Khumar Barabankvi – Famous Urdu poet and Bollywood lyricist

Khumar Barabankvi (1919-1999) was an Urdu poet and Bollywood lyricist from Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh. He penned numerous ghazals and film songs sung by Mohammed Rafi, K. L. Saigal, Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Lata Mangeshkar etc. His published books include Hadees-e-Deegaraan, Raqs-e-Mai, Shab-e- Tab and Aatish-e-Tar. His real name is Mohammed Haidar Khan. He has penned lyrics for K. Asif’s movies, composed by Naushad such as ‘Saaz aur Awaaz’ and ‘Love and God’. ‘Saaz Ho Tum Aawaz Hun Mein’, ‘Dil Ki Mehfil’,’Kisne Mujhe Sadaa De’ etc from Saaz aur Awaaz penned by Barabanki are popular songs.

Khumar Barabankvi was born into a family of poets

Khumar Barabankvi was a native of Barabanki, present-day Uttar Pradesh, and he was born into a family of writers. His father Dr. Ghulam Haider, his uncle Qaraar Barabnkvi and his brother Kazim Haider ‘Nigar’ who died young all wrote poems. Among all Khumar was influenced most by his uncle. In fact his uncle supported him in his writings and used to correct his poems. He was brilliant in academics. However he left his graduation studies at Lucknow and became a full-time poet when he got ‘intoxicated’ with romance and poetry. After that he became frequent at Mushairas, where he mesmerized people with his beautiful ghazals as well as beautiful voice. Though he was successful in Bollywood as a lyricist, he was annoyed falling standards of poetry in films, which kept him away from film lyrics.

‘Shahjahan’ released in 1946 gave him first break to Bollywood

In 1945, while he attended a poet gathering at Mumbai, he was spotted by film Director A.R. Kardar and music director Naushad, who offered him to write a few songs for 1946 movie, ‘Shahjahan’. ‘Chaah Barbad Kare’ sung by Sehgal became a chartbuster, and Khumar Barabankvi stayed in Bollywood for a few more years, mostly writing songs for Naushad. Many of those movies were directed by K. Asif. ‘Tum Ho Jaao Hamaare’ from Roop Lekha, ‘Loot Liya Mera Qaraar’ from Hulchal and ‘Hasrat Bhari Nazar Ko Tera Intezar’ from ‘Dil Ki Basti’ are among his popular songs during his initial days in cinema. He continued writing film songs in the 1950s and 1960s, though he preferred attending Mushairas most.

Khumar Barabankvi – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. Lata Mangeshkar’s first recorded song was penned by Khumar.

2. His penname ‘Khumar’ was derived from Arabic word ‘Khum’ which means a jar of wine. ‘Khumar’ also means ‘intoxication’.

3. This celebrated ghazal writer was also known by the titles – Shahenshah e ghazal and Abru e ghazal.

4. He had a good relationship with legendary music composer Naushad, with whom he associated for many K. Asif movies.

5. His father Dr. Ghulam Haider wrote poetry and ghazals under the penname – Bahar.