Gulzar at ITC Sonar on Saturday. (Aranya Sen)

For someone whose pen creates and recreates celluloid magic, Gulzar is a man of few words. But then, the director-poet-dialogue writer-lyricist has always let his work do the talking. On a recent trip to the city, the 74-year-old Bollywood veteran spoke to t2 about Friday film 7 Khoon Maaf and his “priceless association” with filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj.

Your association with Vishal Bhardwaj spans many years, right from the time he composed the music for your film Maachis. Today, you continue to collaborate with him in writing the music for his films. How has this unique relationship developed and grown over the years?

I have a very long and priceless association with Vishal which will take an entire evening to talk about. We knew each other for a long time, but our working relationship only started off with Maachis some 10 years ago. With Vishal, it’s been a bond that has grown stronger over the years. He’s very dynamic and very talented, a very hard worker with a keen eye for detail. Vishal is one of the rare filmmakers in the industry today who has his finger on the pulse of the audience and is yet courageous enough to always give them something new, something challenging. He never takes his viewer for granted, he makes them think and that’s what sets Vishal apart from his contemporaries.

From the promos, 7 Khoon Maaf looks like yet another winner from Vishal Bhardwaj…

Bahut achhi picture bani hai. I have watched it and to be honest, I was just completely taken in by the film. It’s a totally different genre. In a film like this, to pass through seven husbands, to show the protagonist’s interaction with each of them… the first meeting, the subsequent meetings, the courtship, the marriage, the murder… is very, very difficult. By the time you come to the third or the fourth murder, there is always the danger of the viewer losing interest. But the beauty of 7 Khoon Maaf lies in the fact that it is the characters that interest you, not the murders. You get so involved with each and every character that every murder then starts feeling different from the previous one. You walk into the film knowing that there will be seven husbands and seven murders and yet Vishal has very skilfully managed to keep the suspense alive and the feeling of foreboding intact.

7 Khoon Maaf features an ensemble cast. Who, in your opinion, stands out?

I think Irrfan is brilliant in the film. He’s done very well, has completely got into the skin of his character (Irrfan plays poet Wasiullah Khan aka Musafir and Priyanka Chopra’s third husband in the film). And Priyanka, of course, is very good. She’s carried the film on her shoulders. You have to see how she changes with every husband — her clothes, her look, her mannerisms, her way of speaking. The fact that she’s worked very hard on this film shows on screen from the first frame to the last.

And ohhh… Usha Uthup is remarkable. Gaane toh aapne unke bahut suney hain lekin unki acting aapne nahin dekhi hai. In 7 Khoon Maaf, it is Usha Uthup the actor first, Usha Uthup the singer second (the Calcutta singer plays Priyanka’s maid). She grabs your attention every time she appears on screen. Irrfan and Usha Uthup will really make you sit up in 7 Khoon Maaf.

How much does the film stay true to Ruskin Bond’s original short story Susanna’s Seven Husbands?

Well, the original story has been expanded into a novelette and made fit for a film format and experience by Ruskin Bond himself. He and Vishal sat together, took apart the story piece by piece and then worked on bringing it all together in a manner that would befit a full-length film. Picture hai toh zyada drama aur suspense toh laana padega… that’s how they worked on adapting the screenplay for the film. And I think it’s turned out beautifully.

The music has been very well received, especially Darling, penned by you, which has become a chartbuster...

It is based on a Russian folk song (Kalinka) which we adapted because one of the seven husbands is a Russian. It’s meant to be a celebratory song, full of fun and zest, sung at the wedding. I think it’s been sung very well (by Rekha Bhardwaj and Usha Uthup). See, the thing with Vishal is that he is a composer first and a filmmaker later and so the songs in his films have a character and a life of their own. And when he comes up with such compositions, my words flow automatically.

Is writing for a Vishal song any different than writing for any other composer?

The inherent comfort level that we share obviously makes its presence felt even in the songs we work on together. Vishal is constantly thinking; he is a filmmaker who is always brimming with ideas and it’s very enriching to be around someone like that. What I love about his films is that he changes his genre and treatment with every film and that also gives me the opportunity to experiment with my writing.

You won an Oscar with A.R. Rahman for Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire and this year he is nominated again for 127 Hours. Your thoughts...

Rahman is the genius of this point, this time, this era. He has proved himself over and over again. He doesn’t have to say anything, it’s the world that is talking about him and his talent. Something tells me he will make us proud this time too.