Indo-Asian News Service
Oscar award winning lyricist Gulzar has handpicked 100 of his best works that have been translated into English by scriptwriter Sunjoy Shekhar for an anthology titled ‘100 Lyrics’. The poet reveals that he was inspired by rocker Sting to come out with this compilation.
‘100 Lyrics’ is a bi-lingual volume that contains the original lyrics in Hindi along with their English translations, featuring anecdotes about the composition.
Published by Penguin-Books India, the yet-to-be released volume has English versions of the lyricist’s early hits like Mera Gora Ang Lai Le, the first film lyric that Gulzar wrote for Bimal Roy’s Bandini in 1963, to the enduring Dil Dhoondta Hai (Mausam), Naam gum jayega (Kinara), Humne dekhi hai un aankhon ki, Is mod pe jate hain (Aandhi) and Mera kucch Saman (Izazat).
Gulzar, who won an Oscar this year for the song Jai Ho in the film Slumdog Millionaire, has surprisingly drawn inspiration from English musician Sting.
“The popular musician Sting inspired me to compile this book. I have published several volumes of my poetry before and compiled my stories separately in two small volumes in Hindi. Somehow, I do not mix the two, except when my poems were picked up for a film and dressed with a musical rendering,” said Gulzar.
“Following in the footsteps of Sting, I undressed my lyrics and realised that lyrics can survive on their own without a mannequin or a visual. If not all, a good majority of them survived in another genre or form- as poetry,” says Gulzar in the book.