Akhlaq Mohammed Khan Shahryar

Akhlaq Mohammed Khan Shahryar Biography

Akhlaq Mohammed Khan Shahryar, popularly known as Akhlaq Mohammed Khan was a doyen of modern Urdu poetry. He is known as an academician also. Though a few his film lyrics are also popular. He has penned lyrics for Gaman (1978), Umrao Jaan (1981) and Anjuman (1986) of which songs of Umrao Jaan like Yeh kya jage hai dostom, In aankhom ki masthi and Dil cheez kya hai became immensely popular. The ghazals, Seene Mein Jalan Ankhon Mein and Ajeeb Saneha Mujhpar of Gaman are also regarded as classic ghazal compositions of Bollywood music. In 2008, he became the fourth Urdu poet to receive Jnanpith Award. He received it for his overall contributions to Indian literature. He is a recipient of Firaaq Samman and Bahadur Shah Zafar Award.

Shahryar was born at Aonla, Bareilly on 16 June 1936 as the son of a police officer, Abu Mohammad Khan. In his childhood days, Shahryar wanted to be an athlete but his father wanted him to join the police force. He ran away from home and later began to teach in Aligarh Muslim University to earn a living. He started his career as a literary assistant at Anjuman Tarraqqi-e-Urdu. Later he took PhD from same university.  In 1986 he became professor and got retired in the year 1996 as the chairman of Urdu department. He co-edited the literary magazine - Sher-o-Hikmat, the magazine that publishes works on poetry and philosophy.

His first published work was Ism-e-azam was published in 1965, a poetry collection. A few of his prominent works include - Ism-e-azam (1965), Satvan dar (1969), Hijr ke mausam, Dhund ki Roshni , Khwab Ke dar band Hain, Neend ki Kirchen and Shahryar, Akhlaq Mohmmad Khan. Khwab Ke dar band hain is regarded as the masterpiece of Akhlaq Mohammed Khan Shahryar. He received Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu for his poetry collection, Khwab Ka Dar Band Hai (1987).

Published: N/A

Updated: September 13, 2013