MUMBAI, JANUARY 28: I shared a long association with Kamleshwar, the person and the writer. The common link between us was literature. I recollect many conversations where we both shared our thoughts and creativity. Too many evenings were spent reading poems and discussing stories. I’ve always been a great admirer of his work. In my opinion, Kamleshwar and Mohan Rakesh were the young Turks of Hindi literature, especially short stories.

Kamleshwar was a very generous and broad-minded person. He had opinions but he was also a good listener. He gave himself whole-heartedly to his work. He was quite a pioneer in that regard. He was the editor of the magazine Sarika and I distinctly remember that when I started the form of Triveni, he was the first one to publish it. So in a way, Triveni started with Kamleshwar. He also anchored the television programme Parikrama on Doordarshan.

I was lucky to have him on board when I was filming Aandhi and Mausam. I recollect many entertaining and engrossing brainstorming sessions with him. I used to joke, “Ki main toh shayari karta hoon, asli storywriter toh tum ho”. I had the privilege of giving name to his novel, Aagam-e-Ateet, which was based on my movie Mausam. He also wrote a novel on Aandhi titled Kaali Aandhi.

Kamleshwar’s scenes and descriptions were so visual that many a times, I was compelled to make an entire film merely after reading one line. I remember when I was reading one of his most recent and beautiful works, Kitne Pakistan, I had underlined so many sentences that were potential short stories or film material. There is a description where a handkerchief falls off the bridge; I always used to tell him that I could write a complete short story on this one line only.

We were trying to make a film on one of his stories, Maas Ka Dariya, but somehow it never materialized. Now, I marvel that he remained creative till the last moment. I think, he had a story for every occasion.

His contribution to Hindi literature is indeed noteworthy. In that sense, I do feel that he got the Sahitya Akademi award too late. He got it two years ago but he deserved his much earlier. One of my last conversations with him was on the telephone when he called me from Delhi. He wanted to comment on the use of language in my lyrics for Kajra Re and Beedi. He congratulated me for using words that are very typical in places like Meerut and were never used in the popular cinema medium. He was very kicked that he and his grandchild are singing the same songs and using the same words.

I have too many memories of my friend. He was family to me. I missed him a lot when he relocated to Delhi. Somehow, he didn’t want to carve a career in Mumbai. It was because of him that I made my monthly trips to Delhi. This time when I go, I will really miss him. My evenings in Delhi will be very blank.

— (As told to Harneet Singh)