He composed music in 27 Pakistani films from 1956-1976. Music director Rehman Verma became famous in no time. The support cast comprised Aliya, Munawar Zarif, Mazhar Shah and Ilyas Kashmiri. One of the other songs with a catchy tune was ‘Assaan Jhok Punal Di Jaana’ sung by Nurjehan.

One of the other songs of this film was ‘Ni Lang Jaana Assaan Dillan Tei Paer Dhar Kei’. Lyrics for this song were penned by Ahmad Rahi. The melody of this song still captivates me. I saw this film in Palace Cinema (now replaced by an ugly Plaza) on Lahore McLeod Road. I woke to the talent of Rehman Verma with the song ‘Jadaun Teri Duniya Taun Payar Tur Jaye Ga’ rendered by Madam Nurjehan and Mehdi Hassan for Iqbal Hassan-Naghma starrer Punjabi film ‘Sassi Punnoo’. This song was composed by Hanuman Prasad with lyrics by Gafi Harnalvi. Khayyam who later excelled as a music composer sounded young in this song with a voice that was as beautiful as the stars shining in the sky. The lyrics were ‘Neh Laga Mukh More Gaya/Duniya Ko Tarapte Chore Gaya’. One such song was from the film ‘Rasili’ (1946), sung with Geeta Dutt (Roy). After Khayyam came to Bombay, he sang a few songs in the initial part of his career. Film ‘Heer Ranjha’ was their first movie as duo music composers in India. Both stated in their interviews at various times that they were pupils of famous music composer Baba G. Ideally the latter should have been named Zahoor Sharma but the famous producer/director Zia Sarhadi named him Khayyam when their film ‘Footpath’s’ music became a hit (Talat Mahmud’s song Sham-e-Ghum Ki Qasam). Whereas Rehman Verma became a successful music composer in the Pakistani film Industry, the latter became a highly successful music composer in the Indian film Industry, named Khayyam. Verma Ji opted to stay in Pakistan and Sharma Ji in India.

The word ‘Ji’ stood for Saheb (Mister) out of respect in Urdu/Hindi languages. Before Pakistan came into being, a Jori (duo) became popular as music composers on the silver screen, namely Verma Ji & Sharma Ji.

Pakistani urdu music