Sampooran Singh Gulzar entered films through literature. Later, strongly backed by an enterprising producer, N.C.Sippy, he played a significant role in pulling the mainstream Hindi cinema out of the rut in the early 70’s along with Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Films like Anand , Guddi, Koshish, Abhiman, Milli, Chupke Chupke and Mere Apne, which came to be identified as ‘middle cinema’, might not have revolutionized the concept of the popular cinema in India, but they did attempt to break new grounds by minimizing the time-worn claptraps. With his flair for poetry, Gulzar had ventured into films as a lyricist. He wrote the memorable number ‘Mora gora ang lai le..’  for Bimal Roy’s classic Bandhini  (1963) and went on to become Roy’s full-time assistant. In the ‘70s, he scripted and/or wrote the dialogues and lyrics for almost all Hrishikesh Mukherjee films. He also worked with other directors like Asit Sen, Basu Chatterjee, Budhadev Dasgupta and Kumar Shahani, besides writing and directing his own films. His films Mere Apne, Parichay, Koshish, Achanak, Khushboo, Mausam, Aandhi, Kinara, Meera and Angoor, stood out for his subtle sense of humour and deep insights into human relationships.Aandhi, an incisive political film marked by brilliant characterization, landed him in trouble during the emergency, because the character of the protagonist played by Suchitra Sen bore a striking resemblance to the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi on the personal plane. With his uncanny ability to make even those condemned as ‘non-actors’ perform, Gulzar became very popular among actors in the ‘70s. Jeetendra (Parichay), Hema Malini (Khushboo), Sharmila Tagore (Mausam) will vouch for this. He gave a new direction to the careers of two ‘villains’ of the time, Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha, by casting them in positive roles in Mere Apne (1971), a Hindi remake of Tapan Sinha’s Bengali film Apan Jan. He enjoyed a great rapport with with the versatile Sanjeev Kumar and directed him in nine films (including Koshish – 1972, Mausam – 1975, Angoor – 1981 and Namkeen –1982). However, it is his teaming  with music director R. D. Burman that created magic. If RD's melodies captured the mood of a situation, Gulzar’s lyrics gave it the soul – Dhanno ki aankhon mein (Kitaab - 1977), Aap ki aankhon mein kuch (Ghar – 1978), Lakdi ki kaathi (Masoom - 1982). In more recent films, his lyrics like Chaiyya chaiyya (Dil Se -1997), Chupke se (Saathiya - 2002) have created a kaleidoscope of evocative images while item songs like Kajra re (Bunty Aur Babli – 2004) and Beedi jalaile (Omkara – 2006) are stamped with his originality.

Gulzaar  has won the National Award thrice – for Best Screenplay (Koshish), Best Director (Mausam) and Best Lyricist (Ijaazat). He also won the Filmfare Award for Best Dialogue for Anand (1970), Namak Haram (1973) and  Maachis (1996). His tryst with television as the director of Mirza Ghalib (1988) was critically acclaimed.

He was married to actress Raakhee and separated. Has a daughter, Meghna, by her, who is also a filmmaker.