Sohail Rana

Sohail Rana (born 31 March 1938) is a Pakistani music composer for films and television. He was introduced by actor Waheed Murad in Pakistan film industry and gained popularity when singer Ahmed Rushdi sang his compositions in such films as Armaan and Doraha.#ThrowbackThursday: Music virtuoso Sohail Rana, Ahmed Rushdi
The Express Tribune (newspaper), Published 24 September 2014, Retrieved 27 December 2021 He is now based in Canada.Shades of glory: Sohail Rana
Dawn (newspaper), Published 19 April 2009, Retrieved 28 December 2021

Early life and education

Sohail Rana was born in Agra, British India, in the home of Urdu poets ''Mr.& Mrs.Rana Akbarabadi''. The family moved to Pakistan soon after the independence of Pakistan in 1947. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Karachi through D.J. Science College initially. Later he received his final B.A. degree from National College, Karachi.

Sohail Rana learned music from various ustads and familiarised himself with the Eastern classical music and the Western music, which added to his experience. Sohail Rana was also musically inspired by veteran Indian film music director Naushad Ali. For 25 years, they wrote letters to each other. Naushad Ali also used to advise him on film music in those letters. Pakistani music director Feroze Nizami's film music also inspired him.

Career

Films

The film ''Jab Se Dekha Hai Tumhain'' was Waheed Murad's second film as a producer and the musical debut of Sohail Rana.

Some other popular songs of his are '' Ko Ko Korina'', ''Bay taab ho udhar tum'', ''Jab pyar mein do dil miltay hain'', ''Oont pay baitha mera munna'', which were recorded by Ahmed Rushdi.

Sohail Rana composed the hit songs for the golden jubilee film, '' Heera Aur Pathar'', released on 11 December 1964. The film completed 68 houseful weeks. The film became a musical hit, and Sohail Rana became a well-known name in the Pakistani film industry. The composition of ''Mujhay tum say mohabbat hai'' (singers: Ahmed Rushdi and ''Najma Niazi'', and ''Ja ja ray chanda ja ray'' (singer: Mala earned him some fame for the above film.

Pakistan’s first platinum jubilee film was '' Armaan'' (1966). It is an epic tale of broken hearts and broken dreams. The evergreen song ''Akele na jaana'' (singer: Mala), with sixty five musicians back then, the biggest orchestra ever gathered until then in Pakistani cinema. Further, Sohail Rana won the prestigious Nigar Award and Graduate awards for the best composer for the film Armaan (1966 film).

By the mid-1960s, Sohail Rana had become a successful film composer. He contributed compositions for the film ''Ehsaan'', released on 30 June 1967. The film attained Silver Jubilee with such favourite songs as ''Ik naye maur pay'', ''Aye meri zindigi aye meray hum safar'', ''Do akhian, ye do sakhian''. The songs of the film '' Doraha'' were composed by him, and he was also the producer of the film. The famous tracks are ''Mujhay tum nazar say gira to rahay ho'', ''Bhooli huwee hoon dastaan'', ''Tumhain kaisay bata doon tum meri manzil ho''.

Over the years, he composed for the nazms, ''Qasm us waqt ki'', ''Jab zindigi karwat badalti hai'' (Film: ''Qasam us waqt ki'', (singer: ''Mujeeb Alam'') also became a popular film song. Sohail Rana produced lilting music for Nigar Pictures ''Meray hum safar'', released in 1972, three of its popular numbers are ''Wada karo milo gey'' (Singer: Ahmed Rushdi, ''Hai bay qarar tamanna'' (singer: Mujeeb Alam) and ''Tujh jaisa dagha baaz'' (singer: Runa Laila). Similarly, ''Tujhay apnay dil say mein kaisay bhula doon'' (singer Ahmed Rushdi) is one of the greatest hits from the film ''Shehnai''.Sohail Rana Filmography on IMDb website
Retrieved 17 June 2019

From 1974 to 1976, Sohail Rana was appointed as the general manager National Orchestra, for Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV), based at Karachi center. His musical masterpieces are ''Sohni Dharti'' (singers: Shehnaz Begum, Mehdi Hassan, lyricist: Masroor Anwar) have become part and parcel of Pakistani culture. Likewise, ''Jeeway Pakistan'', ''Zameen ki goud'', and ''Mein Bhi Pakistan Hoon'' achieved tremendous success. Furthermore, he composed music for 2 MGD's (Mass gymnastic displays) held in 1975 and 1976 in Islamabad. Also in Islamabad in 1989 he composed music for SAF games (South Asian Federation) games with 100 singers, 150 piece brass band and 35 piece orchestra.

The film ''Badal Aur Bijli'' was also a huge success, essentially due to his ''Bansi bajanay walay'' (singer: Noor Jehan), ''Dheeray dheeray zara paoon utha'' (singers: Masood Rana and Mala), ''Aaj janay ki zid na karo'' (singer: Habib Wali Mohammad and little later a private recording by Farida Khanum). The Farida Khanum version has been used in an Indian film Monsoon Wedding (though without Sohail Rana's permission). Besides RPG recording company also released an album (Asha) in which two of his compositions "Aaj jaane ki zid na karo" and "Mujhey tum nazar se gira tau rahe ho" were also released.

Apart from that, Sohail Rana also composed music for the films, ''Phir chand niklay ga'' (1970) and ''Usay deikha Usay chaaha'' (1974). He also served as Resident composer in PIA Arts Academy sponsored by Pakistan International Airlines from 1972 to 1974, where he conducted Ballet Heer Ranjha, composed and re-arranged music for folk dances and under the directorship of Zia Mohyeddin and with a team of eighty-eight dancers, musicians, singers, he toured the whole world performing in prestigious auditoriums and earned the appreciation of international audience.

Sohail Rana also gave music for the films ''Saughat, Dil Dekay Dekho, Dil Diwana, Shehnai'' and ''Baazi''. In total he has composed music for about twenty-four movies. The film ''Hesaab'' which was released in 1986 happened to be the last movie for which Sohail Rana composed music. Three of those movies, ''Guriya'', ''Pagal'' and ''Hulchul'', could not be released. However, popular numbers from the film ''Guriya'' and ''Hulchul'' are available on cassettes and vinyl EPs.

Television

Additionally, he devoted his time to compose over 2000 songs for children. His program for children were telecast from PTV for 19 years from 1968 to 1987, from ''Kaliyoan Ki Mala'', to ''Sang Sang Chaltay Rehna''.

Given below are the names of some of Sohail Rana's well-known students who attained fame for themselves in Pakistani media. Muhammad Ali Shahki, Amjad Hussain, Alamgir, Mona sisters, Benjamin Sisters, Afshan Ahmed, Adnan Sami, Wasim Baig, Nazia Hasan, Zohaib Hassan, Nazneen, Fatima Jaffrey, Anwar Ibrahim and Mehnaz