by Subhash K Jha

"It's a daughter's tribute to her father," says Meghna Gulzar, currently in Paris, about her eighteen -minute film on her father.

The untitled film will be screened next week in New York at a function to commemorate the brilliant poet-filmmaker.

Says the proud father, "She has just completed the film. I loved it. Only one thing puzzled me. How could my entire life's be completed in eighteen minutes? But jokes aside Meghna has made a beautiful film about my films and my literature."

Gulzar Saab was recently in New York with Jagjit Singh. "It was the silver jubilee year of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan US. The Sanskrit scholar Dr Jai Raman was the director. It was all his doing. On the 21st of April there was a concert by Jagjit Singh.

I was supposed to introduce him. The following day there was a mushaira where two Hindi and two Urdu poets took part. Now I don't know which language I was chosen for since I'm equally at home in both.

I see no difference between Urdu and Hindi. So I'd say all four of us—S.K. Nizam from Jodhpur, journalist-poet Vishwanath Sachdev, the famous Hindi poet Nandan and yours truly-- poets who're going for the mushaira in New York are Hindustani.

Then on the 24th Bhararitya Vidya Bhavan gave lifetime achievement awards to Jagjit Singh and me. I've completed 45 years while Jagjit Singh has completed 40 years."

Adds Meghna Gulzar, "In fact my untitled film on my father is part of a larger full-length film that I plan to make on him shortly. So he doesn't need to feel I've compressed his entire career in eighteen minutes."