Akhlaq Mohammad Khan (16 June 1936 – 13 February 2012), better known by his takhallus Shahryar, was an Indian academician, and a doyen of Urdu poetry in India. As a Hindi film lyricist, he is best known for his lyrics in Gaman (1978) and Umrao Jaan (1981) directed by Muzaffar Ali. He retired as the head of the Urdu Department at the Aligarh Muslim University, and thereafter he remained sought after name in mushairas or poetic gatherings, and also co-edited the literary magazine Sher-o-Hikmat. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu for Khwab Ka Dar Band Hai (1987), and in 2008 he won the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award and only the fourth Urdu poet to win the award. He has been widely acknowledged as the finest exponent of modern Urdu poetry. Early life and education Shahryar was born at Aonla, Bareilly to a Muslim Rajput family. His father Abu Mohammad Khan was posted as a Police Officer, though the family hailed from village Chaundhera in Bulandshahr District, Uttar Pradesh. He received his early education at Bulandshahr. In his childhood days, Shahryar wanted to be an athlete but his father wanted him to join the police force. It is then that he ran away from home and was guided by Khaleel-Ur-Rehman Azmi, the eminent Urdu critic and poet. He then studied at Aligarh Muslim University and passed his BA in psychology in 1958. He joined MA in psychology but quit it after a year and got admission to the Urdu department of AMU. In 1961 he passed his MA in Urdu. He also completed his Ph.D. in Aligarh. Career Shahryar started his career as a writer at Hamari Zubaan, the weekly magazine of the Anjuman Tarraqqi-e-Urdu in 1961 and worked there until 1966. After that in 1966 he joined Aligarh Muslim University as a lecturer in Urdu. He was appointed professor in 1986 and in 1996, he retired as chairman of the Urdu Department. He co-edited the literary magazine Sher-o-Hikmat (Poetry and Philosophy). Literary career His first poetry collection Ism-e-azam was published in 1965, the second collection, Satvan dar (Satva yet in English), appeared in 1969, and the third collection titled Hijr Ke Mausam was released in 1978. His most celebrated work, Khwab Ke dar band hain, arrived in 1987, which also won him the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu for that year. In addition, he published