Bollywood’s legendary lyricist Gulzar turns 85

Many wishes kept on pouring for Bollywood's legendary lyricist Gulzar all over Twitter since morning on Sunday as he has turned 85-year-old. Various celebrities also paid tributes and wished him on his birthday.

Among these celebrities, one was a renowned television comedian and Bollywood actor Kapil Sharma.

Kapil, who gained success on TV with shows of his own, took to Instagram to share a photo of himself with Gulzar. Not only the photo, but Kapil also went on to post a poetry alongside the photo, as a tribute to Gulzar.

Taking to Instagram, Kapil wrote, “Neither did I fall, nor did the pillar of my hopes, but a few people fell while trying to push me down. #happybirthdaygulzar #gulzarsahab”

Gulzar is known for his extensive contributions to Indian cinema as a lyricist, writer, and director.

Born in Jhelum in British India (now in Pakistan), his family moved to India after partition. He began his career as a lyricist in the 1963 film ‘Bandini’ and wrote many hit songs, including ‘Tujhse Naraz Nahi Zindagi’, ‘Jai Ho’, ‘Aap Ki Ankhon Mein’, and ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’.

Gulzar also wrote poetry, dialogues and scripts. He went on to foray into film direction with ‘Mere Apne’ in 1971. He directed films such as Aandhi and Mausam during the 1970s and the TV series Mirza Ghalib in the 1980s. He also directed Kirdaar in 1993.

He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2004, the third-highest civilian award in India, the Sahitya Akademi award and the Dadasaheb Phalke award — the highest award in Indian cinema. He has won several Indian National Film awards, 21 Filmfare awards, one Academy award and one Grammy award.