Renowned Urdu Poet & Noted Lyricist of Umrao Jaan, Akhlaq Mohammad Khan passed away

Renowned Urdu poet  and noted lyricist of Umrao Jaan, Akhlaq Mohammad Khan passed away in Aligarh on 13 February 2012 fter battling lung cancer. Khan who wrote under the pen name Shahryar had received the Jnanpith Award for 2008 in September 2011. He is best known for songs like Dil cheez kya hai aap meri jaan lijiye, In aakhon ki masti ke mastaane hazaron hain from Umrao Jaan. He will be best remembered for his lyrics in super hit films like Gaman and Fasle (1978), Umrao Jaan (1981) and Anjuman (1986).

Akhlaq Mohammad Khan (Shahryar)

Shahryar was born June 16, 1936, in a village named Anwalla in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. He received his early education at Bulandshahr and then studied at Aligarh Muslim University. Shahryar started his career as a literary assistant at Anjuman Tarraqqi-e-Urdu. He then went on to join Aligarh Muslim University, as a lecturer in Urdu and rose to become the chairman of the Urdu Department.

His first poetic collection was published in 1965 under the title Ism-e-Azam followed Satwan Dar which was published in 1969.

His fourth collection called Khwab Ka Dar Band Hai published in 1985 is his most noted work. He also wrote other notable books like Mere Hisse Ki Zameen, Neend Ki Kirchein, Hasil-e-Sair-e-Jahan etc.

Shahryar had received the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary award, in the year 2008. The 75-year-old poet was equally respected in his role as writer and academician, and wrote the lyrics for all of Muzaffar Ali's films. From Yeh kya jagah hai doston in Umrao Jaan to Seene mein jalan and Ajeeb saneha mujh par guzar gaya in Gaman, as well as Gulab jism ka which Shabana Azmi sang for Anjuman, all hold instant recall value to this day.

He edited the literary magazine Sher-o-Hikmat. In 1987 he received the Sahitya Akademy Award in Urdu for his poetry collection, Khwab Ka Dar Band Hai. He was also honored with various other awards including Bahadur Shah Zafar Award, Iqbal Samman, Gangadhar Puraskar and UP Urdu Academy Award.