Actually ....I met them ~ Gulzar

Actually… I Met Them is a memoir by Gulzar. Published by Penguin Random House India in 2021, it is a collection of personal memories of the remarkable people he met, learned from, and worked with throughout his career.

The book takes you behind the scenes of Indian cinema, music, and literature through Gulzar's own recollections. Rather than offering a conventional biography of each celebrity, he shares the little moments, conversations, working relationships, quirks, and personal experiences that reveal what these remarkable people were like.

Some of the personalities he writes about include:

• Bimal Roy: Gulzar's mentor and a father figure who helped shape his early journey in cinema.
• Satyajit Ray: Memories of a great filmmaker and the intriguing possibility of their professional paths coming together.
• Kishore Kumar: Anecdotes about his playful personality and his unique approach to work.
• R. D. Burman: Personal memories of the composer and his creative world.

Other chapters feature people such as Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Ritwik Ghatak, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Mahasweta Devi, Suchitra Sen, Sharmila Tagore, and others. The book contains 18 chapters, each centered on an individual. 

• Intimate storytelling: You encounter these personalities through the eyes of someone who knew them personally.
• Lessons in creativity: Their working habits, temperaments, artistic choices, and relationships offer insights into how great artists think.
• Humor and humanity: The stories include amusing incidents as well as touching reflections.
• A glimpse into cultural history: The recollections bring different eras of Indian cinema, music, and literature alive, accompanied by photographs. 
• Penguin Random House India

Readers who enjoy literary memoirs, behind-the-scenes stories, and portraits of creative people would enjoy it. If you enjoy understanding not only what a person created but also who they were as a human being, this book offers that kind of reading experience.

The English edition was translated by Maharghya Chakraborty from Bengali. The book originated from conversations Gulzar had with Sanchari Mukherjee for a Bengali newspaper; the collected Bengali version was titled Panta Bhate.