Mohammed Zahur Khayyam

Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Hashmi (18 February 1927 – 19 August 2019), better known mononymously as Khayyam, was an Indian music director and background score composer whose career spanned four decades.

Khayyam was born to a Punjabi Muslim family on 18 February 1927 in Rahon in Punjab, British India.

As a boy, Khayyam ran away to his uncle's house in New Delhi.

There he was trained under classical vocalist and composer Pandit Amarnath.

Khayyam went to Lahore looking for roles in films.

There he met Baba Chishti, a famous Punjabi music director.

After listening to a composition by Chishti, he sang to him its first part.

Impressed, Chishti gave him an offer of joining him as an assistant.

Khayyam assisted Chishti for six months and came to Ludhiana in 1943.

He was only 17 then.

After a stint in the Army in the Second World War, Khayyam went to Bombay to fulfil his dream and made his debut as Sharmaji of the Sharmaji-Varmaji composer duo with the film Heer Ranjha in 1948.

He went solo after his co-composer Rehman Verma went to the newly created Pakistan post partition.

One of his earliest breaks was in the film Biwi (1950) in which the song "Akele Mein Woh Ghabrate To Honge" sung by Mohammed Rafi was a hit.

"Shaam-e-Gham Ki Kasam" sung by Talat Mehmood from the film Footpath (1953) struck a chord among the masses.

He gained greater recognition from the film Phir Subha Hogi (1958) starring Raj Kapoor and Mala Sinha, in which songs written by Sahir Ludhianvi and sung by Mukesh and Asha Bhosle were set to tune by Khayyam.

Notable amongst them are "Wo Subha Kabhi To Aayegi", "Aasman Pe hai Khuda Aur Zameen Pe Hum" and "Chin-o-Arab Humara".

Songs from the film Shola Aur Shabnam (1961) written by Kaifi Azmi established Khayyam's reputation as a composer.

Other notable songs are from the film Shagoon (1964) which had Khayyam's wife Jagjit Kaur sing "Tum Apna Ranj-o-Gham" and "Tum Chali Jaogi".

From the Chetan Anand directed Aakhri Khat (1966) "Baharon Mera Jeevan Bhi Sawaron" by Lata and "Aur Kuch Der Theher" by Rafi were huge hits.

The 1970s saw Khayyam team up with Sahir Ludhyanvi once again to work in the Yash Chopra-directed Kabhi Kabhie (1976).

The songs showed Khayyam's versatility with hits such as "Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein Khayal Aata Hai" (Sung by Mukesh and Lata), "Tere Chehre Se Nazar Nahin" (by Kishore & Lata) and "Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon" (by Mukesh).

Khayyam provided music to the films of the late-1970s and early-1980s.

Songs from Trishul, Thodi Si Bewafaai, Bazaar, Dard, Noorie, Nakhuda, Sawaal, Bepannah, and Khandaan are some of his best works.

He also gave music for Meena Kumari's album, I Write, I Recite (1971) featuring the "nazms" written and sung by her.

Khayyam always preferred to work with poets rather than film lyricists.

That is the reason one finds poetry playing an equal role in Khayyam's compositions as the music or the singer.

Khayyam prefers to give full freedom to the poets for expressing their views thereby making the expression of songs more poetic and meaningful.

He worked with both his contemporaries in the field of poetry.

That's the reason one finds in his account the work profiled by Mirza Ghalib, Daagh, Wali Mohammed Wali, Ali Sardar Jafri, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Sahir Ludhianvi, and among the new ones Naqsh Lyallpuri, Nida Fazli, Jan Nisar Akhtar and Ahmed Wasi.

Khayyam's music had the touch of ghazal but was rooted in Indian classical music.

He won three Filmfare Awards: for Best Music in 1977 for Kabhi Kabhie and 1982 for Umrao Jaan, and a lifetime achievement award in 2010.

Khayyam was still to deliver his best, and the opportunity came in Muzaffar Ali's Umrao Jaan in 1981.

He had Asha Bhonsle sing the songs "In Aankhon Ki Masti Ke", "Ye Kya Jagah Hai Doston", and "Dil Cheez Kya Hai", which are evergreen.

Rajesh Khanna liked the songs of the film Kabhi Kabhie so much that he gifted Khayyam one of his cars.

Subsequently, Khayyam composed music for Thodisi Bewafai, Dard (both 1981) and Dil-E-Nadaan (1982), all of them starring Khanna in the lead.

Khayyam created music for the Kamal Amrohi directed film Razia Sultan (1983) and his song "Aye Dil-e-Nadan" sung by Lata is considered as a milestone.

He also composed non-film songs.

Some of them include "Paaon Padun Tore Shyam, Brij Mein Laut Chalo" and "Ghazab Kiya Tere Vaade Pe Aitbaar Kiya".

He was awarded the 2007 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Creative Music, by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Theatre.

He was awarded the third-highest civilian honour, Padma Bhushan, by the Government of India in 2011.