Happy Birthday Gulzar and Preeti Jhangiani!

Born as Sampooran Singh Kalra on the 18^th of August, 1936 in Jhelum district (now in Pakistan), Gulzar is popularly known by this pen name. A poet, song-writer, and director of the finest order, Gulzar has contributed immensely to the arts and Bollywood. He is married to actress Rakhee and they have a daughter, Meghna Gulzar.

Gulzar developed an inclination for poetry and music from an early age. He started as a garage mechanic in Worli, while also writing poetry in his spare time, before going on to assist greats like Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. He wrote his first song, "More Gora Ang Lai Le" for Bimal Roy's film, Bandini (1963). He has worked in close association with music directors like R.D. Burman, Madan Mohan and more recently, Anu Malik and Vishal Bhardwaj. He has written songs for movies like, Mere Apne (1971), Maachis (1996) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008). With Mere Apne, he also slipped into the role of a director. He went on to direct more films like Parichay (1972) and Koshish (1972). He directed the epic television series, Mirza Ghalib in 1988 based on the life and poetry of the Urdu and Persian poet of the same name. Gulzar has authored many books, including the anthology Dhuan that won him the Sahitya Academi Award in 2002.

Among many honours, Gulzar is the recipient of the Padma Bhushan (2004) which is the third highest civilian honour in the country, Sahitya Academi Award (2002), Dadasaheb Phalke Award (2013), Academy Award for best original song (2008) and a number of National and Filmfare Awards.

His work has often been admired for its sensitivity and lyrical quality and while we could make a list that would fill pages, we've brought you a mini-playlist as a sample of some of his best penned works.

Also sharing the same birth date is Preeti Jhangiani, born in the year 1980 to a Sindhi-speaking family. She is multilingual as she is fluent in Sindhi, Kannada, Hindi and English, besides having some knowledge of Malayalam and Telugu. She is married to actor Parvin Dabas and has a son named Jaivesh.

Jhangiani debuted with a music album by Rajshri Productions called Yeh Hai Prem, opposite South Indian actor, Abbas. Thereafter, she starred in two movies in the year 1999, one each in Malayalam and Telugu, and also appeared in the Nirma Sandal Soap ads. Her Bollywood debut came with Mohabbatein in the year 2000. The film was a blockbuster hit and launched Jhangiani's career. She went on to appear and portray a variety of roles in many other popular movies, including Awaara Paagal Deewana (2002), Aan - Men At Work (2004) and Pakistani movie, Godfather - The Legend Continues (2007). She was also the producer of Sahi Dhandhe Galat Bande (2011). The film mostly received positive reviews from critics.

Jhangiani also starred in Punjabi, Assamese and Bengali films. She is a part of the star cast of an iconic National Anthem music video by film maker, Rajeev Walia.

On the occasion of her birthday, here's a playlist of some of the popular songs from Jhangiani's movies.

Writer: Tanisha N.

Editors: Shreya S. and Sonia R.

Graphics: Shikha A.

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