Mumbai, Jul 18 (IANS): Singer Rekha Bhardwaj has said that the 18th edition of "Khazana", an annual Ghazal festival, will pay a tribute to veteran poet and writer Gulzar.

Rekha Bhardwaj was interacting with the media during the promotional event of 18th edition of Khazana in Mumbai on Wednesday.

This year, Gulzar will be the chief guest at the festival.

"I feel Gulzar saab is not just a filmmaker, a poet or a screen writer but we are fortunate to have him in our lives. This year, Gulzar saab will grace festival as a chief guest," Rekha said.

"The festival's theme for this year is 'love'. Noted artists and child artists will sing their melodies revolving around the theme. This year, we are giving tribute to Gulzar saab. So, we will be singing Gulzar Saab's film songs and ghazals in this festival."

Talking about the success of "Khazana" Ghazal festival, Rekha said, "I am really happy that we are hosting 18th edition of Khazana Ghazal festival and I feel it is getting better with each passing year. We are able to associate with a lot of artists and people through this festival."

Further, highlighting the performances to be staged at the festival, Rekha said, "We had a very successful talent hunt as compared to last year. We chose two artists from a total of 250 participants' entries to sing at this festival through the talent hunt. I feel we have really good talent in this festival right from child artists to adults. Singers like Shilpa Rao, Harshdeep Kaur and Javed Ali will also perform at the festival."