Legendary lyricist and poet Gulzar will be honoured with the Jnanpith Award. The decision was announced by the selection committee for the 58th Jnanpith Awards on February 17. On this, Gulzar expressed gratitude to his fans in a video message. 

Gulzar’s reaction to the Jnanpith Award

He said, “I would like to thank all those people who chose me for the Jnanpith Award and also those people who listen to my poetry and Shayari in the Urdu language.”

He added, “I was thinking that maybe it is because of the film and music, people are not aware of listening to poetry and Shayari. But, when the announcement of the Jnanpith Award came, I felt that people were still interested in listening to Urdu poetry and Shayari. I felt so happy.”

According to the selection committee, the 58th Jnanpith Award for the year 2023 has been awarded to Swami Rambhadracharya for Sanskrit and Shri Gulzar for Urdu.

Gulzar’s memorable works

Sampooran Singh Kalra, popularly known as Gulzar, has penned several memorable and iconic songs in Hindi cinema. He started his career as a lyricist with the film Kabuliwala, starring Balraj Sahni.

He has penned songs and scripts in numerous films, and also directed several acclaimed feature films including Maachis, Aandhi, Mausam, Khushboo, Parichay and Koshish. He has earlier received the Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu in 2002, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2013, the Padma Bhushan in 2004, and at least five National Film awards for his works.

The Jnanpith Award was instituted in 1961 by Bharatiya Jnanpith. Along with the Sahitya Akademi Awards, it is the foremost prize for Indian literature.

(with inputs from ANI)