LAHORE, Feb 12: Indian poet, lyricist and director Gulzar is in Lahore on a two-day visit. He came to Pakistan to participate in the Karachi Literary Festival.

Invited to Lahore by Amjad Islam Amjad, Gulzar would attend a film qawwali recording. The qawwali written by him is being recorded in Lahore for an Indian film ‘Dehd Ishqiya’. Meher Ali and Sher Ali have sung the qawwali.

On Tuesday, Gulzar left for Deena to rekindle memories of his childhood. He visited Kalra village, his hometown. Film director Shahzad Rafiq, TV producer Ayub Khawar, poet Wasi Shah, Hasan Zia, Indian film director and writer Vishal Bhardwaj and his wife, Rekha, accompanied Gulzar.

He is expected to attend a lunch hosted by Amjad Islam Amjad on Wednesday (today) and in the evening would fly back to Karachi for the festival.

Gulzar is said to have told his friends in Pakistan that he is not interested in any media coverage.

Gulzar, who has written in Hindustani, Punjabi and several dialects of Hindi such as Braj Bhasha, Khariboli, Haryanvi and Marwari, was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2004 for his contribution to the arts and Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002.

He has won a number of national film awards and 20 Filmfare Awards. In 2009, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for ‘Jai Ho’ in Slumdog Millionaire. On 31 Jan, 2010, the same song won him a Grammy Award in the category of Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.