Kab yaad mein tera saath nahin
Posted on: August 20, 2019
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 4050 | Post No. : | 15179 |
shaam-e-gham ki kasam aaj ghamgeen hain ham
The evening in the first line turned into a night of sadness when I came to know from ASAD Group that Khayyam saab is no more with us. His popular songs started ringing in my ears. Those were the songs with which I have grown up from a teenager to a senior citizen. I had a disturbed sleep last night as some of his songs resonated intermittently in my mind. In the morning, I thought that the best way to get out of such feeling is to write a tributary article for Khayyam saab.
With his death, we have lost the last icon among the music directors of the golden period of Hindi film music He created his own ‘gharana’ of Hindi film music and very rarely deviated from it. The melodious songs he composed were mainly based on Hindustani classical raagas.
As I said, some of his songs were often coming to my mind. The emotional support song tum apna ranz-o-gham apni pareshaani mujhe de do was the one which gave me goosebumps. Not only Khayyam saab and Jagjit Kaur were creators of this melody, I felt that the latter was actually the emotional support system for the former. I identify wo subah kabhi to aayegi as optimistic in the midst of pessimism. I remember Khayyam saab in bahaaron mera jeevan bhi sanwaaron for its a long prelude of nearly 100 seconds of santoor, sitar and flute which created the right ambiance for Raag Pahadi based melody. Among other songs, how can I forget ye kya jagah hai doston and the ‘haunted feel’ song with pauses, ae dei-e-nadaan arzoo kya hai?
Khayyam saab who was so much committed to the quality of his musical compositions, selected only films with good story line. His musical compositions had the benefit of poetry rather than the lyrics. This is reflected in his working mostly with poets of repute like Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi Azmi, Jaan Nisar Akhtar, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, Nida Fazli, Shahryar etc.
There was something for his young listeners and audiences too. Like hai kali kali ke lab par from ‘Lala Rukh’ (1958), a teasing song, jis pyaar mein ye haal ho us pyaar ki tauba from ‘Phir Subah Hogi’ (1958), a jazzy number rut jawaan jawaan raat meherbaan from ‘Aakhri Khat’ (1966), an aspiring love song, aankhon mein hamne aapke sapne sajaaye hain from ‘Thhodi Si Bewafaayi’(1980) and many more.
Coming from a highly educated family from Jalandhar, Khayyam saab could not complete even his high school studies as he was smitten by his idol, K L Saigal and Hindi films. His wish was to become an actor-singer like K L Saigal. Expelled by his father from his house for neglecting his studies, Khayyam saab came to Delhi and stayed with his uncle. Realising his nephew’s interest in music, his uncle arranged his musical training under Pandit Amarnath and his brothers, Husnlal and Bhagatram.
A filmy career which spanned over 7 decades, Khayyam saab started as an apprentice to music Director, G A Chishti in Lahore in 1945. He came to Mumbai in January 1947 with Rahman Verma who was also assisting G A Chishti. Khayyam saab sang his first song ‘dono jahaan teri mohabat mein haar ke’ a duet with Zohrabai Ambalewali under Husnlal-Bhagatram for the film ‘Romeo & Juliet’ (1947). His first film as a music director in partnership with Rehman Verma was ‘Heer Ranjha’ (1948) under the pseudo name Sharmaji-Vermaji.
The song which brought Khayyam saab into limelight was akele mein wo ghabraate to honge from ‘Biwi’ (1950), his third film. This did not help him much in his career path. ‘Footpath’ (1953) was his first film in which he gave the music under his real name, Khayyam on the advice of the film’s director, Zia Sarahadi. shaam-e-gham ki kasam aaj ghamheen hain hum from this film became very popular as a ‘blue mood’ song. Khayyam saab had revealed that he had used western symphony based interlude in this song, especially the first interlude.
The high points in musical compositions of Khayyam saab were reflected in all the songs of ‘Lala Rukh’ (1958), ‘Phir Subah Hogi’ (1958), ‘Shola Aur Shabnam (1961), ‘Shagoon’ (1964), ‘Mohabbat Isko Kehte Hai,’ (1965) and ‘Aakhri Khat’ (1966). Still the success in terms of recognition and box office alluded him. By this time, he had already spent about 2 decades in Hindi film industry but was not in the reckoning in the list of top music directors.
Sometime in the latter half of 1960s, Khayyam saab decided to take a sabbatical from Hindi film industry when he felt that the films he was being offered were not his worth. The sabbatical continued for nearly 8 years. During this period, he devoted his time and energy to compose some of his finest non-film songs among 200 odd songs. Here also he did with the top playback singers like Talat Mehmood and Mohammed Rafi. Begum Akhtar who was very close to Madan Mohan, chose Khayyam saab for composing ghazals for her LP Ghazal album in 1974.
Generally, it is said that once a film artist remains out of film industry for a long time, it is difficult for that artist to make a comeback. I think, Khayyam saab is the only among music directors who made a grand come back with the success of ‘Kabhie Kabhie’ (1976) for which he got Filmfare Award. The next feather in his cap was the outstanding music in ‘Umrao Jaan’ (1981). He was bestowed with National Award for music in this film. In his second coming, he remained active for about 10 years.
It was interesting to know that some of his best music compositions had come from films like ‘Phir Subah Hogi’ (1958), ‘Kabhie Kabhie‘(1976), Umrao Jaan’ (1981) and ‘Razia Sultan’ (1983) where he was not the first choice as a music director. How much efforts and pain he must have taken to prove his credentials to the respective producers/directors to make the music of these film extraordinaire to justify their faith in him.
I have always felt that God has been unkind to Khayyam saab. At every stage of his life – from his childhood time onward, he had to struggle for survival. It took nearly 3 decades to come under the category of a successful music director when ‘Kabhie Kabhie’ (1976) became successful. He got recognition from the film industry as well as from the Government. But his success gave him company for less than 10 years. When he had everything for his modest living, he lost his only son, Pradeep in March 2012. But Khayyam saab had no complaint against God. In almost all his interviews I had read and watched, he had always said ‘Allah ki meharbaani hai, waah Guruji ki kripa hai, Ishawar ki kripa hai’.
Khayyam saab had also composed songs for about dozen unreleased films, one of which was ‘Anjuman’ (1986). As a tribute to Khayyam saab, I am presenting one of songs from this film, ‘kab yaad mein tera saath nahin kab tera haath mein haath nahin’ which is close to my heart. This ‘Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s song is rendered by Khayyam saab and his wife, Jagjit Kaur. I think, this is the only film song which they have sung together.
I offer my condolences to the bereaved family and his friends.
Khayyam saab, you will always be with us through your melodious music.
Video Clip :
Audio Clip:
Song-Kab yaad mein tera saath nahin (Anjuman)(UR)(1986) Singers-Khayyam, Jagjit Kaur, Lyrics-Faiz Ahmad Faiz, MD-Khayyam
Both
Lyrics
kab yaad mein tera saath nahin
kab yaad mein tera saath nahin
kab haath mein tera haath nahin
kab yaad mein tera saath nahin
kab haath mein tera haath nahin
tab shukr ke apni raaton mein
tab shukr ke apni raaton mein
ab hijr ki koi raat nahin
tab shukr ke apni raaton mein
ab hijr ki koi raat nahin
maidaan-e-wafa darbaar nahin
jaana munsab ki poochh kahaan
maidaan-e-wafa darbaar nahin
yahaan munsab ki poochh kahaan
aashiq to kisi ka naam nahin
aashiq to kisi ka naam nahin
kuchh ishq kisi ki jaat nahin
aashiq to kisi ka naam nahin
kuchh ishq kisi ki jaat nahin
kab yaad mein tera sath nahin
kab haath mein tera haath nahin
jis dhaj se koi maqtal mein gaya
wo shaan salaamat rahti hai
jis dhaj se koi maqtal mein gaya
wo shaan salamat rahti hai
ye jaan to aani jaani hai
ye jaan to aani jaani hai
is jaan ki to koi baat nahin
ye jaan to aani jaani hai
is jaan ki to koi baat nahin
kab yaad mein tera saath nahin
kab haath mein tera haath nahin
gar baazi ishq ki baazi hai
jo chaaho laga do dar kaisa
gar baazi ishq ki baazi hai
jo chaho laga do dar kaisa
gar jeet gaye to kya kahna
gar jeet gaye to kya kahna
haare bhi to baazi maat nahin
gar jeet gaye to kya kahna
haare bhi to baazi maat nahin
kab yaad mein tera saath nahin
kab haath mein tera haath nahin
tab shukr ke apni raaton mein
ab hizr ki koi raat nahin
9 Responses to "Kab yaad mein tera saath nahin"
August 20, 2019 at 7:17 pm
Very sweet remembering but a little bit of disappointment for not a single word for Baazar any way its nice
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August 20, 2019 at 7:49 pm
I am also disappointed that I forgot to include at least one song from ‘Baazar’ (1982) as I had to complete the article in a hurry.
Also I have missed to mention songs from ‘Shankar Hussain’ (1977). ‘Kahin ek maasoom’ was an unique composition from Khayyam.
August 21, 2019 at 1:11 pm
Sadanand ji, heart touching tribute to a legend of HFM. I have not heard this song before. Apt selection for paying tributes.
As for me I identify Khayyam Ji with ‘Phir Subha..”, ‘Umrao Jaan’ & ‘Bazar’
Thanks for the post.
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August 21, 2019 at 8:18 pm
Thanks Satish ji
Three films you mentioned did only average business in terms of box office collections. People remember these films because of their melodious songs.
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September 4, 2019 at 12:19 am
Kamath sir,
I meant to comment here long back but somehow the time seems to run away from me.
Thank you for your heartfelt article on Khayyam Sahab. When my brother shared someone tweet about this, the first song I thought of was “ kabhi kisi ko mukammal Jahan nahin milta” from Ahista ahista (1981). But than Rafi songs began to surface in the memory.
Hai Kali kali ke lab par…. is a classic on its own. And the pathos in “jaane kya dhoondti rehti hain” is worth drowning in.
Films like” Thodi si bewafaai” , Razia sultan & Umrao Jaan were the re-revival of khaiyyam sahabs music.
About the above song by Faiz , there are a few words that need to be changed. For e.g.
sad shukr ke apni raaton mein….
Yaan naam-o-nasab ki Poochh kahan
Sad shukr – thankful a 100 times
Naam o nasab – name and ancestry
“Sad shukr “ is a term commonly used in religious songs of Sikhism, I think.
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September 4, 2019 at 8:26 am
Nahm ji,
Thanks for going through the article and for a couple of changes suggested in the poem.
I request Atul ji/Sudhir ji to incorporate the corrections in the lyrics.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
August 20, 2019 at 5:51 pm
Sadanand ji,
Thanks for a very emotional and informative post on Khayyam.
We all know that from the film Footpath-53 ,he started using name ‘Khayyam’ as a M.D., but not many know how he came about to this decision.Here is the story…
How did he get the name Khayyam ?
In 1953, Khayyam was to get Footpath as a composer. Khayyam describes his first meeting with the owner of Ranjit Studio, Sardar Chandulal Shah,in an interview,thus….
” When I got Footpath,everyone knew that I was Sharmaji. My meeting with Director Zia Sarhadi and Sardar Chandulal Shah,the Ranjit owner and a legend in his times,was arranged. Sarhadi had already heard my tunes and approved them. It was only a formal meeting before work started. I entered the cabin and saw Chandulal Shah first time. Seth ji was sitting on a big chair. His white shirt,white coat and dark Black colour was showing him as a Photo negative. As soon as I entered,he asked me in a LOUD voice,” Naam Kya Hai ? “. I knew that he had not liked my name Sharmaji. I also replied in a LOUDER voice ” Mohammed Zahoor Khayyam Hashmi “. He was not to be undone. He almost shouted in LOUDER than me ” aaj se Khayyam Likho “.
The interview ended and I came out wiping my forehead ! ”
(Stories behind Cinema stories, by Abhijit Desai pp 192-193)
-AD
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August 20, 2019 at 7:37 pm
Arun ji,
Thanks for the trivia about how the name changed from Sharma ji to Khayyam.
In a Doordarshan interview conducted by S Y Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner, in 2012, Khayyam saab had revealed that it was Zia Sarhadi who advised him to change his name to Khayyam (He said ‘Khayyam rakh lo’). He also revealed that Chandulal Shah and Dilip Kumar were also present.
But it is quite possible that in the old age, one tends to forget the events which had taken place about six decade back.
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August 20, 2019 at 7:59 pm
At that point Jagjit Kaur must have been 55 and Khayyamsaab nearing his 60s and what a lovely loving rendition by the romantic couple.
Hope for his soul to rest in peace
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