Gulzar was born in a Kalra Arora Sikh family, to Makhan Singh Kalra and Sujan Kaur, in Dina, Jhelum District, India, in what is now Pakistan. Before becoming an established writer, Sampooran worked as a car mechanic in a garage. He took the pen name Gulzar Deenvi after becoming an author.
He is married to actress Raakhee.They have a daughter, Meghna Gulzar, who is a film director. Meghna Gulzar has also penned a biography of Gulzar, titled Because he is.
He started his career as a songwriter with the music director Sachin Dev Burman for the movie "Bandini" (1963). The song was "Mora gora ang layle", picturised on Nutan. His most successful songs as a lyricist came out from his association with Sachin Dev Burman's son Rahul Dev Burman, whom he once described as the anchor in his life. R D Burman composed songs for almost all the movies directed by Gulzar in the 1970s and the 1980s, including Parichay (1972), Khushboo (1975), Aandhi (1975), Angoor (1982), Ijaazat (1987) and Libaas (1988).
Many of their popular songs were sung by Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. These include Musafir hoon yaron (Parichay), Tera bina zindagi se koi (Aandhi), Mera kuch saaman (Ijaazat), Tujhse naraz nahi zindagi (Masoom) etc.He also has had award-winning associations with the music directors Salil Chowdhury (Anand, Mere Apne), Madan Mohan (Mausam), and more recently with Vishal Bhardwaj (Maachis, Omkara, Kaminey), A. R. Rahman (Dil Se, Guru, Slumdog Millionaire, Raavan) and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Bunty aur Bli).
His film Aandhi was banned for a time because it was seen as a criticism of Indira Gandhi for the imposition of the emergency. He also depicted a flair for adapting stories/concepts from literature as well as from other films. Angoor is based on Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, and Mausam is an adaptation of A. J. Cronin's The Judas Tree. He also adapted the Hollywood classic. He directed an eponymous Television serial on Mirza Ghalib starring Naseeruddin Shah shown on Indian Television Channel Doordarshan in 1988. Gulzar also worked, as a song writer or dialogue writer for several Doordarshan programs for kids such as Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland, Guchche and Potli Baba Ki together with Vishal Bhardwaj. He has more recently written and narrated for the children's audiobook series Karadi Tales.
As a poet-lyricist, he has developed a new style of writing poems called Triveni which comprises stanzas comprising three lines rhyming with each other. His private album "Koi Baat Chale" with Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh has all the songs written in Triveni.
As a director, he is known for making brilliantly sensitive portrayal of subjects ranging from human relations, biographical profiles and often controversial social issues. For his contributions to Indian cinema, he was honored with Padma Bhushan in 2004, the third highest civilian award in India. Also, Gulzar and his movies have won numerous awards at the National level including awards for best director and best lyrics. He also won the 2002 Sahitya Akademi Award for 'Dhuan', a collection of Urdu short stories.
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