The last rites of music composer Khayyam were performed on 20th August at the Andheri Muslim Qabrastan at Four Bungalows, Andheri in Bombay. The maestro had passed away on 19th at the age of 93 in Sujay Hospital following cardiac arrest. He had been hospitalised last month and his condition never improved while he was in hospital. The Padma Bhushan recipient was accorded a state funeral with a gun salute by an accompanying police guard.
Khayyam was assigned grave number 69, four blocks away from Farooque Shaikh, for whose starrers Noorie, Bazaar, Umrao Jaan, Lorie and Anjuman he had composed the songs.
Khayyam’s wife, singer Jagjit Kaur, had herself returned from hospital some days back. She had been admitted to the same hospital soon after the music director was hospitalised. At the funeral, her face was covered with a surgical mask due to her ill-health and she looked weak as she whispered the words, “Khuda hafiz, khuda hafiz, Khayyam Sahab,” into the dead body’s ears. Music directors, lyricists and singers arrived at Khayyam’s house and at the Qabrastan to pay their last respects. Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Shailendra Singh, Uttam Singh, Sonu Nigam, Mandheer, Jatin, Shabbir Kumar, Udit Narayan, Nitin Mukesh and others were seen at the funeral. Among the stars, Poonam Dhillon was, perhaps, the only one to attend the funeral. She recalled how Khayyam would always call her Noorie (he had scored music for Noorie) and wondered aloud whether he even knew her real name.