On the Shelf

The book begins with Gulzar8217;s childhood, notes on his family and father, college life, early days in Delhi first and then the struggle in Mumbai, the beginning of Gulzar8217;s film career and his travels through his life. What Meghna, however, chooses to leave out as she narrates the events in her father8217;s life is the break-up of the Gulzar-Rakhee marriage. It is almost as if Meghna has blocked it out of her canvas completely, preferring to only mention it in the passing. This biography in that sense remains a little incomplete. Biographies are best when they are brazenly honest. One would have certainly expected the same from Meghna about her father.

What she does manage to provide, however, are exclusive unpublished pictures of the poet and many unpublished poems. For those who have followed Gulzar8217;s writing over the years, the book is worth a slow read.

As he puts it so poetically: 8220;Do not erase these lines,/ let them be./ My child/ has drawn them,/ with her little pink hands./ Curved and curly./ What if the lines/ do not make a form?/ In these lines,/ I see my child8217;s hands./ In these lines,/ I see myself.8221; Therefore, for a truly critical appraisal of Gulzar, we await another volume.