RMIM Archive Article "6".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Khaiyyam: The Man And His Music
#
# Original author: Vish Krishnan (vishk@cup.hp.com)
# Posted by: ameghani@bnr.ca (Amin Meghani)
#
-=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=--
Khaiyaam
by
Vish Krishnan
-=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=--
Khaiyyam (real name Mohammed Zahoor Hashmi) came to Bombay in
1946, after a few years in the trenches of SE Asia. He was a
private in World War II - a somewhat reluctant member of the
British Army. After some painful tutelage from Hazrat Chishti
(his mentor in Bombay Cinema), he was ready to quit when one fine
day he was offered the MD-ship for a movie called FOOTPATH (Dilip
Kumar, Mina Kumari). The famous Talat song "Shaame Gham Ki
Qasam." is the only one I know from that movie.
There was a brief lull following FOOTPATH. In this period, he
probably spent most of his time composing the score for private
Ghazals - you should not have any trouble finding a few C.H.Atma
ghazals scored to music by our maestro.
Then followed a little known movie called LALA RUKH. Wonderful
songs. It is a pity I only know and have 3 of them. There is a
Asha-Talat duet "Pyaas Kuch ur Bhi Bhadka Di Jhalak Dikhlaa
Ke..". There is also an Asha- only version of this song. Then
there is a Rafi song in the movie ("Hai Kali Kali Ke LabPar, Mere
Ishq Kaa Fasana..")
Then came BAROOD (from the late 50s). It has 2 great songs by
Lata. One in particular is a Punjabi Giddha. It goes "Rang Ran-
gila Saanwara Mohe Mil Gaya Jamna Paar". The percussion in this
song is unparallelled. It also brought out for the first time his
fascination with honest Punjabi folk music(the only other MDs I
know to have done that are Roshan, O P Nayyar, Sardul Qwatra,to
some extent Madan Mohan, and on a couple of occasions, Sir Salil
Chowdhury). At any rate,the other song from BAROOD that I know of
is also by Lata. It goes "Teri Duniya Mein Nahi Koi Hamara Apna,
Besahaaron Ko Zara De De Sahara Apna". It is also a very hard
song to find.
Then came the Raj Kapoor connection with PHIR SUBAH HOGI. Seven
songs, all brilliant, and dominated by Asha and Mukesh. This was
a left wing movie from the camp of RK Karanjia (BLITZ), Khwaja
Ahmed Abbas and Raj Kapoor, and it starred RK of course and Mala
Sinha. This was the first Sahir- Khayaam pairing. Somehow,
Sahir's left-wing sarcasm and Khaiyyam's pathos in songs like
"Chino Arab Hamara" and "Wo Subah Kabhi to aayegi" seemed to
goextremely well together. There is an exquisite Asha song that
goes "Kisko Mujrim Samjhe Koi, Kisko Dosh Lagaaye... Do Boonde
Sawan Ki". This movie will remain among Khaiyyam's classics
even from among the other great ones he has done.
Just for the record, the other songs in the movie were "Phir Na
Kije Meri Gustaakh-Nighahi ka Gila" (Asha-Mukesh), Aasmaan Pe Hai
Khuda Aur Zameen Pe Hum" (Mukesh) and Jo Bore Kare Yaar ko, Us
Yaar Se Tauba" (Rafi-Mukesh).
On second thoughts, I am not sure if this was the first Sahir-
Khaiyyam movie.It might have started with LALA RUKH.
This movie was followed by another (1962) movie called SHOLA AUR
SHABNAM. One of my most favourite songs of all times ("Jeet Hi
Lenge Baazi Hum Tum") is from this Dharmendra- ? movie. The
serenity evoked by the (possibly) A- minor progression was to be
repeated by Khaiyyam later with "Aur Kuch Der Thahar" (Aakhiri
Khat) and "Pichli Yaad Bhula Do" (Mehndi). Also, this movie
featured his wife Jagjit Kaur singing for the first time for her
husband. She has two songs in this movie. One of them is a Hin-
di version of the Punjabi original (also by Jagjit Kaur) "Adi We
Adi.... Dudh Pi Le Balma, Main Kaddon Di Khadi". The Hindi ver-
sion goes "ladi re ladi". One might argue that this music is not
a Khaiyyam original,but then again, we have seen ther non-Hindi
standard songs translated for Hindi movies with the original
traditional melody intact. The main examples that come to mind
here are O P Nayyar (for some Surinder Kaur songs), S D Burman
(for one Nazrul Geet in "Pyaasa"), Hemant Kumar and Anil Biswas
(for a couple of Rabindra Sangeet songs).
At any rate, the fabulous Rafi song "Jaane Kya Dhoondti Rehti
hain ye Aankhen Mujhme" is from this movie. Then there were
some unremarkable ones. There was a real high-pitch Asha song
"Mummy Aur Daddy Mein Ladai Ho Gai" and a Manna Dey-Geeta Dutt
Song "Mathura Shyam Chale". Let us not forget yet another Punja-
bi folk song "Phir Nahi Aane Wali Pyare Aisi Milan Ki Raat". I
was also a bit intrigued by this Rafi-Jagjit Kaur duet "Pehle to
Aankh Milana" only because it has a couple of glimpses of OP
Nayyar. This is probably aggravated by the fact that Jagjit
Kaur's voice (only in this song) bears an unintended similarity
to Geeta Dutt!!.
Another fact to note is that Jagjit Kaur has sung Hindi movie
songs for only 1 other music director. If I remember this right,
that was a Ghulam Mohammed movie called DIL-E-NADAAN. Oddly
enough, more than 30 years later, Khaiyyam himself did the music
for another movie by the same name (no connection)!!
After another brief lull, 1964-66 had Khaiyyam do 3 movies -
SHAGUN, MOHABBAT ISKO KEHTE HAIN, and AAKHIRI KHAT. The movie
SHAGUN was when Waheeda Rehman starred for the first and last
time with her future husband Kamaljeet. Again, Shagun saw Sahir
and Khaiyyam work together. Jagjit Kaur had 2 songs in it a
Punjabi wedding song "Gori Sasuraal Chali" and the immortal piano
work "Tum Apna Ranj-o-Gham..". Otherwise, the songs were by Rafi
and/or Suman Kalyanpur. Also, Khaiyyam's passion for Pahadi
songs (I mean based on the Raga Pahadi) became visible(audible)
for the first time in Hindi movies. The song"Parbaton Ke Pedon
par Shaam Ka Basera Hai" is from here. I particularly like the
two Rafi songs - "Tum Chali Jaaogi, Parchaaian Reh Jaayengi" and
"Ye Raat Bahut Rangeen Sahi". The latter betrays Sahir's left-
wing thinking - so what was new? Although the two Suman songs
"Zindagi Zulm Sahi, Jabr Sahi, Gham hi Sahi"and "Bujhaa Diye Hain
Khud Apne Haathon" were good, they were overshadowed by the other
songs in this movie.
So much for SHAGUN. As for MOHABBAT ISKO..., Khaiyyam almost be-
trayed his secret recipe for the quintessential romantic duet in
a Rafi-Suman song "Thahariye Hosh Mein Aa Loon To Chale Jaiyega".
There are very, very few songs that use this chord progression -
C major -> E major -> A minor. It is haunting. I could listen
to this one over and over again. The movie has other songs. A
Mukesh-Asha duet "Humse Hoti Mohabbat Jo Tumko, Tum ye Diwanapan
Chhod Dete" takes us back to the MD's Punjabi roots. There is a
nice Mukesh song "Itna Husn Pe Guroor Na Huzoor Kijiye". There
are other songs, but nowhere near as memorable. From all of
Khaiyyam's songs, "Thahariye Hosh Mein.. " remains my biggest
favourite.
Then came Rajesh Khanna's 3rd movie - AAKHIRI KHAT. In addition
to the two outstanding Lata songs ("Bahaaron Mera Jeevan Bhi San-
vaaro", "Mere Chanda, Mere Nanhe"), there was a great Rafi Song
"Aur Kuch Der Thahar", and perhaps one of Bhupendra's first Hindi
movie songs "Rut Jawan Jawan Jawan, raat meherbaan".This movie
also featured Khaiyyam's first (and I think last) attempt at a
hotel cabaret song "O my Darling" - hideous! His fans will over-
look that one only because he outdid even his own performance
with Lata's Pahadi song in this movie. What was interesting with
this movie was that the producer-director Chetan Anand decided
not to go with his long- term friend Madan Mohan. Perhaps he was
taken up by the need for the Pahadi sound( the movie was shot in
the Kulu valley),and especially after what he (must have) heard
out of SHAGUN, he must have decided on Khaiyyam. Further,
Bhupendra's first Hindi movie song was from the Chetan Anand
movie "Haqeeqat". And this was Bhupendra's second. Wonder if
there is a connection there somewhere.
Around 1968,Khaiyyam made his last movie of the 60's. Very few
people will remember SANKALP, but you will probably recall the
Sulakshana Pandit song"Tu Hi Saagar Hai Tu Hi Kinara".
Oddly enough, Khaiyyam went into seclusion at this point. There
were no Hindi movies for him for almost the next 7 years. There
could have been a couple of reasons for this. Firstly (and I am
not sure about this - the research is still going on), he direct-
ed his attention to Punjabi movies. But more importantly, he de-
cided to work on yet another passion of his - music for private
Ghazals.
He worked closely with Begum Akhtar in her last years. There is
a small but exquisite collection of Ghazals written by Sudarshan
"Faakir", sung by Begum Akhtar, and scored to music by
Khaiyyam. The one I can remember is "Ishq Mein Ghairat-E-Jazbaat
Ne Rone Na Diya" - super.
Then, as Meena Kumari could almost see her own life withering
away,she went open with her true love - poetry. In her only song
album "I write, I recite", she sang her own lyrics,and needless
to say,she requested Khaiyyam to do the music. He obliged. The
album is a testimony to Meena Kumari's inconsistent brilliance,
but Khaiyyam's musical integrity and honesty can be seen
throughout.
I do believe that Asha and Rafi have both sung private
songs/Ghazals with the maestro. I cannot remember any at this
point.
It was now 1975.
This was also the time when Yash Chopra fell foul of his long
term business colleague B.R.Chopra. I am only guessing now, but
it would seem that he now needed to look elsewhere for the Punja-
bi and Pahadi sounds that had becomethe hallmark of BR Films like
GUMRAAH, WAQT and HAMRAAZ. It would have been hard to approach
Ravi (or even the less likely choice N.Dutta). Those two were at
least by history, closely aligned with the BR Chopra camp. Yash
Chopra could not have made a better choice than Khaiyyam.
The movie KABHIE KABHIE was their first, and was followed by
TRISHUL, NOORIE and NAKHUDA. In the interim, Khaiyyam also did
CHAMBAL KI KASAM and SHANKAR HUSSAIN. The latter has 2 exquisite
Lata songs ("Aap Yoon Faaslon Se Guzarte Rahe", and "Apne Aap
Raaton Mein"). It also had a Rafi song "Kahin EkMasoom Naazuk Si
Ladki...". And of couse, Khaiyyam's favourite Punjabi folk
music was heard again in KABHIE KABHIE in a wedding song (I don't
recall the words but it forms the background and interlude to a
Lata song "Surkh Jode Ki..").
At this point, Khaiyyam left the world of handicrafted music and
joined the distinguished elite of batch-processors, and probably
became the better off for it. If you care, the list probably
goes something like this:
Pyaase Dil, Thodisi Bewafai, Bazaar, Ahista Ahista, Umrao Jaan
(an exception to the Khaiyyam of the 80's), Mehndi, Dil-E-
Nadaan, Dard, Lorie, Anjuman, and Parbat Ke Us Paar. I might
have missed some, but frankly, I did not keep track of the maes-
tro after the mid 70's. There were some more Jagjit Kaur songs
(I can remember the one in Bazaar "Dekh Lo Aaj Hum Ko Ji Bhar
Ke"). He also brought in another less known singer of Punjabi
songs. I think it was Pamela Chopra. And I vaguely remember a
Dilraj Kaur song as well. Then in the early 90's, he was honoured
by the Indian Government with all kinds of titles.
Janaab Haashmi is one of the very few living grand masters of the
Hindi movie musical soul. If I have gotten carried away in
describing his work, I have a reason. You would probably agree.
-=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=--
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian