Om Prakash Bhandari popularly known as Qamar Jalalabadi, began his life on March 9th, 1917 in Jalalabad (now in Pakistan) as. His father, Lala Harjasrai Bhandari, was a storekeeper for granaries in the British Raj for few years and later took care of the farms and family property in Jalalabad. Om Prakash started writing poetry at an early age though there was no legacy of music or poetry in the family.He completed his Matriculation from Kapurthala in Punjab and started a career in journalism in Lahore. He worked for papers like Daily Milap, Daily Pratap, Nirala, and Star Shahkaar. He also started gaining popularity as a shaayar. As a result he was recruited by Pancholi Arts Pictures in 1942 to write lyrics for some of the songs of their film Zamindaar whose music was being given by Ghulam Haider sahib. He wrote 4 - 5 songs for this movie and two of them were in partnership with Behzad Lakhnavi. Of these, “Duniya Mein Ghareebon Ko Aaraam Nahin Milta…” and “Mere Haal Par Bebasi Ro Rahi Hai…”, both sung by Shamshad Begum, gained a lot of popularity. This was followed by Sahara and Pagli in 1943 where again a couple of songs became reasonably popular.
In 1944 he moved to Pune from Lahore and started working for Prabhat Film Company. Here he wrote songs for films like Ramshastri , Chaand (1944), Lakharani (1945), Gokul (1946). All of these were films where he was the solo lyricist. Of these, Chaand is particularly noteworthy. It had 11 songs in varying moods ranging from comic to theatrical to romantic to pathos ridden to patriotic and many of these became particularly popular. With Chaand, he also started writing Dialogues for films, a cycle that was to repeat for dozens of films. It should be safe to say that this was the first film that gave a glimpse into the wide range of his talent as a writer.
In 1946 he moved to Bombay with erstwhile partner in Prabhat, Baburao Pai, and started working for his company “Famous Pictures”. This was a turning point in Qamar Sahib’s career. He wrote songs for films like Nargis (1946), Pyar Ki Jeet (1948) and Badi Bahan (1949) for Famous Pictures. In parallel he also worked in some “Filmistan” ventures like Eight Days (1946), Leela, Saajan, Sindoor (1947), Shaheed (1948), Shabnam (1949). There were also other outside ventures like Mirza Sahiban (1947), and Bazar (1949). Popularity of songs like “Main Kaise Kahoon Toote Hue Dil Ki Kahaani…”, “O Door Jaane Waale, Vaada Na Bhool Jaana…”, “Ik Dil Ke Tukde Hazaar Hue…”, “Koi Duniya Mein Hamaari Tarah Barbaad Na Ho…”, “Wo Paas Rahen Ya Door Rahen…”, “Bigadi Banaanewale Bigdi Banaa De…”, “Qismat Mein Bichhadnaa Thaa…”, “Aaja Tujhe Afsaana Judaaii Ka Sunaayen…”, “Rut Rangeeli Hai…”, “Kya Yahi Tera Pyaar Tha…”, “Saajan Ki Galiyan Chood Chale…”established Qamar Sahib firmly as a top-line lyricist. This was the beginning of the most charmed period of his career.
Source - Rekhta.Org)
Why and How Did Om Prakash Become Famous Lyricist Qamar Jalalabadi? - The Rising Bollywood