From his mother's side he was the nephew of Anwar Kamal Pasha, a famed early film director of Pakistan and a grandson of the famous Urdu poet and writer, Hakim Ahmad Shuja.
[2] The influence of British film director Sir David Lean is often visible on Khan's work, especially his epic, panoramic shots of natural scenes.
[2] In an interview on TV, Yawar Hayat also compared some of his work to the writings of the American writer William Faulkner, stating that he also created 'highly cerebral' and 'complex' works, that often reflected the lives of feudal aristocrats in their declining years, at odds with a changing society; as well as a diversity of rural and urban poor engaged in a 'harsh and sometimes grotesque struggle' for existence.
[6] Late Professor Jilani Kamran, a famous Pakistani critic and author, whilst praising Hayat Khan's work as 'enjoying a special status in PTV's seminal years' also stated that his popularity and that of other directors/producers like him, was 'fast declining among the young digital generation'.
While Mustansar Hussain Tarar, another Pakistani writer, feels that "With the departure of Yawar Hayat a creative era of production and direction has come to an end.