BENGALURU: Writer-lyricist Gulzar who narrated the tales of the plight of the aam aadmi, said here on Saturday, “If I write directly on feudalism, socialism, it will end up in textbooks. Through the poems, I am getting the message across to the masses.”
On the opening day of Bengaluru Poetry Festival, Gulzar took to his poems to convey his views on cow politics, communal violence and political apathy. He recited poems from his new book ‘Suspected Poems’. He was accompanied by former bureaucrat Pavan K Varma who translated the book into English.
“Bengaluru has remained my favourite city. Almost every script I have written has happened in Room No. 50 of Taj West End,” Gulzar said.
Varma, a Rajya sabha MP, called Gulzar ‘the poet laureate of India today’, and credited him to have brought lyricism and dramatic imagery to poetry. The politician later joked, “We don’t want to get into the topic of dominance and Hindi imposition, so I will quickly translate what Gulzar saab recited.” Pavan said he was on stage “in my capacity as a writer, and not a politician.”
Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi and Jnanpith awardee Chandrashekhar Kambar inaugurated the second edition of the festival. Jnanpith awardee Girish Karnad launched the book of poems on love and longing by Padmavati Rao, inspired by the old Hindi song Kuch Pyaar, Kuch Tadap.