''In the Company of a Poet'' is a 2012 book by the author and television documentary producer Nasreen Munni Kabir, containing her interview with Gulzar (an Indian filmmaker, lyricist, and poet). It details his early life, including his birth in 1934 in

Dina Dina ( ar, دينا, he, דִּינָה, also spelled Dinah, Dena, Deena) is a female given name. Women * Dina bint Abdul-Hamid (1929–2019), Queen consort of Jordan, first wife of King Hussein * Princess Dina Mired of Jordan (born 1965), Princ ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(now Pakistan), and his

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

family background, his film and poetic career, and his marriage to the actress

Rakhee ''Rakhi'' or ''Rakhee'' is a 2006 Indian Telugu-language masala film directed by Krishna Vamsi and starring Jr. NTR, Ileana D'Cruz and Charmme Kaur. Suhasini, Sarath Babu, Chandra Mohan, Brahmaji, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Saranya Ponvannan, Brahm ...

in 1973, with whom he has a daughter, Meghna. ''In the Company of a Poet'' was published by Rupa Publications on 12 November 2012 and received mixed reviews from critics. ''

Firstpost ''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18. The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Raghav ...

'' included the book in its listing of Top 10 in Indian Non-fiction Books. The book became the third written work on Gulzar, after his daughter's ''Because He is...'' (2004) and journalist

Saibal Chatterjee Saibal Chatterjee is an Indian film critic, an author of a book on Gulzar, co-editor of a book on films; and a documentary scriptwriter. He was a columnist at BBC News, Business Standard, Hindustan Times and Financial Express. And a staff writer of ...

's ''Echoes & Eloquences'' (2007). Kabir and Gulzar discussed mostly the latter's experiences as a lyricist, poet, and screenwriter, avoiding their conversations to be focused on topics the previous publications have done. ''In the Company of a Poet'' development was done by doing online conversations on the telecommunication application

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

between May and November 2011, which was followed by their face-to-face conversations at the end of the same year.

Synopsis

''In the Company of a Poet'' features extensive conversations between its author Nasreen Munni Kabir and the filmmaker, lyricist, and poet Gulzar, relating to his life and career. Gulzar was born in a

family as Sampooran Singh Kalra on 18 August 1934 in

(now Pakistan). His father, Makhan Singh Kalra, was a

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also been u ...

and had married thrice (having a son and two daughters from a first marriage with Raaj) before his marriage to who later became Gulzar's mother, Sujaan Kaur. Gulzar said to Kabir that he is Kaur's only child as his mother died several months after giving birth. The book later extensively chronicles his

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

cinematic—mostly that of lyricist—and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Raakhee, with whom he has a daughter named Meghna (who would become a filmmaker as well).

Development and writing

In 1986, during the production of ''Movie Mahal'' (a 49-part television documentary on Bollywood aired on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

), Kabir asked for journalist Khalid Mohamed's help to invite people with "significant" contributions to Bollywood. One of the interviewees was Gulzar, with whom she discussed the history of Bollywood's lyricists. After he agreeing the offers, Mohamed and Kabir arrived at his one-story bungalow on

Pali Hill Pali Hill is an affluent residential area spread across the adjoined suburbs of Bandra and Khar in Mumbai, India (sharing postal codes 400050 and 400052 respectively). Geography Pali Hill lies on the western side of Mumbai. It runs parallel to ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, to start shooting. Their second meeting was four years later while she was producing for another documentary for the same channel, on playback singer

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her cont ...

. Kabir recounted that Gulzar came up with insightful information about the singer—the same thing he did when was interviewed about the topics from their previous meetings. For later years, they would meet at several film festivals and private screenings only. Kabir wrote in ''In the Company of a Poet'' foreword that she got the idea of the book " reposterouslyas this might sound" after having a dream in 2010, in which she was talking with Gulzar's contemporaries

Sahir Ludhianvi Abdul Hayee (8 March 1921 – 25 October 1980), popularly known by his pen name (takhallus) Sahir Ludhianvi, was an Indian poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described ...

and Shailendra; the lyricists told her to write a book in collaboration with Gulzar on their work. It consequently motivated her to do a call with Gulzar from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

"no matter how overly dramatic the whole might seem to him", using his telephone number she got when they met coincidentally in the city. His manager, whom she referred to as Mr. Kutty, answered the call and asked her to wait for a while. Gulzar came on the line a few minutes later, telling Kabir to phone him once more after she arrives in India. In late 2010, she had returned to the country and subsequently got the approval from him. Using the telecommunication application

, the conversations happened from May to November 2011 with over twenty-five sessions (each lasting around one or two hours) in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

, and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

's ''Echoes & Eloquences'' (2007). They avoid talking topics the previous publications have already done. Kabir, who had returned to London by the end of 2010 following Gulzar's consents on the idea of the book, chose to focus mostly on his work mostly as a lyricist, poet, and screenwriter. She added, "I also believed that even if we were to revisit events that were already known, ulzarwould shed new light on them from the perspective of who he is today." At the end of the following year, she went back to Mumbai and continue the conversations at Gulzar's office.

Critical reception

''In the Company of a Poet'' received mixed reviews from book critics. Bollywood Hungama gave the book a rating of two-and-a-half stars, concluding in its review, "If you haven't read any of the books centered on Gulzar yet, this one—though not the best of the lot—could still be your pick!" Although feeling ambivalent of the book, the critic said that it is suitable for those who wants to have insights of the Bollywood in the past decades from Gulzar's point-of-view. Lopamudra Ghatak of

News18 Network18 Media & Investments Limited, (formerly SGA Finance and Management Service and Network18 Fincap Limited) commonly referred to as the Network18 Group and sometimes as the Network18–Eenadu Group, is an Indian media conglomerate owned b ...

praised Kabir for encouraging Gulzar to tell his personal life detailly and described the book as "a conversation with Kabir interrupting, interjecting and engaging her subject just enough, at the right moments". The ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'' journalist

Deepa Gahlot Deepa Gahlot is a theater and film critic, book author, and scriptwriter. She has written several books on cinema, translated several plays (by Manav Kaul and Paresh Mokashi) into English and adapted Paulo Coelho's novel ''The Alchemist'' for the st ...

believed that it gives "a glimpse of where he comes from and the influences that shaped his extraordinary imagination and felicity with words". Suresh Kohli of '' The Tribune'' criticised the book for " ackinga pattern, therefore the relative inconsistency", explaining that Kabir "flips from films to individuals without a pause, from people to poetry with the finesse of a trapeze artiste". For instance, they were talking about his poem dedicated to Meghna when she was 18, but Kabir suddenly change the topics to her birth. ''

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naid ...

'' complimented the book as interesting and filled with much new information of its subject. Writing for ''The Kashmir Walla'', Atul K. Thakur stated, "Nasreen Munni Kabir, who is known for her authentic knowledge on cinema has made another remarkable mark by infusing biographical element in a long interview with a timeless phenomenon-Gulzar." ''

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by K. N. Guruswamy, a liquor businessman from Ballari and was launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printe ...

'' saw that Gulzar talks about his life in a humorous way.

Ziya Us Salam Ziya Us Salam (born 1970) is an Indian author, literary critic, journalist and social commentator, who has worked for The Hindu Group since 2000. In addition to serving as the associate editor for magazine ''Frontline'', he also wrote several col ...

found the book to be a "breezy reading". In ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'', Suanshu Khurana felt that ''In the Company of a Poet'' has flawed narrative shifts and many questions from Kabir have little connection with her next questions. Khurana took an example when Gulzar was telling her the screenwriting of '' Mughal-e-Azam'' (1960) and its director

K. Asif K. Asif (born Asif Karim; 14 June 1922 – 9 March 1971) was an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who is known for his epic film, ''Mughal-e-Azam'' (1960). Early life Asif was born in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India to paren ...

, but Kabir next asked about the author-cum-screenwriter

Nabendu Ghosh Nabendu Ghosh (27 March 1917 – 15 December 2007) was an Indian author in Bengali literature, and screenwriter. He has written screenplays of classic Bollywood movies like, Sujata, Bandini, Devdas, Majhli Didi, Abhimaan and Teesri Kasam. He ...

—the critic opined these flaws could make the book's readers confused.

Asif Noorani Asif Noorani ( ur, آصف نورانی; born 1942) is a Pakistani newspaper and television journalist and writer. Personal life Asif Noorani was born in Mumbai, India in 1942. He belongs to a secular Urdu-speaking family. His family migrated to ...

of ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

'' commended Kabir's ability to "draw Gulzar into a lively conversation, enabling us to hear about many people, their fads and foibles", Jitesh Pillai, the editor of ''

Filmfare ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English language, English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, r ...

'', praised her for making such an "engaging book" with "delightful insights", and Ramya Sarma of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' shared similar thoughts, appreciating it for its informativeness. The book was included in ''

'' end-year listing of Top 10 in Indian Non-fiction Books.

Publication history

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{Google Books, id=6rF8lAEACAAJ 2012 non-fiction books Biographies about actors Indian biographies Rupa Publications books Gulzar