MUMBAI: Poet-lyricist Gulzar has accepted an offer to join the Tagore Chair at Panjab University as a professor.

The Chair is named after Rabindranath Tagore who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

A university spokesman on Wednesday said the Oscar-winning lyricist would be delivering lectures at the university and interacting with students and faculty.

"PU is pleased to announce that Gulzar, the famous poet, lyricist and film director has agreed to assume the Tagore Chair of the university," he said.

Former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh had last week accepted an offer by PU to join the Jawaharlal Nehru Chair as professor. He will be rejoining his alma mater after a gap of over 50 years.

The 'Dr. Manmohan Singh Chair' in PU's department of economics will be occupied by leading economist and academician Yogendra K Alagh.

The previous occupants of the Tagore Chair were distinguished writer and art critic Mulk Raj Anand and noted Hindi novelist, literary historian, essayist, critic and scholar Hazari Prasad Dwivedi.

"Gulzar's acceptance of the chair is a matter of great pride for the university because he will bring with him the immense regard he has for Tagore," the PU spokesman said.

"The university will be enriched by the series of lectures that Gulzar sahib will be delivering and also through the meaningful interaction with faculty, students, artists, writers and intellectuals across disciplines in this region which will be organised as part of the activities of the Chair.

"The Faculty of Languages hopes to gain much from his visit in the areas of creative writing, translation studies and film theory, and learn from his experience as a director as well a writer of dialogues and scripts," the spokesman said.

Gulzar, who originally hails from Punjab, has been a recipient of Padma Bhushan, Sahitya Akademi Award and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He has won several National Film Awards, Filmfare Awards, an Oscar and a Grammy Award, the spokesman said.

PU has earlier honoured Gulzar with the first Sahitya Rattan Award.

(Source: IANS)