Gulzar Hussain

Gulzar Hussain is a celebrity chef from Pakistan born on August 5, 1964. Before Gulzar found his true vocation in the culinary arts, he used to be an actor of film and television. 1998, he left for Japan to train with oriental chefs. He graduated from the Tokyo University and served for three years at the Ginza Tokyo Hotel. His specialities include the oriental and the continental.

The actor-turned-chef has long been associated with a number of private television networks in Pakistan since 2005. He hosts a live show on the country’s premier cooking channel, the Masala TV.

Gulzar features simple yet delightful recipes which are easy to make. The theme varies from the local to international cuisine and is based on viewer requests received through e-mails, letters and live calls.

Style

Gulzar is a ‘self-styled’ chef famous for his rich costumes, dramatic get-ups and signature moves. His cooking show, “Live@9 with Chef Gulzar” always opens with him performing a dance routine. Gulzar has said: “Dancing helps boost my mood and sets the right pace for the show. Some of my viewers may not like it but then again, that’s my style of doing things.” The Masala TV has brought out a best-selling cook book based on Gulzar’s show broadcast live Monday through Friday.

Gulzar

Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known popularly by his pen name Gulzar, is an Indian poet, lyricist and film director. Born in Jhelum District in British India, his family moved to India after partition. He started his career as a lyricist in the 1963 film Bandini and worked with many music directors including R. D. Burman, Salil Choudhury, Vishal Bhardwaj and A. R. Rahman. He directed films such as Aandhi and Mausam and TV series during the 1970s and 1980s. He also directed Kirdaar in 1993.

Gulzar also wrote poetry, dialogues and scripts. He was awarded Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India, the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award — the highest award in Indian cinema. He has won several Indian National Film Awards, 20 Filmfare Awards, one Academy Award and one Grammy Award.

Early life

Gulzar was born in a Kalra Arora Sikh family, to Makhan Singh Kalra and Sujan Kaur, in Dina, Jhelum District, British India (now in Pakistan). Before becoming a writer, Sampooran took up lot of small jobs in Mumbai one of them was in a garage where he used to touch up accident cars by creating shades of paint, in his own words "I had a knack for colors". His father rebuked him for being writer initially. He took the pen name Gulzar Deenvi and later simply Gulzar.