A Gulzar film made in 1988 is releasing this year!

A feature film directed by Gulzar, which failed to see the light of the day for almost three decades, is finally set to hit the big screen this year.

“Libaas”, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi and Utpal Dutt among others, was made in 1988 but remained canned in the archives of the state-owned Directorate of Film Festivals. Zee Classic announced the theatrical release of the movie on August 18.

The film is based on Gulzar's own short story “Seema”, and revolves around theatre director Sudhir (played by Naseeruddin Shah) and his actor wife Seema (Shabana Azmi) whose life appears perfect. But appearances are often deceptive in the world of showbiz.

The movie also features Raj Babbar, Sushma Seth, Annu Kapoor and Savita Bajaj.

The music has been composed by the late, great RD Burman, by one of Gulzar's frequent collaborators.

“Libaas” was produced by Vikas Mohan, whose dream will be realised by his sons Amul Vikas Mohan and Anshul Vikas Mohan.

“The film 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,” Amul Vikas said.

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 November 22, 2014. It was also screened at the International Film Festival at Bangalore in January, 1992.

Besides being a successful poet and lyricist, Gulzar's career as a director began with “Mere Apne” in 1971, a Hindi remake of Tapan Sinha's Bangla movie “Apanjan”.

Gulzar also made popular movies like “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 works, but is still very active as a lyricist. He won the Oscar for the song “Jai Ho” in “Slumdog Millionaire”.