Meghna Gulzar: I will never direct a film on my father

As a school-going child, Meghna Gulzar remembers how her father had learnt to tie her hair in plaits and would do it every morning before she went to school. It’s a little insight into the man, the world knows of, as veteran filmmaker, author and poet, Gulzar. Meghna has tried to encapsulate a bit of her father’s professional and personal life, in the book titled Because He Is. 

First published in 2004, the book has now been re-published with additional information and chapters. It is an insightful read into Gulzar’s journey from Dina, Pakistan, where he was born to his migration to India, his entry into films, his friendships, marriage, fatherhood and now, to his experiences as a grandfather to Meghna’s son Samay, and being immersed full-time into writing and poetry. “It’s not an official biography and I can’t call it a memoir,” clarifies Meghna, “I just know people have enjoyed reading it 14 years ago and I hope they enjoy reading it now.” Excerpts from an interview with the filmmaker-author.

What has changed in your father’s life from the time the book was first published in 2004? 

In 14 years, a lot has changed or been added to my father’s life, both professionally and personally. He wasn’t a grandfather then, he is one now. In terms of his writing, he was a filmmaker, now he’s a full-time author and poet. So, I think it’s a nice update on many levels.

So much has been written about Gulzar saab. How do you think your perspective as a daughter adds to that? 

The book is not talking about him only as a father. It talks of him as a person but from my lens, which is not always anchored at me. I’m sure, as a writer, I have an advantage because there is an intimate and personal relationship between us, but that’s something which can also be a disadvantage because you may not get the objectivity you want. But, this was never meant to be an empirical consolidation of his life and times. I won’t say my insight is better or worse, but it’s definitely more intimate than the others who have written about him.

Your father has had such varied and vast life experiences. What kind of impact has it left on you? 

The influence is more because of the parent that he is. Genetically and due to your upbringing, you do pass on similar things because you have a parent-child bond. We happen to be in the same profession, but our sensibilities are similar because we are also father and daughter. I love the simplicity of his work, and that is the only thing I try to imbibe and emulate. He really manages to say very complicated and deep things, very simply. I don’t know how successful I’ve been in my attempts but I will keep trying. 

The one thing where you both are really different? 

I can talk about difficult emotions professionally. My first film, Filhaal (2002), dealt with the subjects of conception, fertility and surrogacy. Therefore, the dialogues had to be about having sex, taking precaution, what is surrogacy, etc and he wasn’t comfortable with it. He would sidestep it and would want metaphors and I would want to say it as is. Our personalities are also like this. I think I’m a little militant, he is much gentler, a big softie (smiles). 

Would you ever like to document his life on celluloid? 

No! With books, there is no word or page limit. You can do justice to the life he has lived. You cannot do that in a film. That is the case for a lot of people and stalwarts who have lived really full lives. I feel this way about them. By trying to encapsulate their lives in two-and-a-half hours, it feels that you’re trivialising their being and their existence. Unless, you take a chapter from their life and talk about it. There are so many facets to my father, from moving to India during partition to his entry in films to being an assistant, then a lyricist, dialogue writer, scriptwriter, filmmaker, and all along being an author and a poet. How do you do justice to one chapter and leave everything else out? They are all interrelated to make him the person he is. So no, I would never do it. I won’t let anybody do it either. I don’t think he would like it either. If he does, I’m no one to stop it but I know he wouldn’t.

What was his reaction when he read Because He Is the first time in 2004?

His reactions swing between, ‘Wow, you’re a writer!’ and ‘See, I always told you you’re a writer!’ (laughs). 

What about the republished version?

Yes, of course. It would not go into publishing if he did not approve. The foreword was a letter he had written then and now, there’s an afterword. He’s also biased, so it’s really difficult for him to not like something I have done (smiles).