Bollywood’s Veteran Music Composer 'Khayyam' Passes Away at 92

Guwahati, August 20, 2019:

Veteran music composer Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Hashim, known for the legendary composition for classic film ‘Umrao Jaan’, passed away on Monday at the age of 92 after prolonged illness at a Mumbai hospital.

The Padma Bhushan awardee was admitted to Sujay Hospital in Suburban Juhu a few days ago owing to breathing issues and other age-related illnesses.

Reportedly, he died at Sujay hospital at around 9.30 pm.

Several personalities and B-town celebrities took to social media to pay tribute to the composer.

India’s nightingale Lata Mangeshkar posted a series of tweets paying tribute to the departed music maestro. And tweeted, “Mahan sangeetkar Aur bahut nek dil insan Khayyam sahab aaj humare bich nahi rahe. Ye sunkar mujhe itna dukh hua hai jo main bayaa’n nahi kar sakti.Khayyam sahab ke saath sangeet ke ek yug ka anth hua hai.Main unko vinamra shraddhanjali arpan karti hun.”

“Khayyam sahab mujhe apni choti behen maante the. Wo mere liye apni khas pasand ke gaane banaate the.Unke saath kaam karte waqt bahut accha lagta tha aur thoda darr bhi lagta tha kyo ki wo bade perfectionist the.Unki shayari ki samajh bahut kamaal thi.”

“Isiliye Meer Taqi Meer jaise mahan shayar ki shayari unhone filmon mein laayi. Dikhayi diye yun,jaisi khubsoorat ghazal ho ya apne aap raaton mein jaise geet ,Khaiyyam sahab ka sangeet hamesha dil ko choo jaata tha.Raag Pahadi unka pasandida raag tha.”

“Aisi na jaane kitni baatein yaad aarahi hai, wo gaane wo recordings yaad aarahi hain.Aisa sangeetkar shayad phir kabhi na hoga. Main unko aur unke sangeet ko vandan karti hun.”

Big B Amitabh Bacchan tweeted, “T 3262 - .. a legend in music .. a soft spoken amiable soul .. one that contributed to several films and some of the more important ones of mine .. passes away .. KHAYAM sahib .. for all the memorable music he conducted and produced .. prayers condolences ☘️”

Veteran scriptwriter Javed Akhtar tweeted, “Khayyam saheb the great music director has passed away . He has given many all time great song but to  make him immortal only one was enough “ voh subah kabhi to aayehi”

Khayyam was an Indian music director and background score composer whose career spanned four decades. 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. 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 honor, Padma Bhushan by the Government of India for 2011.

He made his debut as Sharmaji of the Sharmaji-Varmaji composer duo with the movie Heer Ranjha in 1948. He went solo after his co-composer Rahman Varma 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 wo ghabrate to Honge" sung by Mohammed Rafi was a huge 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 starring Raj Kapoor and Mala Sinha, in which songs written by Sahir Ludhyanvi and sung by Mukesh and Asha Bhonsle 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".

The veteran music composer has worked with both his contemporaries and the legends 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 & Ahmed Wasi to name a few.

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