Mumbai: National award winning Bollywood music composer Mohammed Zahir Hashmi, who was known only as Khayyam in his musical journey, passed away late on Monday night in a private hospital here following a brief illness, an aide said. He was 92.
The veteran breathed his last at 9:30 pm at the intensive care unit (ICU) of Sujay Hospital in Juhu where he was in critical condition after being admitted with age-related illness a few days ago, informed Pritam Sharma, spokesperson for Khayyamji’s Trust.
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Tributes started to pour in as soon as news of the musician’s demise came in.
Calling his demise “saddening”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to extend his heartfelt condolences and express grief over the music icon’s death.
“India will remain grateful to Khayyam Sahab for giving us some of the most memorable compositions, which will be remembered forever. He will also be remembered for his humanitarian gestures to support upcoming artists. His demise is extremely saddening,” he tweeted.
“Mahan sangeetkar Aur bahut nek dil insan Khayyam sahab aaj humare bich nahi rahe. Ye sunkar mujhe itna dukh hua hai jo main bayaa’n nahi kar sakti.Khayyam sahab ke saath sangeet ke ek yug ka anth hua hai.Main unko vinamra shraddhanjali arpan karti hun,” Lata Mangeshkar tweeted.
“Khayyam sahab mujhe apni choti behen maante the. Wo mere liye apni khas pasand ke gaane banaate the.Unke saath kaam karte waqt bahut accha lagta tha aur thoda darr bhi lagta tha kyo ki wo bade perfectionist the.Unki shayari ki samajh bahut kamaal thi, ” she added in a subsequent tweet.
Deeply saddened by the demise of Khayyam, music composer Salim Merchant took to his Twitter and wrote, “The Legend Khayyam saab passed away this eve at 9.28 pm. What a huge loss to the Music & Film world. I was by his side all day today with @TalatAziz2 bhai & Bina Aziz. May Allah bless his Soul. Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.”
He is survived by his singer wife Jagjit Kaur.
Khayyam was known for his music in Bollywood classics like “Kabhie Kabhie”, “Trishul”, “Razia Sultan”, “Noorie” and “Umrao Jaan”. He also composed music for Meena Kumari’s album, “I Write, I Recite” featuring her singing her own poetic compositions.
Adorned with the National Award, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and a Padma Bhushan, Khayyam was admitted to the Sujoy Hospital in Juhu last week for a lung infection, said his spokesperson Pritam Sharma.
Having a keen ear for music, he started his musical career from Ludhiana at the age of 17.
He was honoured with the National Award, and a Filmfare Award, besides several other honours for his melodious music in “Umrao Jaan”, starring Rekha, Naseeruddin Shah and Farooque Sheikh.
Khayyam’s non-film songs are equally loved by his fans, especially “Paaon padun tore shyam”, “Brij mein laut chalo” and “Ghazab kiya tere vaade pe aitbaar kiya”.