It was a confluence of littérateurs and several prominent personalities from the city, including industrialists and Bollywood actors. And why wouldn't it be! The event was hosted by actor and now BJP MP Vinod Khanna to mark the reading of Congress MP and Union Minister of Science and Technology, Kapil Sibal's recently released book of poems titled I Witness.

While Sibal's poems were rendition of interesting topics that Indian society is currently talking about — advancements in technology, the youth etc, the event was especially a tribute to Gulzarsaab, who has become the toast of the country after recently winning an Oscar.

Lyricist, singer had to call off plans to attend ceremony

Oscar winner Gulzar and Jai Ho… singer Sukhwinder Singh were conspicuous by their absence at the award presentation ceremony. They had to cancel their plans at the last moment since they didn't get their visas in time, confirmed sources. 

Gulzar was supposed to get the award along with Rahman in the 'best song' category while Sukhwinder was to perform the song along with music director on stage. Sources said that Sukhwinder had to wait till the last minute before being informed that he won't be on the flight to Hollywood.

Rahman took up the mike to sing Jai Ho… in the absence of Sukhwinder during the performance at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.

Bollywood icons have reservations on Oscar, Gulzar says Slumdog isn't a cult film anyway

The nation may be celebrating its bounty of Oscars, but two of Bollywood's titans — Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan — were muted in their praise.

While sending his warmest congratulations to AR Rahman and sound mixer Resul Pookutty, Bachchan expressed doubts about whether the Oscars "are the ultimate and final recognition for every film made in the world." He didn't seem to think that the Oscar "deserves the kind of attention that it does," given that it "is a film award ceremony conducted in the US."

Mumbai, Feb 23 : Oscar winning lyricist Gulzar, who shares the ''Original Song'' award with Bollywood composer, AR Rehman on Monday, said he would love to work with the maestro again.

"It was good to work with him. He is a great composer and I would love to work with him again," Gulzar said.

Bollywood''s A. R. Rehman won Oscars for original score and original song in Danny Boyle''s "Slumdog Millionaire", becoming the first Indian composer to strike gold at the annual Hollywood awards.

Rahman won the Oscar for his score ''Jai Ho'' in "Slumdog Millionaire" and he shared the original song award with Gulzar.

Ace poet, lyricist and film producer Gulzar has received the coveted Akshaya Samman for 2008 by Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare on the occasion of the 10th annual Akshaya Utsav at Utkal Mandap open-air auditorium on Saturday.
 
After receiving the award, Gulzar said, “I can only try to do what the much loved Khoka Bhai had done in the field of music, writing and philosophy.”

“But I do not think I can go beyond half of what he had achieved.”

The first Akshaya Samman was awarded to legendary playback singer Manna De.