Masood Rana
Masood Rana (), (6 August 1941 – 4 October 1995) was a Pakistani film playback singer. He began his singing career in 1962 with the film "Inqalab", became one of the top male singers in both Urdu and Punjabi films for more than three decades and remained a busy singer until his death in 1995 . Rana still holds the record of singing more than 300 film songs in each of the two languages - Urdu and Punjabi, an all-time record shared with Ahmed Rushdi and Noor Jehan. Early life. Masood Rana was born in Mirpur Khas, Sindh, then British India , on 6 August 1941. He was born in a Rajput land-owning family which had migrated from the East Punjab city of Jalandhar. He started his singing career on Radio Pakistan, Hyderabad, Sindh in 1955 and later helped establish a singing group in Karachi in the early 1960s with the Pakistani film actor Nadeem Baig and a fellow singer Akhlaq Ahmed. Film career. Masood Rana got his first breakthrough when the noted Pakistani film actor "Saqi" introduced him to producer and director "Iqbal Shehzad" and the film composer Deebo Bhattacharya. His first film song was in the film "Inqalab" (1962 ) and the song was "Mashriq ki tareek faza mein naya savera phoota hay" composed by music director "N. K. Rathore". But he gained more popularity from his second film "Banjaran" (1962) which was composed by music director "Deebo Bhattacharya". He was initially introduced as "Pakistani Rafi" in the Pakistani film circles due to his vocal singing being similar to that of famous Indian singer Mohammed Rafi. Masood Rana initially tried to live up to this reputation and used to copy the famous Indian singer. Later he changed his mind and developed his own style of singing. He specialized in singing  difficult songs in very high-pitched voice and was the first choice for music directors for film title and theme songs. In 1964, the Punjabi song "Tange Wala Khair Mangda" in the film "Daachi" (1964) was a popular street song composed by veteran music director Ghulam Ahmed Chishti. He then became the most dominating male singer in both Urdu and Punjabi films when his six songs in film "Hamarahi" (1966) became mega- hits. Along with Ahmed Rushdi, Masood Rana is still one of the two male singers in Pakistani films who sang more than 300 songs in each of the  two languages - Urdu and Punjabi. He sang in more than 550 films and he worked continuously from his first film in 1962 until his death in 1995. Rana was considered to be the most successful singer after Ahmed Rushdi. Masood Rana also appeared as an actor in a few films but he was not successful in this field. He was a lead actor in film "Shahi Faqeer" (1970) and a side-hero in films "Do Mutiaran" (1968) and "Yaar Badshah" (1971). As a guest actor he was seen in films "Sangdil (1968)", "Do Rangeeley (1972)", "Noukar Wohti Da (1974)", "Ajj  Di Gall (1975)", "Khushia (1973)" and "Dostana (1982)". Death. Masood Rana died on 4 October 1995 due to a heart attack during his journey on a train. He was laid to rest at Karim Block graveyard, Iqbal town, Lahore. Works. Patriotic songs. In addition to the film assignments, he also sang patriotic songs which became popular and are still played on the national days of Pakistan such as Pakistan Day. For film "Aag Ka Darya (1966)", he sang "Ae watan hum hain teri shama kay parwanon main, Zindgi hosh main hay josh hay eemanon main", song lyrics written by the  noted poet Josh Malihabadi. The other song is "Sathio, mujahido, jaag utha hay sara watan, sathio, mujahido" Masood Rana with Shaukat Ali for film "Mujahid" (1965). To pay tribute to the courage and sacrifice of Pakistani soldiers in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, he sang "Yaad Karta Hai Zamana Unhi Insaano Ko" in film Hamrahi (1966) composed by music director "Tassaduq Hussain", film song lyrics by Muzaffar Warsi.