Writing biography is a very famous genre of writing. It is a detailed description about someone and highlights various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality. It gives details beyond basic life facts like education, work, death etc. Biography is often portrayed in subjective experience of the writer but that can’t be said for every biographical work. Biographical works are usually nonfiction, but fiction can also be used to portray a person's life. One in-depth form of biographical coverage is called legacy writing. The two books, Gulzar - Awaz Main Lipti Khamoshi and Kahani Saans Leti Ha, which are under discussion, are written by Gul Sher Butt in a fictional way.
Gulzar - Awaz Main Lipti Khamoshi is about famous Indian poet, lyricist and film director Gulzar. He was born in Dina, Jhelum District before the partition. His family moved to India after partition. Gul Sher reveals the multi dimensional personality of Gulzar through dialogues with his friends Mudasar, Shabir, Usman, Ali, Zaheer. All are his friends who come to his home and as ask different things about Gulzar from him.
Kahani Saans Leti Ha is another biographical book which details life facts of famous director and poet Ayub Khawar. Mostly people know about this legendary personality because of his plays like Khwaja and Son, Fishaar, Din, Daldal, Inkaar, Ghareeb-e-Shehar, Qasmi Kahani, Nisaf Sadi Ka Qassi, Kahani Ghar etc. But Ayub Khawar is as good poet as a good director. The book gives a detail introduction of his poetry besides his unforgettable plays which he directed and produced. It is complete guide to understand his poetry, gives picturesque details of his plays and life as well.
The books reveal many new facts about both towering personalities but what is more interesting, is the narration and the writing style of Gul Sher. It is like stream of consciousness in which facts come to the limelight in effortless manner. There is smooth narration of facts and somewhere prose is written in poetic style especially in Kahani Saans Leti.
Somewhere in Gulzar - Awaz Main Lipti Khamoshi the subjective element becomes strong which tells the unfulfilled love of the writer. Gul Sher is also good in writing pithy sentence, anecdotes which not only makes these books interesting but also help in imparting the desired information to the reader. For example, in Gulzar - Awaz Main Lipti Khamoshi, he wrote, “I was wrong in thinking that a mad man gets rid of all the worries, but in reality these worries exist, only their orientation change.”
Gul Sher style of writing biographies is very unique and impressive. He uses different techniques to tell about Gulzar and Ayub Khawar. There are many other characters who converse with each other and discuss the life and work of Gulzar or Ayub Khawar. When Gul Sher writes about the atrocities of partition of the Indian sub continent in Gulzar - Awaz Main Lipti Khamoshi, it seems you are reading some history book. His sentences full of wisdom and anecdotes give impression of a book about philosophy. The smooth narration make the reader relies of reading some travelogue. In short these books are worth reading and both seem a sequel of the other book.
Title: Gulzar - Awaz Main Lipti Khamoshi, Kahani Saans Leti
Author: Gul Sher Butt
Genre: Biography
Pages: 170, 223
Price: Rs. 300 each
Publisher: Misal Publishers
