Khayyam, veteran music director of Umrao Jaan, Kabhi Kabhi passes away at 92

The veteran music director Mohammed Zahur 'Khayyam' Hashmi who gave the music of popular films like Umrao Jaan, Kabhi Kabhi has passed away due to a cardiac arrest at the age of 92 in Mumbai, according to news agency ANI. He was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Sujay Hospital in Mumbai two days ago.

Veteran music composer, Mohammed Zahur 'Khayyam' Hashmi, passed away at a hospital in Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/AdEpxHm661

— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2019

The music director and background score composer is known for his melodious tunes and soulful music with strong roots in Indian classical music. His songs were rich in poetry and purpose and the style was noticeably different from the popular brand of music in those days, which used to be either semi-classical, ghazal or light and peppy.

He has worked with both the contemporary 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 Saheb, Ali Sardar Jafri, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Sahir Ludhianvi, and among the new ones Naqsh Lyalpuri, Nida Fazli, Jan Nisar Akhtar & Ahmed Wasi to name a few.

Umrao Jaan, Kabhi Kabhi, Razia Sultan, Bazaar, Noorie, Thodi si Bewafai are some of his films whose music is eternal and is still listened to today. Asha Bhosle was extremely popular and liked for singing cabarets and songs with western touch but he made her sing ghazals like 'In ankhon ki masti', 'dil cheez kya hai', etc which are still popular today and considered as Asha Bhosle's best work. She won national award for playback singing for Umrao Jaan

Khayyam was honored with the National Film Award for his work in Umrao Jaan. He also won a Filmfare Award for Umrao Jaan and Kabhi Kabhi. He was bestowed with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2007.

The Government of India honored him with Padma Bhushan in 2011.