RMIM Archive Article "6".


From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian

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# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Khaiyyam: The Man And His Music
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# Original author: Vish Krishnan (vishk@cup.hp.com)
# Posted by: ameghani@bnr.ca (Amin Meghani)
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-=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=-- 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