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As Namkeen completes 44 years, legendary filmmaker and poet Gulzar revisits one of his most heartfelt films in this exclusive ETimes interview. He opened up about its origins, characters, music, and lasting impact. Excerpts from the interview:Gulzar Saab, <\/span>Namkeen<\/span> remains one of your most loved films. What does it mean to you even today?<\/span>I have to admit, I\u2019ve always had a soft corner for Namkeen<\/span>. It\u2019s like that child of yours that got left behind in the race. Samresh Basu has always been one of my favourite authors. I read all his works in the original Bengali, so I was familiar with the nuances that often get lost in translation. Namkeen<\/span> is based on a story of his that I had loved from the time I first read it.The film had such a powerful gallery of women characters. What drew you to them?<\/span>To me, the most interesting part of Namkeen<\/span> was these four women, one past the age of marriage, one at a marriageable age, another approaching it, and their mother, who is constantly worried about them. I underlined her fears in the film. The way these women cling to the man who comes into their lives, he starts off as just a tenant but soon becomes their support system. He shares a unique relationship with each one of them.You had an incredible cast, Waheeda Rehman, Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi, and Kiran Vairale. Was it difficult to bring them together?<\/span>Not at all. Why should it be difficult? If you offer actors good roles, why would they say no? All of them performed beautifully. Yes, Kiran Vairale did remind me of Jaya Bhaduri<\/a>.And Sanjeev Kumar held his own so brilliantly<\/span>Sanjeev Kumar was always my first choice for male protagonists. In my cinema, there were two constants \u2014 him and R. D. Burman. I had the privilege of working closely with both.Your collaboration with R.D. Burman gave us classics like ‘Parichay’, ‘Khubsoorat’, ‘Aandhi’, ‘Kitaab’, and ‘Namkeen’. What made it so special?<\/span>Pancham was a very special and versatile composer. His work with me was very different from what he did with others. I never gave him reference points, I would just tell him what the film needed emotionally.Any memorable moment from the making of Namkeen\u2019s music?<\/span>Yes, while working on \u201cPhir Se Aaiyo Badra Bidesi,\u201d sung by Asha Bhosle and performed by Shabana Azmi, there was a gap in the composition. Pancham felt a line was needed, and that\u2019s when we added, \u201cTujhe meri kaali kamli wali ki sau\u2026\u201dWas it difficult to acquire the rights to Samresh Basu\u2019s story?<\/span>I met Samresh Basu personally. He had a beautiful smile and a very warm personality. I had first met him when I was assisting Bimal Roy<\/a>. I rewrote the story for the film but ensured I didn\u2019t distort it. For me, the story is the raw material for the screenplay, just as the screenplay is for the film.The title <\/span>Namkeen<\/span> is quite unusual, much like your other films. What\u2019s the story behind it?<\/span>I believe a film should be completely defined by its title. I had initially given the title Namkeen<\/span> to Hrishikesh Mukherjee, but he didn\u2019t like it. So I told him, \u201cMain aapko Khubsoorat<\/span> title de raha hoon,\u201d and I took Namkeen<\/span> back.Was the title inspired by the character Nimki?<\/span>No, not really. If you try to overanalyze a title, it starts sounding absurd. A title should have the space to grow with time. It\u2019s like Alfred Hitchcock appearing in his films, it may seem arbitrary at first, but over time, you understand its significance.<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source timesofindia.indiatimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As ‘Namkeen’ celebrates its 44th anniversary, filmmaker Gulzar revisits the cinematic gem that intertwined Samresh Basu’s narrative with unforgettable female protagonists. He delves into the intricate dynamics between these characters and Sanjeev Kumar’s role, creating a tapestry of emotions. Moreover, Gulzar reflects on his exceptional partnership with musical genius R.D. As Namkeen completes 44 years, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2360633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[420027,458458,458461,458460,458462,458459],"class_list":["post-2360632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-bimal-roy","tag-gulzar-namkeen","tag-jaya-bhaduri","tag-r-d-burman-music","tag-samresh-basu","tag-samresh-basu-story"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gulzar-recalls-Namkeen-as-the-film-turns-44-It-was.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2360632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2360634,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360632\/revisions\/2360634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2360633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2360632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2360632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2360632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}