Gulzar: It seemed as if Bimal Roy had shrunk like a sofa cushion, he even performed the last rites of his father along with himself

It is said that when Gulzar first met Bimal Roy, he was working at a small motor mechanic's shop. Here, work of repairing damaged vehicles and painting was done. Gulzar was fond of literature but he had no special interest in film writing. When he met Bimal Roy (who had already made films like 'Sujata' and 'Biraj Bahu'), Gulzar did not know how his life was going to change. At that time, people knew Gulzar only by the name of mechanic Sampooran Singh Kalra. After the partition of the country, his family sent him to Mumbai. In those days, Gulzar was living a nomadic life. He was fond of literature but no one in his family supported his dreams. His life became 'Gulzar' when Bimal Da came into the life of Sampooran Singh Kalra.

Gulzar was a fan of Bimal Roy's films

It is said that Gulzar was particularly interested in Bimal Roy's films because many of his films were versions of Bengali literature. Gulzar has written in his book 'I Met Them', 'I was always fond of literature, I had great respect for him.' At that time Gulzar lived with his friend Debu who was Bimal's assistant and one day he asked Debu to sit with the director and write something. At that time Bimal Roy was making 'Bandini' starring Nutan and he was writing songs for the film. It so happened that there was a quarrel between lyricist Shailendra and music director SD Burman and Shailendra refused to write songs for him.

Wrote the song 'Mora Gora Ang Laile' which became very famous

Now when Gulzar landed on the set, he saw Bimal for the first time and was speechless. Writing about this, he said- I met such a simple and innocent person that for a moment my heart could not understand how to react. Bimal spoke to Debu in Bengali and asked if Gulzar could understand and write Vaishnav poetry. On this Debu told him that Gulzar could understand and speak Bengali. Gulzar got the film work at first sight and he wrote the song 'Mora Gora Ang Laile', which became very famous.

Bimal Da said something heart touching to Gulzar

After finishing work on this song, Gulzar was ready to return to his old world, but Bimal Da said something heart touching and stopped him. Once Gulzar narrated this incident during a conversation on the Anupam Kher show. He told that Bimal Roy then told him, 'Don't go back to that motor garage. Don't waste your life.' These words of the director affected Gulzar so much that he could not stop his tears.

Gulzar started crying bitterly

He said, 'I burst into tears. No one had told me with so much love that you should do this.' Bimal Da understood Gulzar's passion and offered him to work in his next production 'Kabuliwala'. Gulzar told that Bimal Da told him, 'This is the world of direction, you will like it.' And this is how Gulzar became a part of films.

“It was like he had shrunk, gotten smaller.”

It is said that Bimal Roy was battling cancer in the last moments of his life and Gulzar was always with him at that time. Recalling those bad moments, he wrote in his memoirs, 'It seemed as if he had shrunk, become small, like a mattress placed on a sofa.' A few years before this, Gulzar had lost his father and he could not attend his funeral. By the time he reached home, his funeral had already taken place, so he did not get a chance to bid his father a final farewell.

'Cancer slowly swallowed Bimal da'

Bimal da's cancer was an emotional experience for Gulzar. He said, 'Every night I cried as Bimal da was slowly succumbing to cancer. During this time I used to sit beside him and read his favourite script Amrit Kumbh. When he died on January 8, 1966, we cremated him and along with him I cremated my father too.