TV excites Gulzar more than big screen

He now prefers the 12 hour TV format over the two hour story telling session.

Big screen no more inspires writer-director Gulzar who has given mega hits like Parichay, Aandhi and Maachis.

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"Rather than the two hour format, I now like telling my stories in 12 hour format," he says referring to television in an informal chat at the Neemrana Fort-Palace heritage resort on the sidelines of the Asia Africa Literary Conference where he was one of the participants.

40 writers from around 20 countries from both the continents discussed issues of legacy and identity in the post-colonial period in a two day conclave which was organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).

While his TV Series on Munshi Premchand Tehreer..Munshi Premchand Ki is having a re-run, he is working on his next TV series based on the works of Rabindranath Tagore.

Gulzar's last big screen direction was Hu Tu Tu in 1999 which failed to wow the audiences. "These days I am doing thinking at a leisurely pace. I am doing lyrics for films, I have scripted a musical drama Pinnocchio involving thousands of children." he says. However, more than anything else, he wants to be known as a "Urdu writer."

He doesn't buy the argument that "Urdu" as a language is on the decline in India. "80 per cent of the Hindi we speak is urdu, almost 70 per cent of the language you hear in hindi movies is Urdu, so where is the decline?" he asks.