'I burst out crying': Bimal Roy’s statement that turned Gulzar from a motor mechanic to an artist

When Gulzar met filmmaker Bimal Roy for the first time, he worked at a motor mechanic shop where he mixed paints to repair dented cars, a media outlet reports.

It adds that he was passionate about literature but looked down on film writing, so when he met Bimal Roy, the director who had already made popular and meaningful films like Sujata and Biraj Bahu, Gulzar didn’t know that this would change his life.

Born as Sampooran Singh Kalra, Gulzar was sent to Mumbai (then Bombay) by his family after they shifted to Delhi following the Partition. Gulzar was living a nomad’s existence and knew that he wanted to be in the world of literature but no one from his family supported his dreams. All of this changed when Bimal da entered his life and Gulzar found a new direction.

Gulzar had a special interest in Bimal Roy’s films as many were adaptations of Bengali literature.

“I was a literature nerd through and through, I had an extra measure of respect for him,” Gulzar wrote in his memoir Actually… I Met Them.

At the time, Gulzar lived with his friend Debu who was Bimal’s assistant and one fine day, he offered a meeting with the director for a writing job. At this time, Bimal Roy was making Nutan-starrer Bandini and they were in the midst of making songs for the film. It just so happened that lyricist Shailendra and music director SD Burman had a spat and Shailendra refused to write lyrics for him.

When Gulzar landed on the set, he saw Bimal for the first time, and was left speechless. “I met such a decidedly simple and unassuming man that for a moment my heart did not know how to react,” he wrote. Bimal spoke to Debu in Bengali and asked if Gulzar could understand and write Vaishnava poetry. Debu replied that Gulzar could understand and speak Bengali and this information left the director “red with embarrassment.” Gulzar won his first film assignment based on this first impression and wrote the famous song, “Mora Gora Ang Laile.”

Soon after the song was done, Gulzar was ready to go back to his old life but one heartfelt statement by Bimal da stopped him. In a conversation on The Anupam Kher Show, Gulzar recalled Bimal Roy’s words, “Don’t go back to that motor garage. Don’t waste your life.” These words touched Gulzar in a way that he couldn’t hold back his tears. “I just burst out crying. Nobody had told me with that affection that you should do this,” he said. Bimal da understood Gulzar’s passion and offered him an assistant’s job on his next production Kabuliwala. “It’s a director’s medium, you will like it,” he recalled Bimal da’s words. And so, Gulzar became a part of the movies.

Gulzar had longed for this kind of support from his family but never got it. After meeting Bimal da, he found an anchor who would shape his life, support his dreams and encourage his writing. While Bimal da was a great boss at work, he was also a father figure to Gulzar. When the writer’s sister was getting married, he sent him to Delhi on a flight so that he could be there on time. Gulzar was enjoying his work as an assistant. He started with Kabuliwala and rose to become the chief assistant director. Gulzar’s passion for writing had finally found an outlet but before he knew it, this relationship came to an end.