Khayyam
(his real name is Mohammed Zahur) is an accomplished
music composer of the golden era of Hindi Film music.
Khayyam moved from his native Punjab to Bombay in 1946
with a wish to become an actor. He acted in S. D. Narang's
Yeh Hai Zindagi (1947). But as he didn't have any more
assignments he settled down as an assistant. He assisted
many music directors like Aziz Khan, Bulo C Rani, and
Husnlal-Bhagatram. His musical hits include Footpath
(1953), Phir Subah Hogi (1958), Shola aur Shabnam (1961),
Sankalp (1974), Kabhi Kabhi (1975) and Shankar Hussain
(1975).
Khayyam is another composer who is rarely considered
to be associated with playback singer Geeta Dutt. It
will be surprising to know that he sang a duet with
her as early as in 1946. The song was “Kyon neh laga
mukh mod liyaa” for the film Rasili composed by Pandit
Hanuman Prasad. Khayyam was using the nick name Sharma
ji those days. Two years later, Khayyam composed the
music for the film Heer Ranjha (along with Rehman Verma
as the co-music director) and Geeta sang as many as
five songs for this film, including two duets with Khayyam
himself. “Dil yoon yoon karata hain” is a sweet romantic
melody and in “Ud pud jaaniya” she |