Punjab connect

Deepkamal Kaur

As legendary music composer Mohammad Zahur Khayyam passed away last evening, the residents of Rahon town in Nawanshahr recalled his fond memories. Born in 1927, Khayyam completed his primary education from the government school here. He was reportedly 14 when he left the place, moved to Jalandhar and then to Mumbai. The school where he studied has proudly put up his name in the list of Chamakte Sitare on a display board (in Punjabi) at its entrance.

Sharing his birth place with film directors Baldev Raj Chopra and Yash Raj Chopra, Khayyam remained closely connected with the family. Kabhi Kabhie was one film which was directed by Yash Chopra in 1976 and had music by Khayyam, as well as lyrics by his contemporary Sahir Ludhianvi.

Memory bank

A veteran journalist, Lal Chand Bhagra, who hails from Rahon, shares, “He told me that Rahon was his main training ground, where his guru Master Buta Ram taught him music. He told me that the tinkling bells around the necks of the buffaloes raised by the master’s wife still rang in his ears and always inspired him to improve. He told me that during terrorism days, he had come to Punjab for a few days and wanted to visit Rahon, but could not as the administration refused to allow him.” 

Amit Kanwar, a budding singer from Rahon, who was a participant in music show Rising Star, says he met Khayyam in Mumbai before performing a qawwali. “He was enthralled to see someone from his birth place. He encouraged me a lot and gave me some useful tips,” he recalls. Jalandhar-based hotelier Gautam Kapoor adds, “Since my father Madan Kapoor was the only distributor of East Punjab Motion Pictures, which covered entire Punjab, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, several actors, music maestros and film directors used to come to him during the premiere of their movies. They all used to stay at our place as there were no hotels at that time. Even I met Khayyam saab about 40 years back, during a function held in Jalandhar in the memory of singer and actor KL Saigal. 

Love tale

Vijay Vashishth, who retired as a senior broadcaster from All India Radio vividly recalls his meetings with Khayyam saab since their association goes back to Vividh Bharti Mumbai and Akashvani Jalandhar. “Even though I never had a chance of interviewing him officially, we often met because he’d come to the Mumbai studio in context of either the daily talk show they hosted or other music-related works.” 

Great human 

Rinnkie Gill, a close relative of Jagjit Kaur, has been looking after them ever since their son Pradeep passed away in 2012 and knew Khayyam saab too well to answer anything comfortably at this time of grief. But she’ll stick to lesser-known details about the human being behind the composer. “He was humble and down-to earth person; I’d say he was a better human being than even the composer. His house was always open, there were no restrictions; like this is the lunch time so you can’t come and stuff like that. He loved homemade food and not many knew, he always wanted roti with ghee.”