Khayyam (music director)

Mohammed Zahur Khayyam
Khayyam at his 85th birthday bash in 2012
Born	18 February 1927 (Age 90) Rahon, Nawanshahr District, Punjab, British India (now in Punjab, India)
Occupation	Composer, film score composer
Spouse(s)	Jagjit Kaur

Mohammed Zahur "Khayyam" Hashmi, better known as Khayyam, is an Indian music composer whose career spanned four decades (1953–1990).

He has won three Filmfare Awards for Best Music in 1977 for Kabhi Kabhie and 1982 for Umrao Jaan, and a lifetime achievement award in 2010 . He was awarded the 2007 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Creative Music, by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Theatre. He has been awarded the third-highest civilian honour, Padma Bhushan by the Government of India for 2011.

Khayyam was born as Sa'aadat Hussain in undivided Punjab in Rahon, a town in Nawanshahr District which was then the Nawanshahr tehsil of Jalandhar District. As a boy Khayyam ran away to Delhi to learn music but was forced to return to complete his education. Khayyam then went to Lahore to learn music from the famous Baba Chishti.

He was never interested in studies and was always fascinated by the music of Indian cinema. He was inclined to music since a very young age. He often escaped to the city to watch movies. Khayyam soon ran away to his uncle's house in Delhi, in the hope of becoming an actor. Khayyam's uncle enrolled him in a school, but when he saw his passion for films, he allowed him to learn music, which was actually a step forward in realizing his ambitions. He got his training in music under Pandit Amar Nath.

He went to Lahore looking for roles in films. There he also learnt music from famous Baba Chishti who was a famous Panjabi music director. One day Khayyam went to meet Baba Chishti, and after listening to a composition by Chishti sung to him its first part. Impressed, Chishti gave him an offer of joining him as an assistant. Khayyam assisted Chishti for six months and came to Ludhiana in 1943. He was only 17 then.