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| Gulshan Bawra, as an eight-year old had witnessed the killing of his parents and then fleeing for his life from strife-torn Pakistan. His mother was shot through her head and father was slashed with swords. Wounded physically and mentally, both he and his brother hid in the fields for some days and finally joined a caravan travelling back to India. They reached Jaipur in military trucks and sought refuge in the house of their married sister.
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| Gulshan and his brother were always hard up for money, so as soon as he could, Gulshan applied for a job in the railways. He topped the interview and stood first among 900 candidates and was posted to Kota. But as luck would have it there was no vacancy for him in Kota so he was appointed the goods clerk at the railway godown in Mumbai.
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| Upon reaching Mumbai, Gulshan Bawra began his struggle in the film industry. Ravindra Dave, the producer-director of Meena Kumari-Balraj Sahni starrer Satta Bazar insisted on using one of his songs although he already had Shailendra and Hasrat writing songs for the film. During the recording of his first song 'Chandi ke chand tukdon ke liye' , Bombay distributor Shantibhai Dave refused to believe that a 19-year-old 'bawra' could write lyrics of such depth. Since then Gulshan Mehta became Gulshan Bawra
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| As the goods clerk in Railways, Gulshan Bawra would marvel at the sacks and sacks of golden wheat that came in from Punjab. Inspired by the bounty of the land Gulshan wrote an ode to it - 'Mere desh ki dharti sona ugle ugle heere moti.'
then. Years later when Manoj had become a hero and when Gulshan recited these lines to him, he just leapt for joy and said he would use them in his film Upkaar.
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| Gulshan Bawra also played the pivotal part of the villain in the first Punjabi film in colour.
Shashi Punnu, a film that won Punjab it's very first National Award. Shot in the golden sand dunes of Jaisalmer, the film was a roaring hit
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