One of Bollywood’s legendary writers, Gulzarwho has given several cinematic gems like ‘Aandhi,’ ‘Maachis,’ ‘Masoom,’ and more, has turned 91 years old today. In addition to his onscreen work, there are so many unsaid and unheard tales about him that celebrate his talent and legacy. Like, did you know Gulzar taught the iconic star Sharmila Tagore the art of dialogue delivery? “He taught me how to punctuate my dialogues, when to pause, and when not to,” shared Sharmila Tagore with us exclusively, as we connected with her on the occasion of Gulzar’s birthday. “Being a Bengali, my Hindi was not one of my strong points. He made me more confident in my spoken performance,” she recalled.Sharmila Tagore and Gulzar did several movies together, reminiscing about their collaborations, she mentioned about ‘Mausum,’ which the actress feels was a tough one. “I had to play the mother and daughter as separate characters. The daughter, Kajri, was a prostitute. I had to speak like Kajri,” she said before adding, “Cuss words were not challenging. They were new to me. I had to do a lot of preparation. This was not one of those walk-in-walk-out performances.”She also revealed, “For a long time, I considered ‘Mausam’ to be my favourite film with Gulzar Saab. But lately, I have begun to like ‘Namkeen’ more.”Explaining her reason, she said, “There is something so endearing and warm about the film. Working with Waheedaji, Shabana, and Kiran Vairale, and of course, the ever-dependable Haribhai(Sanjeev Kumar). Of course, you do know that I was a last-minute replacement for Rekha?”She added, “‘We shot Namkeen in Film City. It was almost like an outdoor location. My bonding with the actors was like nothing I had experienced before. Kiran Vairale and I were both fond of doing crossword puzzles. After shooting every evening, we would be huddled together over crosswords.” “The more I think about it, the more I feel Namkeen is the best Hindi film I’ve done,” she concluded.
