Dilin Nair (born 16 November 1988), better known by his stage name Raftaar, is an Indian rapper, lyricist, dancer, TV personality and music composer associated with

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and Punjabi music. He started his career as a dancer. He began his career in rap in 2008 with Lil Golu and Young Amli (now known as

Ikka Inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B kinase subunit alpha (IKK-α) also known as IKK1 or conserved helix-loop-helix ubiquitous kinase (CHUK) is a protein kinase that in humans is encoded by the ''CHUK'' gene. IKK-α is part of the IκB kinase c ...

), recording songs and uploading them on social sites. He then started working with

Yo Yo Honey Singh Hirdesh Singh (born 15 March 1983), known professionally as Yo Yo Honey Singh or simply Honey Singh, is an Indian music producer, rapper, singer, songwriter and an actor. He started out in 2003 as a session and recording artist, and became a b ...

as a part of the Mafia Mundeer group. Raftaar later split from the group due to credit-related problems. He was supported by Ankit Khanna, who introduced him to the Punjabi music band RDB, who then signed him onto their label, Three Records. Soon after the split between the RDB members, Raftaar joined Manjeet Ral (now known as

Manj Musik Manjeet Singh Ral ( Punjabi: ਮਨਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਰਾਲ, born 24 January 1975), better known by his stage-name Manj Musik, is a British Indian composer, singer and Filmi scorer. He was one of the music composer for the bhangra mu ...

). He started his solo career in 2016 after getting signed to

Zee Music Company Zee Music Co. (ZMC) is an Indian music company, a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. It carries its business activities mainly from New Delhi. The company has captured a major chunk of market share in Bollywood music in a shor ...

. He won the Best Urban Single award for "Swag Mera Desi" with

at the

Brit Asia TV Music Awards The Brit Asia TV Music Awards, also known as Brit Asia TV World Music Awards or the abbreviation BAMA, is an awards show that is held annually in the United Kingdom since 2010 (except in 2016), usually in October. The awards show is produced by ...

. In 2019, he started judging the reality shows ''

MTV Hustle ''MTV Hustle'' is India's first ever rap/ hip-hop reality show. Aspiring rappers battle it out to become India’s biggest hip-hop star. The show airs on MTV India and also digitally streams on Voot. Season 1 premiered on 10 August 2019. Judged ...

'', ''

Dance India Dance ''Dance India Dance'' (also called by the acronym ''DID''; tagline: ''Dance Ka Asli ID D.I.D.'') is an Indian Hindi-language dance competition reality television series that airs on Zee TV, created and produced by Essel Vision Productions. It ...

'' and ''

Roadies Roadie refers to support personnel who travel with a band on tour. Roadie or roadies may also refer to: * ''Roadie'' (1980 film), a 1980 film starring Meat Loaf * ''Roadie'' (2011 film), a 2011 American comedy film * ''Roadies'' (TV series), an A ...

''.

Early and Personal life

Raftaar was born to a

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

-based

Malayali The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. ...

couple in

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

(now Thiruvananthapuram),

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. Raftaar married Komal Vohra, the sister of Indian television actors

Karan Vohra Karan Vohra is an Indian television actor. He made his acting debut with '' Zindagi Ki Mehek'' in 2016, portraying Shaurya Khanna and Shaurya Singh Ahlawat. Since September 2022, he is seen portraying Atharva Rana in ''Imlie''. Early and pers ...

and Kunal Vohra, in December 2016. They filed for a divorce in 2020 and have been living separately. The legal proceedings were delayed due to COVID-pandemic and will be finalised on 6 October 2022.

Career

Raftaar became known after releasing his song "Swag Mera Desi" in 2013 with

. The line "Ab yeh karke dikhao" () from the song was a diss to

. "Ab yeh karke dikhao" had already been used in

's song "Party With The Bhoothnath" which led to a dispute between the two rappers in media. "Swag Mera Desi" won Best Urban Song at the

in 2014. In 2017, Raftaar debuted in the Bengali music industry through the film '' One'' which featured singer

Vishal Dadlani Vishal Dadlani (born 28 June 1973) is an Indian singer, songwriter and music composer. He is one half of the duo Vishal–Shekhar, Front Man and vocalist of one of India's leading rock bands called Pentagram. As a singer he has sung various h ...

and Raftaar. He also produced and rapped a song for the ''Chaamp'' soundtrack. Raftaar has collaborated with

Varun Dhawan Varun Dhawan (; born 24 April 1987) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. One of India's highest-paid actors, he has been featured in '' Forbes India'' Celebrity 100 list since 2014. He has starred in 11 consecutive box-office successes ...

for the second edition of Breezer Vivid Shuffle.

Discography

Albums and mixtapes

* ''WTF Mixtape: Vol. 1 (2013)'' * ''Zero To Infinity'' (2018) * ''Mr. Nair'' (2020)

EPs

Singles and collaborations

Film music

Television roles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raftaar 1999 births Living people Indian rappers Singers from Delhi Singers from Thiruvananthapuram 21st-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian male singers Malayali people