MUMBAI: Lyricist Shahryar, known for having immortalised himself with songs like ‘Dil cheez kya hai aap meri jaan lijiye‘, ‘In aakhon ki masti ke mastaane hazaron hain‘ from Umrao Jaan, passed away on Monday after battling lung cancer. He leaves behind three children, two sons and a daughter.

Shahryar had received India‘s highest literary award, the Jnanpith Award in 2008. The 75-year-old poet was known to have written heart touching lyrics for all of Muzaffar Ali‘s films like Umra Jaan, Gaman and Anjuman.

Talking about the passing away of Shahryar, Farooque Shaikh, said, "This is a big loss to the world of Urdu literature. Shahryar Sahab wrote the lyrics for four of my films, Gaman, Umrao Jaan, Anjuman and Faasle and each of them was a masterpiece. I met him several times during the 1980s and more recently at his son‘s residence in Mira Road when he came over to Mumbai for cancer treatment.‘‘

Born on 16 June 1936 in village Anwalla in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, Shahryar received his early education at Bulandshahr and then studied at Aligarh Muslim University. He was appointed as a lecturer in Urdu at Aligarh Muslim University in 1986 and served until 1996 when he retired as chairman of the Urdu Department of the University.

In 1987 he received the Sahitya Akademy Award in Urdu for his poetry collection ‘Khwab Ka Dar Band Hai’.