Masood Rana

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Masood Rana was the best, most verstile and all round playback singer in Pakistani films. He was one and only male singer who equally was popular in both Urdu and Punjabi films. He had a melodious voice which was very tuneful and rich of expressions. His ability to sing in hi- and low-pitch notes made him a unique playback singer. He was known for very impressive, emotional and memorable songs from social, romantic and musical films from the golden era of 1960/70s.

• Masood Rana's first released film was Inqalab in 1962, but he was the only male singer who got massive publicity in his debut in his second film Banjaran..
• Due to Masood Rana's unlimited singing talent, he was called Pakistani Rafi - and he always lived up to his reputation..
• Masood Rana was a much needed male singer for Pakistani films, therefor he continuously sang from his first film till his death, and there was not a single year without his songs between 1962-95 - and it was a glorious and record making period of 34 years..!
• Masood Rana was a record holder male singer and sang the maximum numbers of film songs in maximum numbers of Pakistani films. He was the only "Century maker" playback singer in both Urdu and Punjabi films and songs..
• Masood Rana sang 1000+ songs in 630+ films from 1962-96. He sang around about 400 songs in 220+ Urdu films and 600+ songs in 370+ Punjabi films..
• Masood Rana was a totally dominating male singer in Pakistani Punjabi films, and he became a standard voice like Madam Noorjahan. Every third male song in Punjabi films is sung by Masood Rana, and his Punjabi songs list is larger than a combined list of Punjabi film songs from five other main singers, Inayat Hussain Bhatti, Saleem Raza, Munir Hussain, Ahmad Rushdi and Mehdi Hassan. It is also a world record, that Masood Rana sang so many songs in films made in Punjabi language, which is the mother tongue for 60% of Pakistanis and 2% of Indians. Punjabi is the tenth largest spoken language in the world in 2015..
• Masood Rana sang the maximum numbers of title and theme songs in Pakistani Urdu and Punjabi films..
• Masood Rana was not dependant on the popularity of any film actor, most of his songs were filmed as background songs..
• Masood Rana sang seven songs in memorable film Hamrahi in 1966, six of them were all time super hit songs with various genres like Naat (spiritual song), Tarana (patriotic song), Ghazal (Urdu classic poetry) and other happy and sad songs - it is a unique record for versatility and most super hit songs in a single film by any Pakistani male singer ever..!
• Masood Rana sang for four decades (1960s-90s) but his songs were filmed on actors from eight decades from 1920s till 1990s. Noor Mohammad Charli (from 1928) till Faisal Munawar Zarif (1994) had lip-syncing on his songs..
• Masood Rana's background sang was filmed for M. Ismael, who was the senior most actor from the silent film era (1920s)..
• Masood Rana was also the only playback singer, who sang for father-and-son-pairs. His songs were filmed on Akmal, Munawar Zarif and Sultan Rahi and their sons Shehbaz Akmal, Faisal Munawar Zarif and Haidar Sultan, respectively.
• Masood Rana also sang in the composition of father-and-son-music directors as Baba G.A. Chishti, Rasheed Attray, Master Inayat Hussain, Safdar Hussain and their sons Taskin Chishti, Wajahat Attray, Master Tufail and Abbas Safdar, respectively.
• Madam Noorjahan sang the maximum film duets with Masood Rana..

Masood Rana was also seen as an actor in few films, but he was not successful in this filed. He was solo hero in Urdu film Shahi Faqeer (1970), second hero in Punjabi film 2 Mutiaran (1968) and third hero in Punjabi film Yaar Badshah (1971). He appeared as guest actor in many films from Banjaran (1962) till Dostana (1982).

Chodhary Masood Ahmad Rana s/o Chodhary Ali Ahmad was born on Wednesday, August 6, 1941 in Mir Pur Khas, Sindh. He belongs to a Punjabi landowner family from Jalandhar, Indian Punjab. He had a God gifted singing talent and never got traditional classical music training. He started as singer from Radio Pakistan Hyederabad in 1955 and leads a singing group in the beginning of 1960s in Karachi with other famous names like Akhlaq Ahmad and Nadeem. Actor Saqi introduced him to the films.

Masood Rana died by heart attack during a train tour from Lahore to Sadiqabad on Wednesday, October 4, 1995. He is buried in Lahore.