Veteran Urdu poet, filmmaker and lyricist Gulzar has bagged the country's highest literary award, the Jnanpith Award, the Jnanpith selection committee announced on Saturday, February 17. Sanskrit scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya, the founder and head of Tulsi Peeth in Chitrakoot, has also received the 58th Jananpith Award. He is a renowned Hindu spiritual leader, educator and writer who has penned more than 100 books.

As reported by PTI, the official statement from the Jnanpith selection committee read, “It has been decided to give the award (for 2023) to eminent writers from two languages: Sanskrit litterateur Jagadguru Rambhadracharya and well known Urdu litterateur Shri Gulzar.”

The press release from the official Jnanpith selection commitee said, “Along with his long film journey, Gulzar has been setting new milestones in the field of literature. In poetry, he invented a new genre ‘Triveni’ which is a non-mukaffa poem of three lines. Gulzar has always created something new through his poetry. For some time now he has also been paying serious attention to children's poetry.”

Over six decades, Gulzar has written several poems and lyrics for many films. He wrote films like 'Anand', 'Guddi', 'Bawarchi' and Namak Haraam' among others. He made his directorial debut with 'Mere Apne' and later helmed films like 'Aandhi', 'Parichay', 'Angoor', 'Maachis', 'Parichay', and 'Ijaazat' among others. The 89-year-old has also written songs for films like 'Bandini', 'Dil Se', 'Guru' and 'Satya' to name a few.

Gulzar has several prestigious awards to his credit. He has received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Padma Bhushan, Sahitya Akademi Award, an Oscar, a Grammy and multiple National Film Awards. The lyricist received Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu in 2002, the Padma Bhushan in 2004, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2013, and has received five National Film awards.