Gulzar's 1988 film Libaas, starring Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah, to release after 29 years

Mumbai: In a treat for Gulzar fans on his 83rd birthday, his unreleased film Libaas is all set to hit the big screen this year. The unreleased title, made in 1988, was languishing in the archives of the Directorate of Film Festivals. Zee Classic with its brand proposition Woh Zamaana Kare Deewana today announced the theatrical release of the movie. The plot of the film, which features veteran actors such Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, is based on Gulzar’s own short story Seema from his Raavi Paar collection. [caption id=“attachment_3948677” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Still from Libaas (left) and Gulzar. Images from Facebook[/caption] The story revolves around theatre director Sudhir (Shah) and his actor wife Seema (Azmi). Their life appears picture perfect, but appearances are often deceptive in the world of showbiz. The movie also features Raj Babbar, Sushma Seth, Utpal Dutt, Annu Kapoor and Savita Bajaj. The music has been composed by one of Gulzar’s frequent collaborators, R D Burman. Libaas was produced by Vikas Mohan, whose dream will realised by his sons Amul Vikas Mohan and Anshul Vikas Mohan. Amul told PTI, “I’m lucky to be a part of this project. It couldn’t be released at that time for some reason. This was my father’s life-long dream and I’m happy it’s finally coming true. The film will be in theatres by the end of this year. We will announce the release date in a few weeks, after further discussion.” The film will be distributed by Zee Studios in India. Libaas was shown at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa after a gap of 22 years on 22 November, 2014. It was also screened at the International Film Festival at Bangalore in January, 1992. Gulzar, who is celebrating his 83rd birthday today, is one of the most prominent and prolific names in Hindi cinema. Besides being a successful poet and lyricist, he had an active career as a director that began with Mere Apne in 1971. He later went on to direct classics such as Parichay, Aandhi, Mausam, Angoor, Ijaazat, Lekin…, Maachis and Hu Tu Tu. He stopped directing films to concentrate on his writing and translating Rabindranath Tagore’s work but he is still very active as a lyricist and won the Oscar for ‘Jai Ho’ from Slumdog Millionaire.