Right things at the right time for Darshan Raval

Darshan Raval’s single Do Din is a peppy and groovy track and a departure from his sad and intense songs like Tera Zikr, Baarish Lete Aana, and Saari Ki Saari. “I wanted to do something that would make people happy and dance,” Darshan says about his latest number, which has motivated him to experiment with genres and sounds more. Darshan talks about his singles and Bollywood songs.

Your recent film songs Chogada (LoveYatri) and Kamariya (Mitron) became big hits...

I’ve grown up listening to versions of both these songs as they are Gujarati numbers. So, it was easy and fun for me to pull them off. But Chogada was special because Aayush Sharma debuted with the film and my first Bollywood song was Jab Tum Chaho in Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo (2015) for Salman Khan.

Did you expect to make such a big debut?

Not at all! I thought I will come to Mumbai and struggle for at least 10 years and then I might get a chance to sing in Bollywood. Also, I didn’t know I had to sing for Salman. I thought it was a regular song for Himesh Reshammiya. When I found out what the project was, I called up my dad and friends to tell them that I had become a big shot. (Laughs)

How do you look at your career so far?

When I came out of India’s Raw Star (2014), people said that I will be forgotten if I don’t have a release soon. There was a time when I was only making indie music and some said no one will give me a break in Bollywood because I hadn’t had a film song in a year. The only important thing for me was making music, whether for movies or myself. I think the right things come at the right time. It worked out well for me.

What else do you have coming up?

There’s always going to be a lot of film and non-film music. I have many indie numbers coming up and I have signed many tracks in Bollywood too. In 2019, I will have quite a few film song releases. But I may do more non-film music.

Any plans of composing for films?

Now may be the right time, actually, since it’s a part of me. So, I would love to do it.

Would you also like to sing them?

It depends. I make a lot of songs but not all of them are for my voice. I come to know who would sound better rendering them. I love Divya Kumar’s and Rekha Bhardwaj’s voices, so I would love them to sing something.