Master composer Khayyam no more

1976 was no time for tender melody. The Emergency was on. Rajesh Khanna’s era of romance was gone. Fists had replaced dialogues in Bombay cinema. And songs were no longer what they used to be. Hardly the moment for a music director nearing 50 to make a comeback.

But Khayyam, who passed away on Monday at the age of 92 following a cardiac arrest in a Mumbai hospital, grabbed the opportunity that Yash Chopra’s Kabhi Kabhie brought to his sluggish career.

The inter-generational love story required two different styles of compositions. Khayyam excelled in both. For the first, he produced two minimalist masterpieces of melody which enhanced Sahir’s reflective poetry. The title track, Kabhi kabhi mere dil khayal aata hai (singers: Lata-Mukesh) became the topper in Binaca Geet Mala’s annual countdown show. Main pal do pal ka shayar hoon (another chartbuster) became an anthem for any self-effacing versifier. In times when action movies ruled the roost, Khayyam’s music was a figurative triumph of violins amidst violence.

For the younger generation, he produced the friskier tunes – Tere chehre se and Tera phoolon jaisa rang – sending a loud message to producers that the 1940s composer could better the sound of 1970s.

For the next 10 years, Khayyam was at the peak of his creative powers and in his commercial prime. Umrao Jaan, Noorie, Thodi Se Bewafaai and Bazaar became synonymous with songs that brought you closer to the radio. Even in films loaded with action -- Trishul, Chambal Ki Kasam or Razia Sultan – Khayyam’s songs soared above the din. They had a life of their own.

A perfectionist, he gave music to only 54 released films in a career spanning over five decades. Some of his tunes were so gentle even a whisper could hurt them –Kahin ek masoom nazuk si ladki (Shankar Hussain), Aaja re dilbar aaja (Noorie), Tumhari palkon ke chilmanon mein (Nakhuda), Baharon mera jeevan bhi sawaaron (Aakhri Khat). And he surprised even his ardent fans with dancey tunes of adolescent enthusiasm (Gapuchi gapuchi gam gam, (Trishul), Mausam mausam lovely mausam (Thodi Si Bewafai) and Aaj se college band hai (Khandan).

Under him, an assortment of singers thrived. Bhupinder sang his first solo for him in Aakhri Khat (Rut Jawan). He was married to Jagjit Kaur, who sang in films like Shagoon and Bazaar. This year, Khayyam had donated Rs 5 lakh to the family of soldiers killed in the Pulwama blast.

Born Muhommad Zahoor Khayyam Hashmi in Rahon, a little town near Jalandhar, Khayyam wanted to be a singer-actor in films. To boost his chances, he learnt music from the masters, Pandit Amarnath and Husanlal-Bhagatram and assisted composer GA Chisti. He also joined the Indian Army during World War II.

He made his debut as a music director with Heer Ranjha (1948). His first hit was Akele mein woh ghabrate to honge (Beewee, 1950). He was Sharmaji in these films.

Khayyam got back his name and found his musical métier with Footpath (1953). The film had one of the finest ghazals composed in Hindi cinema: Sham-e-gham ki kasam (singer: Talat Mehmood). The composer used a piano, a guitar and a solo vox, a basic form of synthesizer, for the song and yet it sounded totally traditional. The song, Khayyam told this reporter once, was put together from several recordings.

He earned bigger critical acclaim with Ramesh Saigal’s Phir Subah Hogi. The film based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment had some of the finest lyrics written by Sahir Ludhianvi: Woh subah kabhi to aayegi and Chino-Arab hamara.

"After listening to the compositions, Asha Bhonsle told me, ‘Khayyam saab aapki to subah ho gayee’. Mukesh immediately told her, ‘You have said the right thing’," the music director once told this reporter.

He continued to produce great melodies in films such as Shola Aur Shabnam and Aakhri Khat, without making it big. Then Kabhi Kabhie happened.

Khayyam is gone. But his melodies of matchless tenderness will always be heard and remembered.