Khayyam: His unique musical legacy

By Rupen Ghosh

Cinema can be a powerful tool for social change. It still has

tremendous powers to mobilize sentiments and mass emotions.
Despite the phenomenal growth and spread of television and
increasing access to other means of entertainment or
infotainment, including internet and social media like Facebook,
films continue to remain the most popular medium of
entertainment, and if harnessed properly, could perform useful
social function of providing information and education for the
masses, for them to form opinion and judgement. Need we say
that cinema as a medium should be used creatively and
constructively, and for a larger social purpose? Films can still
offer an alternative vision, of being socially relevant and
meaningful. Of all the performing arts, cinema is unique in the
sense that it incorporates and absorbs all forms and means of
creativity, of literature, music, poetry, dance and painting and
could combine the best of these art forms. It has powers to
influence the public opinion and in turn be influenced by it;
cinema as a catalyst for social change still remain relevant and
contemporaneous.

Popular cinema, despite being high on entertainment quotient,

still gives expression to myriad contradictions and conflicts
which the society faces. We may scoff at the phenomenon of
mass adulation for superstars, but it at one time gave
expression to the rising aspirations of our teeming millions of
youth cutting across all barriers of class and caste, like what Raj
Kapoor did, as a tramp and a common man personified, his
imitating Chaplin and Chaplinesque acts notwithstanding, that
appeared jarring and irritating to many but popular
nevertheless, as his on-screen image of an ordinary, simple
man, trifle nave, wronged by the society and who does not
understand the guiles, machinations and intrigues of the big
bad world of business, came with a serious message and
appealed to every section of the society. Dilip Kumar had his
tragic persona and Dev Anand remained the eternal romantic,
flamboyant and suave, appealed to a cross section of our
audience, bestowing a mass appeal to what still remained
essentially the mainstream commercial and popular cinema,
even if clichd, contrived, hackneyed and appeared maudlin to
many.

The cinema of those days of the fifties, despite being

commercial and formulaic, still evoked of higher ideals of
bringing social change and creating social awareness, and had
not turned into Bollywood, which was to come later. The films
crafted so sensitively like Bimal Roys Do Bigha Zameen, on the
theme of land alienation and the need for land reforms, with an
unforgettable performance by Balraj Sahni, IPTAs Dharti Ke Lal
on the devastating Bengal famine of the forties in which more
than three million perished, captured the misery, distress and
tragedy of the impoverished peasant, racked by feudal
landlordism, so poignantly and tellingly. The high point of
popular cinema of the fifties and early sixties was its music,
considered an essential element of mass appeal and fascination
for films and for spreading social message effectively to an
audience which was still largely unlettered. No wonder, the

fifties was famously referred to as the golden era of Hindi film

music. Sensitive and progressive poets and lyricists like Sahir
Ludhianvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Prem Dhawan, Shailendra, Kaifi
Azmi were associated with the IPTA, so also well-known music
directors that included Anil Biswas, Salil Choudhury, Hemant
Kumar and Ravi Shankar. And there was the exceptionally
talented quartet of music composers - Roshan, Madan Mohan,
Khayyam and Jaidev - who emerged in the fifties and sixties to
create some sublime cinematic music. This piece is on the
musical odyssey of one of the most underrated but supremely
talented composers Hindi cinema has witnessed, Khayyam. His
unique and rich legacy of some of the most memorable music
he created continues to enchant and enthrall countless
admirers.
Of the supremely gifted quartet of Hindi film music composers
Madan Mohan, Jaidev, Khayyam and Roshan it was Khayyam,
with his classical approach, who created some of the most
sublime music from Phir Subah Hogi in the fifties to Umran Jaan
in the eighties. Commercial success, though, largely eluded him
and he did not attain the same name and fame which some of
his contemporaries achieved, who were much less talented.
Born in Nawashahar in Punjab, Khayyam came into limelight
with the soul stirring and haunting music of Phir Subah Hogi,
made in 1958, which starred Raj Kapoor and Mala Sinha, the
story loosely based on Dostoevskys abiding classic Crime and
Punishment. The films sublime music is still talked about.
Other than the legendary who subah kabhi to aayegi, some of
the brilliant lyrics included Chin-o-Arab hamara, Hindustan
hamara, rahne ko ghar nahin hai, sara jahan hamara, Aasman
pe hai Khuda aur zameen per hum, aaj kal woh is taraf dekhta
hai kam. There is an anecdote behind Khayyam becoming the
music director. It was the poet and lyricist, Sahir, who insisted
that he would write lyrics only if someone who has not only
read but also understood Dostoyevskys classic, composes the
music. And, he named Khayyam. Raj Kapoor, whose first choice
would have been Shankar Jaikishan, but who had an extremely

good sense of music, put Khayyam through a gruelling test, and

at the end Raj was so overwhelmed with Khayyams creations
that he said that he had never heard that kind of poetry or
music. The haunting woh subah kabhie to aayegi penned by
Sahir, rendered in his inimitable voice by Mukesh, was deeply
evocative of the struggle of the underprivileged even for their
basic existence and of the unfulfilled promise for a better
society. The powerful words evoke of pathos, sufferings and
hopelessness, but end with a ray of hope for humanity; despair,
melancholy, disgust, disillusionment spill over in one of the
most powerful lyrics ever written, acknowledged as the
ultimate song of hope and sunshine.
In his glorious musical career, Khayyams other memorable
scores were in films like Heer Ranjha, Footpath, Shagun, Shola
Aur Shabnam, Aakhri Khat, Kabhi Kabhi, Razia Sultan, Shankar
Hussain, Bazaar, Thodi si Bewafai, Umrao Jaan. Recipient of
Sangeet Natak Academi Award and Padma Bhushan, Khayyams
melodious music, rich in classical music and poetic
compositions, remain evergreen and meaningful.
Starting with Sham e gham ki kasam from the film Footpath in
1953, with ghazal king Talat magic in his dulcet, velvety voice,
Khayyam reputation as a great composer soared with the film
Shola Aur Shabnam, where Kaifi Azmis lyrics still ring in our
ears, Jaane kya dhhonti rehti hein ye aanken mujhmen sung
by Rafi and Jeet Hi lenge Baazi Hum tum sung by Lata and
Rafi. Just listen to the track "Jane Kya Dhoondti Rahti hain ye
aankhen mujhmein raakh ke dher mein sholaa hai na chingaari
hai jaane kyaa dhoondhti rahti hain ye aankhen mujhmein
raakh ke dher mein sholaa hai na chingaari hai ", with
memorable lyrics by Kaifi, highly regarded as one of the best
works in the whole career of Khayyam and considered as one of
the best songs of Rafi. Another memorable number was in the
Chetan Anand directed Aakhri Khat Baharon mera jeevan bhi
Sawaron by Lata, again great poetry from Kaifi. More was to
follow, of singer Jagjit Kaurs, whom Khayyam married, Tum
apna ranjh-o- gham, which was a great piece.

Khayyams versatility was apparent during the seventies when

he teamed up with Sahir to the great evergreen poetry, Kabhi
Kabhi mere dil mein Khayal ata hai.
Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein khayaal aata hai..
Ke zindagi teri zulfon ki narm chhaon mein Guzarane paati to
shaadaab ho bhi sakati thi........
Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein khayaal aata hai...
The film Shankar Hussain had Rafi sing "Kahin ek Masum Nazuk
si Lardki" and Lata render "Aaap yun Faaslon Se", both classic
Khayyam songs. Aap Yun Faaslon Se Guzarte Rahe dil Se
Qadmon Ki Aavaaz Aati Rahi , aahaton Se Andhere Chamakte
Rahe, raat Aati Rahi Raat Jaati Rahi ho, beautiful poetry by Jaan
Nishar Akhtar, epitomized Khayyams genre of simple, soulful,
melodious and touching music, poetic and lyrical.
Who can forget Lata Mangeshkars unforgettable song from
Razia Sultan aye dila-ye-naadaan aye dila-ye-naadaan aarajoo
kyaa hain, justajoo kyaa hain, hum bhatakate hain, kyon
bhatakate hain dashta-o-seharaa mein ayesaa lagataa hain,
mauj pyaasee hain apane dareeyaa mein kaisee ulazan hain,
kyon ye ulazan hain, yek saayaa saa, rubaru kyaa hain?
The film Bazaar in the early eighties saw some socially
meaningful poetry from Shahryar and Mir Taqi Mir like Dikhaiyi
Diye Kyun ke Bewas kiya and Khayyam reputation as a
sensitive composer, preferring to work with the poets having
strong background of poetry, was confirmed. But his best was
reserved for Muzaffar Alis Umrao Jaan in 1981, where he made
Asha Bhonsle sing songs which are indisputably her best; In
Aankhon ki masti ke, Ye Kya Jagah hai doston and Dil Cheez
kya hai are evergreen and remain perennial favourites of the
young and old alike. The lyrics were essentially by Shahrayar
and Rekha gave her career's finest performance.

Khayyams musical journey has been quite amazing, though he

was in and out of films all through the sixties and seventies and
was never prolific. Perhaps, that was the reason he did not have
to plagiarise or pilfer tunes. He remains a very humble man,
unassuming and unpretentious, not taking credit even once for
the fabulous songs he composed in his critically acclaimed
career. To him all contemporary music is not cacophony, though
he shows his displeasure about todays remixes. Last heard, he
was planning to come up with an album with his singer wife,
Jagjit Kaur.