Personal info
Known for
Music Director
Gender
Male
Birthday
01 June
Location
Gujarat, India
Edit pageIsmail Darbar
Biography
Ismail Darbar is an Indian film score composer, instrumentalist, singer, violinist, and music director. He won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999).
Ismail Darbar is from Surat, Gujarat. He worked for several years as a session violinist for leading music directors Laxmikant Pyarelal, Kalyanji Anandji, Bappi Lahiri, Rajesh Roshan, Anand–Milind, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin–Lalit and A. R. Rahman. Finally, he got a break with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Earlier, Darbar had played violin for Jatin–Lalit in the movie Khamoshi: The Musical.
Later, his music in Bhansali's Devdas was acclaimed. He did not work with Bhansali after Devdas due to personal differences. After Devdas, Darbar did a few more movies but without much success.
In 2005, he composed seven out of 12 tracks for Subhash Ghai's Kisna: The Warrior Poet after A. R. Rahman had left the project mid-way to complete an international assignment. However, Ghai would later say, "The music has turned out so well that you can't distinguish an Ismail song from a Rahman one".
Darbar, Jatin–Lalit, Aadesh Shrivastava, and Himesh Reshammiya were the four judges on the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005. Darbar was also a judge for the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007. He was also one of the three judges for Amul Star Voice of India 2 and Bharat Ki Shaan: Singing Star – Season 2 on DD National.
In 2007, Darbar released his first private music album, Rasiya Saajan, directed by S Ramachandran.
Darbar also appeared on season three of the reality series Bigg Boss which aired on Colors TV.
In 2018, Darbar co-composed his directorial debut film, Yeh Kaisa Tigdam, with Badshah (Nanu) Khan.
He entered state-level politics by joining BJP Gujarat in 2011.
