His adorers are surrounded by a lifetime of numerous memories of his immortal compositions. Sohni dharti Allah rakhay qadam qadam Aabaad tujhay Sohail Rana, who is the son of renowned poet Rana Akbar Abadi,

 was born in his native city, Agra, Uttar Pardesh, India, in 1938, to a highly literary, academic and respectable family.Rana Akbar Abadi migrated to Karachi, Pakistan. Soon after partition, young Sohail, who was in his ninth year at that time, resumed his education and subsequently passed his intermediate examination. He demonstrated an unusual aptitude for music as a teenager. He learned music from various experts and familiarized himself with numerous musical instruments, which added to his experience. During his primary education days, he was admitted to late A.M. Qureshi’s Mary Colaso School, Karachi, where Sohail Rana and Waheed Murad were class fellows.

Thus started a durable friendship between them, which lasted up until Veedu’s death in 1983. Although Waheed Murad’s first film as a producer ‘Insaan badalta hai’, (Director: Munawwar Rasheed, music: Zafar Khursheed) was a success, still the music could not come upto the expectations. Hence, for his second production, ‘Jab say dekha hai tumhain’, Waheed made two changes: He selected Zeba instead of Shamim Ara as the lead lady and handed over the delicate task of music to promising Sohail Rana, instead of Zafar Khursheed. Relatively speaking, ‘Jab say dekha hai tumhain’ was far more successful for its melodious songs than ‘Insaan badalta hai.’

Huge audience were drawn to its two highly popular numbers:

‘Ye khushi ajab khushi hai’ (singer: Ahmed Rushdi)
‘Jab say dekha hai tumhain, dil ka ajab Aalam hai (singer: Saleem Raza)

Movie zealots agree that ‘Jab say dekha hai tumhain’ proved to be a stepping stone in the fabulous career of sohail
Rana. Readers, let us draw near and listen to his gift:

Ko-ko- korina, Bay taab ho udhar tum, Jab pyar mein do dil miltay hain’

Sohail Rana’s excellent composition for the songs of ‘Armaan’ are, indeed, his greatest achievement as a music director, which will stand as a musical high point as long as the Pakistan film industry exists.

In 1970, he composed songs for the film ‘Baazi’, two of those songs were recorded in the voice of Habib Wali Mohammad, namely, ‘Raatain theen chandni’ and ‘Aashiyaan jal gaya’, which happened to be inspirational entertainment.

I am pretty sure that if some one were to ask Sohail Rana what he thanks God for most, then presumably his answer would be that he would thank God, for giving him the gift of composing songs and the ability to listen to them. During the early 1970s, he took a job with the Pakistan television corporation and redoubled his efforts to compose national songs. His musical masterpieces, ‘Sohni dharti’ (singer: Shehnaz Begum, lyricist: Masroor Anwar) has become part and parcel of Pakistani culture.

Additionally, he devoted his time and energy to compose songs for children and immortalized each and every song:
‘Sung sung chaltay rehna’.
‘Dosti aisa nata’.
‘Shawa bhy shawa’.

Given here below are the names of some of Sohail Rana’s bright students who attained name and fame for themselves and for their mentor, as well. "Riffat, Late Nazia Hassan, Zohaib Hassan, Afshan Ahmed, Nazneen, Fatima Jafry, Tehseen Javed, Yusuf memon (Who achieved fame in mahafil-e-na’at and milad)".

The film ‘Badal aur bijli’ was a huge success, essentially due to Sohail Rana’s effective music. ‘Badal aur bijli’s all time favorites:

‘Bansiri bajanay walay’ (Noor Jehan)
‘Aaj janay ki zid na karo’ (Habib Wali Mohammad)
‘Dheeray, dheeray paoon rakh gori’ (Runa Laila) are still fresh in the minds of theater cine-goers.

Apart from that, he also rendered music for the films ‘Phir chand niklay ga,’ Esay dekha esay chaha’, ‘Sau diwanay’ and ‘Shehnai’. He did work at the art academy of Pakistan international airlines for a while. Sohail Rana is still boyish of expression at 63, and smile lines radiate from his eyes which are bright with inquisitiveness and beaming with pride. Moosa Reza, a loyal fan of Sohail Saheb and an authority on him,as well, asserts: ’A nation is,indeed, very poor, which do not value its artists and in case of Sohail Rana, the music lovers should be all the more indebted to this extraordinary composer, because Sohail Rana not only impressed his contemporaries but he has proved resourceful, ingenious and pioneering.

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The choices he made, helped ignite a renaissance of quality that lives on today. During his memorable music career, he composed songs for merely twenty five movies.