d seen as a child when the partition happened. I was afraid to sleep. It’s been 70 years now. There were discussions, write-ups, poems, books, films, dramas…all of sorts of things made from almost everyone’s point of view about the World War II. But in the case of our Partition, we were told to stay silent. M S Sathyu’s Garam Hawa, one of the finest films on the subject, came many years after the incident, and it also didn’t find an easy passage. There hasn’t been a common ground for people to meet. We’ve been bringing the line of Partition between us. Batwara was because of siyasat and if it’s still alive in our lives, it’s because of siyasat.”

He added, “People on both sides have never felt animosity for each other. Chandigarh and Mohali had once opened doors to Pakistanis, and restaurants would serve them food free of cost on a mere display of their passport, and people who travelled to Pakistan experienced similar hospitality. The communal attitude towards the Partition needs to change for everything else to settle in.”

When asked why Gulzar had chosen to become a novelist at 80, he said, “Age has nothing to do with becoming a novelist. I didn’t venture out to become one. I don’t go by the stereotypes that people have of a writer or a poet. I used to write short stories. There was so much about Partition that I couldn’t bring out of my system in all these years. This time, I wanted to pour everything out and let it become a bygone, at least for myself.”