Raftaar
Dilin Nair, better known by his stage name Raftaar, is an Indian rapper, lyricist, music producer, composer, dancer, actor and TV personality associated with Hindi, Punjabi and Haryanvi music.
Early and personal life
Kalathil Kuzhiyil Devadasan Dilin Nair was born on 16 November 1988 to a Delhi-based Malayali couple in Trivandrum, Kerala. Raftaar married Komal Vohra, the sister of Indian television actors Karan Vohra 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 the COVID-19 pandemic and were finalised on 6 October 2022.On 31 January 2025, Raftaar married fashion stylist, actress, and model Manraj Jawanda in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala in traditional Malayali and Sikh wedding ceremonies.
Career
2008-2012: Early career, ''Mafia Mundeer'' and ''Dance India Dance''
Raftaar initially began his music career by making tracks with his childhood friends and fellow rappers Ikka and Lil Golu. After a while of making tracks and uploading them online, Yo Yo Honey Singh heard a track on Orkut which was uploaded by the trio, then known as The Black Wall Street Desis. Singh reached out to the three youngsters and invited them to his studio in Okhla, Delhi. According to Ikka on his track "Interview", Singh worked with the three youngsters while also giving them stage names; "Young Amli" for Ikka, "Raftaar" for Dilin who went by the name OniMaxxx/Max and "Lil Golu" for Sahil who had the nickname Golu. Some of his collaborations with Singh include "Kamli Kamli" featuring Rimz J and "Sharabia". Raftaar also started his career as a dancer, as Max and participated in a reality TV show Dance India Dance in 2011, in 'DID Double' along with a friend named Manik.In the meantime, Raftaar split from Mafia Mundeer due to credit-related problems, most notably involving the dispute related to the track "Dope Shope" from Singh's album, International Villager. He appeared in the music video for a few seconds and alleged that his scenes were also cut.
2012-2017: The Titans, Swag Mera Desi and mainstream break-out
After the split, he then formed a group 'The Titans' with Badshah and Sachit Takkar.They produced many songs together in the Punjabi music industry and Bollywood together, most notably for Deep Money's album Born Star, on tracks like "Bottle", "Majnu" and "Sugar".
Raftaar became widely known and recognised after releasing his song "Swag Mera Desi" in 2013 with Manj Musik. The line "Ab yeh karke dikhao" from the song was interpreted as a subliminal directed towards Yo Yo Honey Singh, who used the phrase in his 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 Brit Asia TV Music Awards in 2014.
The next year, he skyrocketed to mainstream popularity with the songs, "All Black", with Sukhe and Jaani, as well as the song "Toh Dishoom" from the 2016 film Dishoom.
2017-2020: KALAMKAAR, debut album and collaborations
In 2017, Raftaar debuted in the Bengali music industry through the film One which featured singer Vishal Dadlani and Raftaar. In the same year, he founded the record label KALAMKAAR, alongside Ankit Khanna, signing a variety of acts, such as KR$NA, Rashmeet Kaur, Deep Kalsi, Karma, Yunan and Harjas Harjaai. He also produced and rapped a song for the Chaamp soundtrack. He released his debut album, Zero To Infinity, the following year in May.In the same year, in September, Raftaar appeared on a podcast with Raaj Jones, where he questioned if fellow rapper Emiway Bantai was generating enough revenue from hip-hop. The statement was taken out of context and resulted in Emiway dropping "Samajh Mein Aaya Kya", targeting Raftaar and refuting his claims that Emiway wasn’t earning much yet, and further added that he eventually would build an empire of his own. Raftaar responded with his own track, "Sheikh Chilli", where he called out Emiway for taking the statement out of context and dissected his false claims. Emiway responded again with "Giraftaar", which prompted Raftaar to respond with the song "Anime Hentai". This paved the way for a wave of commercialisation in the genre, as many Indian rappers claimed to havebenefitedd from the publicity from a credit standpoint. It also gave rise to many other publicised beefs taking place.
Raftaar collaborated with Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan for the second edition of Breezer Vivid Shuffle in 2019, and in the same year, he started judging the reality shows MTV Hustle, Dance India Dance and MTV Roadies.
The next year, he released his second album, Mr. Nair, through Zee Music Company, featuring his labelmates KR$NA, Rashmeet Kaur, Deep Kalsi, Karma, Yunan, and Harjas Harjaayi among others.
2020-present: Further collaborations and ''HARD DRIVE Vol.1 & Vol.2''
Over the next few years, Raftaar, continued to collaborate with various upcoming Desi hip-hop artists like Shah Rule, MC Stan, Seedhe Maut, King, Chaar Diwaari, on singles and also, on a collaborative EP with Prabh Deep, titled PRAA, in addition to releasing his own projects, most notably the HARD DRIVE Vol. 1, and its sequel, in 2022 and 2024, respectively.He was seen as a guest judge on 2 episodes of India's Got Latent in 2024 and returned to judge the fourth season of MTV Hustle, after being absent from the previous two seasons. In 2025, he participated in the reality show The Traitors as a contestant, until he was eliminated in the sixth episode.
Discography
Albums
- Zero To Infinity
- Mr. Nair
| Year | Album | Track | Artist | Producer |
| 2018 | Zero to Infinity | Baby Marvake Maanegi | Raftaar | Blackout |
| 2018 | Zero to Infinity | Saare Karo Dab | Raftaar, Sonu Kakkar & Muhfaad | Raftaar |
| 2018 | Zero to Infinity | Gaddi | Raftaar & Deep Kalsi | Deep Kalsi |
| 2018 | Zero to Infinity | Gall Goriye | Raftaar & Maninder Buttar | Raftaar |
| 2018 | Zero to Infinity | Jean Teri | Raftaar, Jaz Dhami & Deep Kalsi | Deep Kalsi |
| 2018 | Zero to Infinity | Lonely | Raftaar, Mehabin | Raftaar |
| 2018 | Zero to Infinity | Mundeya Di Mautt | Raftaar & Yunan | Raftaar |
| 2018 | Zero to Infinity | Woh Chori | Raftaar & Jyotica Tangri | Raftaar |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Me And My Pen | Raftaar ft. Shah Rule | Raftaar & Shah Rule |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Dilli Waali Baatcheet | Raftaar | Raftaar |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Main Wahi Hoon | Raftaar ft. Karma | Raftaar |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Damn | Raftaar ft. KR$NA | Raftaar |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Sick | Raftaar ft. Yunan | Mehabin & Raftaar |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Drama | Raftaar | Tom Enzy & Raftaar |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Beshaq | Raftaar ft. Yunan | AAKASH, Yunan & Raftaar |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Feeling You | Raftaar ft. Deep Kalsi | AAKASH & Raftaar |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Haan | Raftaar ft. Harjas Harjaayi & Rashmeet Kaur | Saurabh Lokhande & Raftaar |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Move | Raftaar | Saurabh Lokhande |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Bottal Wargi | Raftaar ft. Jordan Sandhu | Deep Kalsi |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Naachne Ka Shaunq | Raftaar ft. Brodha V | Tom Enzy |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Superman | Raftaar ft. Manj Musik | INSTINE, Raftaar & Manj Musik |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Popular | Raftaar | AAKASH & Raftaar |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Down | Raftaar ft. KR$NA | Lavito Beats, Tom Enzy & Raftaar |
| 2020 | Mr. Nair | Proud | Raftaar | Tom Enzy & Raftaar |
EPs and Mixtapes
- WTF Mixtape: Vol. 1
- BAR'ISH EP
- HARD DRIVE Vol.1 '
- PRAA '
- HARD DRIVE Vol.2 ''''
| Year | EP | Track | Artist | Producer |
| 2020-21 | BAR'ISH EP | Microphone Check | Raftaar | SCARY'P |
| 2020-21 | BAR'ISH EP | Tu Phir Se Aana | Raftaar ft. Salim Merchant & Karma | Raftaar, Salim Merchant & Saurabh Lokhande |
| 2020-21 | BAR'ISH EP | Black Sheep | Raftaar | Boger |
| 2020-21 | BAR'ISH EP | Goat Dekho | Raftaar | Allrounda Beats |
| 2022 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 1 | ICE | Raftaar | DXOR |
| 2022 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 1 | F16 | Raftaar ft. Sikander Kahlon | Harm Sandhu |
| 2022 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 1 | GANGNUM | Raftaar ft. Deep Kalsi | Raftaar |
| 2022 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 1 | NO CHINA | Raftaar ft. KR$NA | Raftaar & Frisk |
| 2022 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 1 | 36 | Raftaar ft. Karma | Track PROS |
| 2022 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 1 | RAASHAH | Raftaar ft. Badshah | YoungWilly |
| 2022 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 1 | JASHAN-E-HIP-HOP | Raftaar ft. Faris Shafi | Umair |
| 2023 | PRAA | ABBU | Raftaar & Prabh Deep | Tonybasu |
| 2023 | PRAA | BADNAAM | Raftaar & Prabh Deep | Lambo Drive |
| 2023 | PRAA | HELLO | Raftaar & Prabh Deep | Anywaywell |
| 2023 | PRAA | TRAP PRAA | Raftaar & Prabh Deep | Umair |
| 2024 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 2 | MERA PARICHAY | Raftaar ft. Sikander Kahlon | MUSAGOTMOTION, Instine |
| 2024 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 2 | DEHSHAT HO | Raftaar ft. Yashraj | Lonely Boy, LODONI, Phenom |
| 2024 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 2 | RAP-TA | Raftaar | Phenom |
| 2024 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 2 | REAL SHIT | Raftaar | Sez on the Baet |
| 2024 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 2 | MUNDE HOOD DE | Raftaar ft. Karma | Raftaar |
| 2024 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 2 | BAAWE | Raftaar ft. Badshah | Hiten |
| 2024 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 2 | ADVICE | Raftaar ft. Deep Kalsi | DRJ Sohail |
| 2024 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 2 | BANJO BOUNCE | Raftaar ft. EPR Iyer | DreddAf |
| 2024 | HARD DRIVE Vol. 2 | ME AND MY BROSKI | Raftaar ft. Ikka | Sez on the Beat |