Wahida Rehman, Shashi Kapoor received Padmabhushan.

Wahida Rehman, Shashi Kapoor received Padmabhushan.

The Indian civilian awards were given on Republic day, the 26th January, 2011. This year India did not give Bharatratna, the greatest civilian award to anyone. Sachin Tendulkar’s name emerged but due to age and other factors, he did not receive it.

Many bollywood personalities did receive the prestigious awards. Veteran actress Wahida Rehman, Shashi Kapoor and composer Khayyam received Padmabhushan. Composer Khayyam deserved it long time back, with his brilliant creations in the films Phir Subah Hogi, Akhri Khat, Kabhi Kabhi, Shagun, Umrao Jaan, etc. He deserved the national award for the best music a number of times. But it is sad that other talented composers like Shankar Jaikishan, Roshanlal Nagrath, Madanmohan did not receive the award. Wahida Rehman played epic roles in Guru Dutt’s films Pyaasa, Kagaz Ka Phool, etc., Raj Kapoor’s Teesri Kasam, Vijay Anand’s Guide, etc. She had rightly received the award during her lifetime. It is good that Shashi Kapoor had received during his lifetime also, as he is very sick at the moment. Singer S. P. Balasubhramanium received this award for his excellence in music. He received national award as best singer 6 times in his career.

Many bollywood personalities received Padmashree award, including actress Tabu, Kajol and Irfaan Khan. Irfaan Khan had kept his mark in the field of parallel films for a long time, and lastly got his dues for epic performances in films like Billu Barber, Knock Out, Corporate, etc. Tabu had remained a powerful actress with landmark performances in films lime Maachis, Tarqueeb, Astitva, etc.

Actor A. Nageshwara Rao of Telegu Film Industry received Padmabishushan. He had remained unparallel in his performances in films like Dharampatni. He had been in the industry for more than 69 years.

Singer Usha Uthup who had sung in many languages pop songs, classical singer Pandit Ajoy Chakravarty and veteran Rabindrasangeet singer Dwijen Mukherjee received the Padma awards. All of them deserved it and should have received quite earlier. It is very sad that just because singer Mohammad Rafi passed away in his 50s he neither received Padmabhushan, or Padmabibhushan.

Many other scholars, talented Indians, sports personalities received the Padma awards, including Indian cricketer VVS. Laxman.

Rafi's immortal relationship with Khayyam.

Rafi’s immortal relationship with Khayyam.

Mohammad Zahur Khayyam Hashmi, better known as Khayyam, was generally an off-beat composer whose level of excellence could be very well compared with Naushad or Shankar Jaikishan or Roshan, inspite of composing music in less number of films.

Born in 1927, Khayyam, learnt music from Baba Chisti, a renowned composer of Pakistan. He learnt music from also Hunslal Bhagatram and Pandit Amar Nath. He assisted composer G.A. Chisti in Lahore for some time. He returned back to Ludhiana in 1943. He went to Bombay to be an actor. He got a role in the Yeh Hai Zindagi in 1947. After assisting a number of composers, who composed music independently for the first time in Zia Sarhadi’s film Footpath in 1953. His song “sham-e-gham ki kasam” sung by Talat Mehmood in Dilip Kumar’s successful film created a separate identity for Khayyam. His songs in Raj Kapoor’s film Phir Subah Hogi, became equally famous. Mukesh’s songs “wo subah kabhi to ayegi”, “chin-o-arab hamara”, “phir na kije gustaq nigah ka gila”, were very soft romantic numbers , while Rafi’s song “jo bore kare yaar ko” had comedy andaz picturised on Rehman. Rafi sang in Khayyam’s early contribution in the film Tattar Ka Chor in 1955 titled “dekho zara ulfat ka asar”. In the less known film Barood in 1960, Rafi sang a solo “chala chal chala chal ghar hai andhera”.

Rafi’s best songs composed by Khayyam were in the film Shola Aur Shabnam. All the songs were written by Kaifi Azmi, with great philosophy embedded in them. Rafi’s voice was probably at its best in the songs “jane kya dhoonti rehti hai yeh ankhe mujhme”, “jeet hi lenge baazi hum tum”, “pehle to aankh milna” in the film. Dharmender was blessed with the soft romantic songs in the early part of his career which took to a huge distance in his goal of being a successful romantic actor. Khayyam provided his hilly tunes in the film Shagun in 1964, where Rafi’s number “parbaton ke paron par sham ka basera hai” still haunts listeners. Rafi’s other songs in the same film composed by Khayyam titled “tum chali jayogi, parchaiyan reh jayegi” and “yeh raat bahut rangeen sahi” can make any listener intoxicated. The brilliant lyrics were written by Sahir Ludhianvi who probably had written some of his best shayeris for Khayyam. Due to the fact the main actor in that film being Kanwaljeet, having limited box-office presence, the songs did not get the publicity that they deserved.

The magic combination of Rafi with Khayyam continued in the film Muhabbat Is Ko Kehte Hai. Rafi’s songs for Shashi Kapoor namely “meri nigahen” and the duet song with Suman Kalyanpur namely “thehriye hosh me aaloon to chale jaiyega” had ghazal andaz and ended up being big hits.

In Rajesh Khanna’s Akhri Khat in 1966, Khayyam’s composition for Rafi titled “aur thori der theher” mesmerize the audience equally like Lata’s solo song “baharon mera jeevan bhi sawaron”. Khayyam’s songs always had very orthodox urdu poetry attached with them, so the classic words balanced the meaningful orchestration accompanied by the sweet voice of Rafi. Rafi sang a duet song “nain milake pyar jatake” along with Jagjit Kaur in the film Mera Bhai Mera Dushman in 1967.

For the next four five years, Khayyam did not compose music prominently. In the mid-70s, Khayyam got recognition for his touchy numbers in the film Kabhi Kabhi in 1975, and landmark mujras in Umrao Jaan in 1981, for which he received filmfare awards for best composer. Mukesh’s songs “kabhi kabhi mere dil me”, “mai pal do pal ka shayar hoon” and Asha Bhosle’s songs “in ankhon ki masti”, “ dil cheez kya hai” had become musical classics over a period of time. Even Bhupinder Singh’s song “karoge yaad to” can be considered to a legendary ghazal of Khayyam.

The combination of Rafi and Khayyam in film music faded away from mid-70s. But at the same time Khayyam composed landmark bhajans for Rafi which again had great musical value. It is a pity that composers like Khayyam had composed songs in less number of films, otherwise Rafi and Khayyam combination could have featured more. The films, the songs and the non-film albums should be preserved.

Happy birthday to Asha Bhosle.

Happy birthday to Asha Bhosle.

The viewers of bollywood films and listeners of music all across the country wish happy birthday to Asha Bhosle on 8th September, 2009. She had remained a legend of legends in the field of music. She came to limelight in the 70s and 80s and ended up being the most successful female playback singer after Lata Mangeshkar.

In the 50s, Asha Bhosle had to face the competition from other singers dominating the bollywood playback industry like Lata, Shamshad Begum, Noorjahan, Suraiya, Geeta Dutt, Suman Kalyanpur, Sudha Malhotra and many other singers. Asha’s successful songs in the 50s include “mur murke na dekh” composed by Shankar Jaikishan in the film Shree 420, “aiye meherban” composed by OP Nayyar in the film Howrah Bridge, “accha ji mai hari” composed by SD Burman in the film Kala Pani, to name a few.

In the 60s, OP Nayyar backed Asha Bhosle, and her duets with Rafi in films like Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Ek Musafir Ek Haseena, Mere Sanam, Kashmir Ki Kali, are considered milestones in Indian film music. Her famous duets with Rafi include “naznee bara rangeen hai wada”, “mai pyar ka rahi hoon”, “isharon isharon”, “diwana hua badal”, etc. Few other composers only reposed their confidence on Asha like Khayyam who made her sing memorable songs in Raj Kapoor’s film Phir Subah Hogi, Ravi, who had given songs to Asha Bhosle in films like Waqt, Humraaz, Gumraah, etc.

In the 70s Asha Bhosle married RD Burman and it changed the career of the premier singer. Her westernized style of singing was used by RD to give her super hit songs like “piya tu ab tu aja” in the film Karwan, “dum maro dum” in the film Hare Rama Hare Krishna, etc. She sang in almost all the films where RD Burman composed music.

In the 80s, Asha Bhosle crossed new milestones by showing her skills in singing mujras in the film Umrao Jaan, composed by Khayyam. All the songs in the film including “dil cheez kya hai”, “justju”, etc., were appreciated by the critics. She received filmfare awards a number of times and she balanced the innovative style of singing of Kishore Kumar with her own innovation. It is not possible to cover the accomplishments of legendary singer Asha Bhosle in a single article as she had sung more than 25000 songs in hindi and other languages. Even her songs in Uttam Kumar’s film Choddobeshi composed by Sudhin Dasgupta was worth mentioning.The listeners expect Asha Bhosle to continue the great work she had started more than 50 years ago.

Jaidev, Khayyam and Rafi

Khayyam and Jaidev’s relationship with Mohammad Rafi.

When we visualise the golden era of music in Indian cinema we primarily think about the giant music directors like Shankar Jaikishan, Naushad, etc., or lyricists like Shakeel Badayani, Shailendra, Majrooh Sultanpuri or singers like Rafi, Lata who made major contribution to the music of that age. Among the legendary giants there were other composers who composed music for less number of films but created their identity and everlasting appeal even with the less number of compositions. Jaidev and Khayyam are two composers who received numerous awards for their classic performance and still remain few of the offbeat composers without whom the firmament of music would be colourless.

Jaidev who came to Bombay initially from Ludhiyana to become an actor learnt music from K. Jaokar and Janardan Jaokar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and after ashort span of stay in his home town Ludhiyana, returned to Bombay with his immense command of folk and classical music. As he initially worked with Navketan Banner, he got a scope of working with SD Burman also. His debue with Chetan Anand’s film Joru Ka Bhai, 1955, gave him opportunity to compose independant music but he got recognition with the film Humdono in 1961.


Humdono was also the starting point of Jaidev’s relationship with the man with the golden voice, Mohammad Rafi. The unique style of Jaidev included his tunes which appeared not to end with the antara or the sanchari and uniting them with the mukhra unlike other composers. Rafi’s voice had the effect of sedative which doctor’s prescribe for patients who cant sleep in the song “Abhi na jao chor kar, ki dil abhi bhara nahi” in Hum Dono. The way Rafi pronounced adhuri yaas, hardly any playback singer can think even today. The emotions of the character were kept intact and the musical value of the song was enhanced by Rafi in a tremendous way in Humdono. The ghazal in the film “kabhi khud pe kabhi halat pe rona aya” can be categorised as one of the ten best ghazals Rafi did sing in his life. At the same time the other song “main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya” which showed the carefree attitude of Dev Anand, who got admitted in military in the film, had the effect of santoor and the prelude and interlude followed the main song of Rafi that music lovers even memorised them as a song itself. Lata Mangeshkar’s performance in the song “Allah tero naam” in raag gara was probably one of her best performances ever. Jaidev’s return path of the sanchari was again evident in the classical bhajan which is still sung sometimes as prayer song at other times in temples and places of worship. The other film he composed music for include Mujhe Jeene Do, 1963, where Lata’s song “Nadi nare na jao sham” became hit. As it was female oriented film with Wahida Rehman providing the lead performance there were hardly sequences for male songs.

In the other film Kinare Kinare, in 1963, Jaidev asked Rafi to sing duet song with Usha Mangeshkar titled “maya anchal jale kaya ka abhiman”. His other notable songs for Rafi include “aaj ki raat hai bus jalwa dikhane ke liye” and “roop ki dhoop to dhalke rahegi” from the film Jiyo Aur Jeene Do, in 1969. Both were successful with Jaidev’s folk effect in the respective songs.


In the 1970s, Jaidev shifted towards Ghazal singer Bhupinder Singh for most of his songs, with “Do Diwane Shahar Me” and “Ek Akela is shahar me” from the film Gharonda, 1977, directed by Gulzar with Amol Palekar in the lead role.[1] Runa Laila’s song “tumke hona ho mukhko to itna yakeen hai” looked like it was never going to end with the brilliant lyrics of gulzar. The violin was played so brilliantly in the song “Ek akela is shahar me” depicting urbanised folk songs, that it identified the pathos of Jaidev who was a loner in life. The other successful film of Jaidev included Dooriyan, 1979, acted by Uttamkumar and Sharmila Tagore. There Bhupinder Sing’s song “Zindagi zindagi o mere ghar ana ana zindagi” and “zindagi me jab tumhare gham nahi the” showed Jaidev’s unconventional movement in the rise and fall of the antara and sanchari. Jaidev along with Madanmohan had composed music for Rishi Kapoor’s film Laila Majnu, 1977, where Rafi’s songs “barbad muhobbat ki dua saath liye ja”, “is reshmi pazeeb ki jhankar ke sadpe”, “likhkar tera naam zameen par” were superhits and marked Rafi’s tremendous combination with Rishi Kapoor.

Jaidev received national award for the brilliant composition of music in the films Reshma Aur Shera, Gaman and Ankahi, most of which included Rajasthani folk music. Jaidev never got the recognition which he deserved. It is a pity that Jaidev got a scope of composing music for female oriented films where he made the best use of Lata Mangeshkar, because Rafi could have made enormous contribution to Jaidev’s remote style of music composition. Even then the combination of Rafi and Jaidev carry enormous musical value for music lovers across the country.

Khayyam better known as Mohammad Zahur Khaiyyam is the other music composer, who had such an immortal appeal in his compositions, yet had not received the recognition he deserved. He was born in Jullundher, Punjab in 1927, and learnt music from Pandit Amarnath and Hunslal Bhagatram. Khayyam initially used Tala Mehmood in the song “Sham-e-gham ki kasam” in Dilip Kumar’s Footpath, 1954, where he made his debue and Mukesh in the songs “Woh subah kabhi to ayegi” and “phir na kije meri gustaq nigaho ka gila” in Raj kapoor’s Phir Subah Hogi, 1958. Although Rafi had one song “jo bor kare yar ko us yaar se touba” in Phir Subah Hogi, 1958 where it was a duet with Mukesh singing for Raj Kapoor and Rafi singing for Rehman.

But Khayyam acknowledged the golden voice of Rafi in the film Shola Aur Shabnam, 1961, where most of the lyrics were written by Kaifi Azmi and Rafi’s songs “dhunti rehti yeh ankhe mujhme”, “jeet hi lenge bazzi hum tum”, “pehle to aankh milna”, “phool ko dhoonde pyaasa bhawra” had a soft, passionate flavour of the soil of mountains. The songs were picturised on Dharmender. In the film Shagun, 1964, the song “parbaton ke paron par sham ka basera hai” sung by Rafi carried the intoxicating appeal of Khayyam. The next film Mohabbat is ko kahte hai, 1965, picturised on Shashi Kapoor had a fantastic duet song of Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur titled “thehriye hosh me alun to chale jaiyega” which was a form of a poetry where each of the poets answered one another. In Akhri Khat, in 1966, Rafi’s song “aur thori der theher” had the same folk effect of Khayyam. Lata Mangeshkar was brilliant with her performance of “baharo mera jeevan bhi sawaaro” and “mere chanda mere nanhe” in the same film.

In the 1970s, Khaiyyam composed music in lesser films but again came up with creative music and received the filmfare award for composing music for the film Kabhi Kabhi, 1975, where the title song written by Sahir Ludhianvi and sung by Mukesh and Lata were well acclaimed by music lovers of India. His composition in Umrao Jaan, 1981, brought him the second filmfare award and amazed the musical pandits with classical mujra, which became extinct from bollywood music at that time. His songs in the film Bazaar, 1982, picturised on Nasiruddin Shah, titled “karoge yaad to” had ghazal andaz and Bhupinder Singh was sublime with his performance.

As Khayyam, like Jaidev, composed music in mostly offbeat films their presence was felt whenever the directors came up with thoughtful stories, powerful direction and rich lyrics. Although they have provided less number of songs for Rafi but the creations of the combination should be restored for the epic value of the folk and classical effects in the songs.


[1] Bhupinder Singh in his TV interview in DD1 Channel said he was an absolute admirer of Rafi. He said he got a scope of acting in Chetan Anand’s Haqeeqat, 1964 where the songs were composed by MadanMohan. There was a song “hoke majboor usne bulaya hoga” which had to be sung by Bhupinder, Tala Mehmood, Manna Dey and Rafi. He wanted to share the microphone with Rafi. As Rafi was shorter in height than Bhupinder a tool was provided during the recording to match both Rafi and Bhupinder.The song was very successful and was a landmark in Bhupinder Singh’s life.


Related Reading

• Immortal Ghazals sung by Mohammad Rafi.
• Awards received by Mohammad Rafi in his illustrious career.
• Mohammad Rafi- the greatest voice of the last century.
• Rahul Dev Burman’s immense respect for Mohammad Rafi.
• Laxmikant Pyarellal’s immortal relationship with Mohamand Rafi.
• OP Nayyar’s immortal relationship with Mohammad Rafi.
• Salil Chowdhury’s relationship with Mohammad Rafi.
• Ravi’s memorable combination with Rafi.
• Roshan's everlasting bond with Mohammad Rafi.
• SD Burman and Mohammad Rafi.
• Rafi’s pleasant memories with Madanmohan.
• Khayyam and Jaidev’s relationship with Mohammad Rafi.
• Kalyanji Anandji’s association with Mohammad Rafi.
• Naushad’s association with Rafi.