That Gulzar has a way with words has been demonstrated time and again but his filmmaker daughter Meghna Gulzar on Thursday revealed another facet of her poet-lyricist father -- he also excelled at braiding hair.
The father-daughter duo were speaking at the session, "Because We Are: A Portrait of My Father", at the Jaipur Literature Festival that opened at the Diggi Palace here on Thursday.
Meghna described Gulzar as a "maternal father" -- one who did not pay any heed to the conventional gender roles in parenting.
She said her father would tie her shoelaces when she was a child and also braid her hair, an art he worked hard to learn because Meghna was very particular about her hair.
"Today, we talk about fathers and mothers breaking stereotypes and exchanging parental roles. He was doing this many, many years ago.
"He did all these things which we know were not traditionally the role of the father. But he embraced it completely and excelled at that," the daughter of Gulzar and actor Rakhee said.
Gulzar was quick to accept the praise coming his way, and happily declared, "I am a very good mother."
The wordsmith couldn't resist chipping in with a quick comment, "I hope she does the same to her child."