Happy Birthday Gulzar: How The Maverick Director Portrayed Women on Screen 

Here are a few films by Gulzar whose women characters were as real as it can get, women we can relate to, women we can feel for, women who seem to be among us, and women who are not judged. 

Born as Sampooran Singh Kalra on August 18, 1934, the veteran lyricist, writer, and director knows the sensibilities of people across all generations

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New Delhi: “Bas Tera Naam Hi Mukammal Hai Isse Behtar Nazm Kya Hogi." Nothing can describe our love and adulation for Gulzar more than this line by the wordsmith himself. Gulzar Sahab (as called by his admirers and fans) is a name to reckon with. Born as Sampooran Singh Kalra on August 18, 1934, the veteran lyricist, writer, and director knows the sensibilities of people across all generations and has been successful in capturing them through his work. Who can even imagine ‘Chaddi Pehen K Phool Khila Hai’ and ‘Tere Bina Zindagi Se Koi’ - being written by the same person or ‘Bidi Jalai Le Jigar Se Piya’ and ‘Jag Ja’ are words of the same person for one movie. 

The magic that Gulzar creates through his words is unparalleled – whether in songs or his poetry. There is no one who can give words to your feelings as he does – every emotion, every situation. While it can take days to write about the brilliance of Gulzar the poet, Gulzar as a director has given us films so vast in temperament – classic comedy like ‘Angoor’ to a film like ‘Mere Apne’ or ‘Mausam’.  

One thing that was common in most of his films as a director was the way he portrayed women characters, and how beautifully every emotion of a woman was captured through his lens. Those women had depth, layers, strength, and most of all they were human – good and bad both.  

Here are a few films by the maverick director whose women characters were as real as it can get, women we can relate to, women we can feel for, women who seem to be among us, and women who are not judged for who they are. 

Ijaazat

When it comes to the portrayal of women characters, Ijaazat comes at the top, not just among Gulzar’s films but among all the films in general. Maya (played by Anuradha Patel) and Sudha (played by Rekha) were two women so much different from each other yet similar. Women with strength, women with flaws. ‘Ijaazat’ looks into the complexity of a relationship without any judgement, without preaching anything about right or wrong. On one hand, there was Maya a free-spirited woman who loves unconditionally, who struggles with herself after the love of his life gets married to someone else as she didn’t want to. And then there was Sudha a woman who in her new marital life tries her best to understand her husband’s past relationship and the woman who he was with. She is endearing and graceful. Even the songs captured the emotions of these two women perfectly. ‘Mera Kuch Samaan’ is a beautiful glimpse into a past relationship and the memories that linger on forever. 

Namkeen

 Starring Shabana Azmi, Waheeda Rehman, Sharmila Tagore, and Sanjeev Kumar, ‘Namkeen’ is a story of four women of a family without any men and their struggle to live their life gracefully in the patriarchal society. Nimki played by Sharmila Tagore is the eldest sister who has become the anchor of the family and let go of her personal desires to take care of her mother (Waheeda Rahman) and her two younger sisters. She is mature, she is sensible and a thread that binds the family together. Then there is Mitthu (Shabana Azmi) who has lost her voice due to an incident in the past. She is sensitive, emotional, and innocent. Youngest among all is Chinki (Kiran Vairale) who doesn’t want to take the path her elder sister has taken and wants to live for herself. Each of the sisters has different shades and is so close to the women we see around us. 

Khushboo

Based on Bengali novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel, ‘Panditmoshai, Khushboo is about a woman Kusum (played by Hema Malini) who navigates gracefully and with strength through her loneliness. She loves but keeps her pride and dignity above it. A childhood marriage gone wrong, the person to whom she was married, married someone else but Kusum doesn’t marry anyone else. When situations bring her face to face with her husband and he asks her to marry him, she refuses. The film focuses on the choice of a woman. In one of the dialogues, Kusum says, “Koi raaste par thodi baithi hoon, jab jee chahega chhod jayenge…meri marzi kuch nahin.” Opinion of a woman, choice of a woman – a thing that is still not acceptable by many even today. 

Mausam

Mausam stars Sanjeev Kumar and Sharmila Tagore. The story is about a woman (Kajli) who was forced into prostitution, whose mother (Chanda) dies waiting for a man whom she loved and who deserted her due to family pressure. The man (played by Sanjeev Kumar) returns after many years and finds Kajli who is the mirror image of her mother Chanda – the woman he loved. Gulzar makes you see the story through a woman’s eyes. How Kajli starts liking the old man eventually figuring out that he was the one her mother died waiting for. How the relationship between the two evolves, Kajli’s individual journey has been shown so beautifully by Gulzar. There were many things that could have gone wrong in the film if Gulzar didn’t have the ability to understand a woman’s mind, he has successfully conveyed to us the journey of both the characters and their mental struggle in the most delicate way. 

Aandhi

The film is based on the relationship of an estranged couple who meet after years. The woman is a well-known politician (played by Suchitra Sen) and her political ambition led to a fallout between her and her husband (played by Sanjeev Kumar). Both the characters are portrayed so perfectly - they both know that separating was the only way forward for them yet the love between them is intact even after years.  In Gulzar’s own words 'Aandhi' was revolutionary in its approach as it broke the male dominance on screen. In a conversation with directors Vishal Bhardwaj and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra at the 13th Habitat Film Festival, Gulzar had said, "If you have watched 'Aandhi' closely, you would have seen that besides (Sen's) character, there was no other female character in the entire film. I had to orchestrate that she was the only woman. I was telling such a story... . Why a woman can't play a character like that? An active, strong one who is not confined to the house, who is active outdoors."