Meghna Gulzar’s films way ahead of mine: Noted writer-director Gulzar

Audience swears by the beauty and sensitivity of his films like “Aandhi” and “Mausam” but noted writer-director Gulzar says his movies are verbose and feels his daughter Meghna’s work is far better than his.

Meghna made her directorial debut with Sushmita Sen-starrer “Filhaal” and latest drew praise for crime drama “Talvar”.

“To be honest and not sounding modest, her films are much ahead of me, technique wise, expression wise… I am more of a writer, she is more of a filmmaker. My films are verbose because I am a writer, I talk much. Films don’t talk much, they talk to you visually that difference is there. You can judge that if you compare my films with hers,” Gulzar told PTI.

Interrupting him, Meghna said, “Please don’t do that.

That’s not done.”

Gulzar and Meghna today attended the world premiere of the latter’s documentary on people with autism, titled “Closer”, at the first International Film Festival for the Persons with Disabilities (IFFPD) 2015.

Meghna revealed she directed the film four years ago but then it was not meant for public exhibition and made only for students with development disorders.

“Public exhibition was not the intention. The trust approached me and I made the film for them. It was meant to be shown to parents, children in school. Now, when we got to know about this festival, we thought it is the right platform to showcase the film.”

The documentary begins with a poetry by Gulzar.

When asked whose idea it was, Meghna, 41, said, “Poetry was my idea. The work is his but I wanted to encapsulate the voices of all the people in my film into a concise sequence and say what they want to say very clearly and in a very abstract way.

“Documentaries don’t give you space for glossy visuals, it (poetry) was the only place where we could so something like that. I knew I wanted his poem. Gulzar added in a lighter vein that it was a commissioned job for which he did not get paid.

“I didn’t get anything extra for it. All I got was a good cold coffee,” to which his daughter quipped, “You should be used to that by now.”

Gulzar, 81, said Meghna’s growth in her career gives him a sense of pride that the National Award-winning writer-lyricist finds difficult to put in words.

“She has grown in this medium, art of filmmaking and expression. she has grown very well and done two things for me. One, she has made me very confident of her and made me proud. Today when she is interviewed and I am sitting, it is a matter of great pride. You don’t know, I can’t explain to you,” Gulzar said.

“When she goes to the mic and speaks well, I don’t clap for my daughter, at that time you are listening to a director you are used to that but later you realise… That you are very proud…” he said, before joking, “I hope she feels the same for me.”

Inputs by PTI