Kabir Rafi


Kabir Rafi is an Indian music composer, playback singer, independent pop artist, and background score artist. He has produced music for more than 200 Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, English and silent films. Rafi made his music debut with his first multilingual feature film, titled #PK, which was dubbed in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, and Malayalam and released in August 2022. Several of his productions have gained critical acclaim, such as Mana Mugguri Love Story and Mrs Subbalaxmi. He composed the music for his first Kannada commercial debut film, Sugar Factory, released in November 2023.
Rafi's projects have featured artists such as Armaan Malik, Vijay Prakash, Baba Sehgal, Chandan Shetty, Anurag Kulkarni, Geetha Madhuri, Sri Krishna, and Anudeep Dev.

Early life

Kabir Rafi was born to an Indian army soldier Shaik Abdul Khader in Vishakapatnam, India. He lived in and then travelled to various cities in India including Gujarat, Bengaluru, Assam and Mumbai before settling in Hyderabad. His family has a military background, with his great-grandfather who was a former "freedom fighter." Rafi's grandfather and father also served in the Indian army where the latter acted as a subedar major. His father's appreciation of playback singer Mohammed Rafi, particularly during his time in military service, led him to name his son in honour of the artist.
Rafi received his education from the Kendriya Vidyalaya Central school. He then earned his bachelor's degree in hotel management from the Regency College of Culinary Arts in 2009 and became an Master of Business Administration graduate at Malla Reddy College of Engineering and Technology. He then worked with the Justdial Internet technology company for 2 years on a contract basis as a video vendor.
Rafi's interest in composing music began in his childhood. Rafi started performing at the age of 12 in various musical stage shows and learned Hindustani classical music as a vocalist and a tabla player, following the encouragement of his mother. When his father was transferred to Mumbai by the Indian military, Rafi started his musical career, mainly as a soundtrack recordist & singer for music directors including Dilip Sen. He later left Mumbai for two years, living in his uncle's home and struggling to find employment, after attempting to enter the entertainment industry by acting in small roles under Balaji Telefilms Ltd, singing several jingles for commercials and dubbing songs. In 2006, Rafi's father was transferred a second time from Mumbai to Hyderabad. He insisted that Rafi join him and focus on his studies and suggested he further his musical career by auditioning for a position in the Telugu film industry in Hyderabad.

Career

In Hyderabad, Rafi was given several jobs in the production of film soundtracks for various film and music directors. He also worked as a vocalist. The composer and singer Chakri allegedly encouraged Rafi early in his career. In 2009, Rafi collaborated with composer Jeevan Thomas for four years in music production.
From 2011 to 2015, Rafi was placed under observation and worked as a member of the team led by music director Jeevan Thomas in the soundtrack production of the movies Kuberulu, First love and Yavvanam Oka Fantasy. He was also presented with the opportunity to record tracks in Telugu, Kannada and Hindi as playback singer for a few movies.
Rafi gave stage performances as singer for numerous events. In 2014, he completed his first movie, Manasu Palike Maya Prema, and released the audio track of the feature. In 2016, his independent film Parinayam was released. The audio of his second feature film, Komali, was released in 2017 in Kannada. As of 2025, Rafi completed over 200 projects since 2015, for short films, independent films, web series, feature films, and commercials. Several of his productions have gained critical acclaim, such as: Mana Mugguri Love Story, Mrs Subbalaxmi, Konchan Istam Chaala Kastam, I Hate You, Aa Gang Repu, Maa Naana Kosam, Pilli Kalla Papa, Oye Nandu, and Atu itu nuvvey. Some of his most popular short films include: She, Musalman, Papa, Anandmaaye, Chotu, and Karmama.
Rafi's YouTube channel has approximately 100 million views, which makes it the most-viewed YouTube music channel in the short film category from 2015 to 2022 in India.
Rafi's upcoming projects yet to be released between 2025 and 2026 include Akara and Love Again.

Awards and nominations

  • Won the SIIMA Short Film awards for 'Best Music Director' for the short film KICK by Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam, hosted by Allu Sirish, Rana Daggubati, and Navdeep
  • Won the 'Best Short Film Music Director – Telugu' Award for Koncham Ishtam Chala Kashtam at 1st SIIMA Short Film Awards
  • Won the Melbourne City Independent Film Awards for 'Best Sound Designer' for the short film Insight directed by Kamal Krishna
  • Won the Studio One Film Awards for the 'Best Music Director'
  • Won the Lotus Short Film Awards 2018 for 'Best Music Director' for Aa Gang Repu 2
  • Nominated for the Telangana State Language and Culture Department Short Film Festival
  • Won the Lotus Short Film Awards 2017 for 'Best Singer' for Voice of Eyes
  • Won the Indie Fest Short Film Award 2015 for 'Best Background Music' for short film Aa gang repu
  • Won the VR Films National Award 2016 for 'Best Music' for the song "Yedo Maya Chesav"
  • Nominated for the Lotus Short Film Awards 2016 for Maa Naana Kosam and Parinayam for 'Best Song and Singer'
  • Nominated for the Lotus Short Film Awards 2016 for Aa gang repu and Koncham istam chaala kastam for 'Best Music'
  • Won the Short Film Diamond Award 2017 for contribution of Music in the Tollywood Short Film Industry for two years to date, presented by Tollywood director and producer Raj Kandukuri, lyric writer Chandra Bose, and producer T. Rama Satya Narayana