Winner of several awards including those conferred by the Sahitya Akademi, Shahryar, unlike several other poets from from Central and western UP, refused to make Mumbai his karmabhoomi and preferred being part of what came to be called the Aligarh movement of Urdu poetry. He lived on Aligarh Muslim University campus retiring as the dean of the Urdu faculty in 1996.
The refusal of Shahryar to move out of Aligarh was a major loss both for the poetry and the fans, who lost out on some classic ghazals and nazms. Without doubting quality of his non-film works, it would always remain a fact that Shahryar sahib received popular approbation only for his Bollywood lyrics.
In public perception, Shahryar would always remain second to his contemporary writers and seniors like Kaifi Azmi, Sahir Ludhianvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Shakil Budayuni, Jan Nisar Akhtar and Gulzar. The chartbusting popularity of the songs of Umrao Jaan makes a case study of the lost opportunity for both the poet and connoisseurs of poetry.
A major contribution in making Shahryar’s film shayari popular among the masses was the effort made in putting the beautiful lyrics to hummable music by inimitable Jaidev and Khaiyyam. While Jaidev won a national award for Gaman, for Umrao Jaan Khaiyyam got the Fimfare award. More importantly, Asha Bhonsle for her rendition of the ghazals of Umrao Jaan was honoured with the national award.
By opting out of Bollywood to remain part of the Aligarh movement, Shahryar did not realise that he was opting out of a larger movement unfolding in the realm of Indian poetry. The Aligarh movement may have made a seminal contribution to the growth of Urdu poetry, but its appeal would always remain to a limited readership unlike the Bollywood lyrics which has provided permanence to monumental works.
From mid-1970s, the art of ghazal started to get revived in Bollywood and pioneer of this movement were Yashraj Chopra, Khaiyyam and Sahir Ludhianvi. The music given by Khaiyyam to Sahir’s words in Yash Chopra’s home production Kabhi Kabhie was to prove a milestone. Khaiyyam won Filmfare Award for Best Music, while Sahir Ludhianvi won the Best Lyricist Award for the song “Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein”, which also got Mukesh award in the Best Male Singer category. Yash Chopra had earlier directed Amitabh Bachchan in Deewar; and Kabhi Kahie helped the former to reinvent himself as very effective teller of love stories, in several of which Amitabh Bachchan would play the romantic lead.
Khaiyyam during this period was to create several gems, but before that a small ode of Jaidev, the most melodious but unfortunately lesser known of the maestros despite three National Awards to his credit. Jaidev contributed to the revival of Urdu poetry by giving music to Gaman, which had lyrics by Shahryar, and Gharonda, which had songs penned by Gulzar. The former would always be remembered for “Seene mein Jalan, ankhon mein toofan kyon hain”, while Gharonda made Bangladeshi Runa Laila a household name in India for singing “Do Deewane shahr mein” with Bhupinder Singh.
Kabhi Kabhie was not the only marvel which Khaiyyam was to produce with Sahir Ludhianvi for Yashraj Chopra. They together gave him another hit in Trishul with “Mohabbat bare kaam ki cheez hai”. After Sahir’s demise, he teamed up with Nagsh Lyallpuri and Jan Nisar Akhtar for Noorie and created “Aaja re o mere dilbar Aaja”.
In Sagar Sarhadi’s Bazaar he worked with several poets and created unforgettables like “Karoge Yaad To Har Baar”, “Dikaye Diye Yu”, and “Dekh Lo Aaj Humko Jee Bharke”. Around the same time, he worked wonders for Kamal Amrohi’s Razia Sultan with Lata Mangeshkar singing “Aye-dil-e-Nadaan”. In Sibte Hasan Rizvi’s Ahista Ahista, Khaiyyam had the audience lapping up “Kabhi kisi ko muqammal jahan nahin milta” and “nazar se phool chunati hai nazar” and in Thodi si Bewafai, for “Hazaar Rahein Mudh Ke Dekhin”, which remains one of the favourites of its writer Gulzar.
But Khaiyyam was to save his best for Shahryar in Muzzafar Ali’s Umrao Jaan. “Dil Cheez Kya Hai”, “In Aankhon Ki Masti”, “Jab Bhi Milti Hai”, “Justuju Jiski Thi”, “Yeh Kya Jagay Hai Doston” and “Zindagi Jab Bhi” were all to get the highest acclaim from critics and in the popular perception. It gave Asha Bhonsle the stature almost equal to her elder sibling and longtime rival Lata Mangeshkar.
Around the same time also rose Jagjit Singh with his mellifluous voice and music creating a magic with his own style of ghazal singing. Shahryar would have contributed to the revival of the art of ghazal singing much more if he had loved Bollywood, the same way as it loved him. Nonetheless, the film and music lovers would remain indebted to Aligarh for having given them a shayar of the quality of Shahryar.
