Occupation Poet and Lyricist Role Writer | Name Mehboob Kotwal Music director Soch Lo | |
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Born 13 July 1953 (age 71) ( 1953-07-13 ) Chindwara, Nashik, Maharashtra, India Awards Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent Nominations Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist Movies Lakeer – Forbidden Lines, Sirf, Baaz: A Bird in Danger, Mitti, Contract Similar People Ismail Darbar, A R Rahman, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Karthik, Asha Bhosle |
Mehboob Alam Kotwal is a writer of Bollywood film song lyrics. He was born and brought up in Mumbai city of Maharashtra. His family moved to the city of Mumbai for good in the 1960s where he received his primary education, first in English and later in Urdu.
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Career

In 1986, Mehboob met music composer Ismail Darbar who used to play the violin in film orchestras in those days. And it was Darbar who taught him the difference between poetry and film lyrics. Darbar introduced Mehboob to filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma and he began his song writing career with Varma's 1992 film Drohi whose music was composed by R. D. Burman. He then worked with A.R.Rahman on Varma's Rangeela. Rahman liked his work and introduced him to Mani Ratnam and Mehboob penned the lyrics for the Hindi (dubbed) version of Bombay. Mehboob went on to work with Rahman on films such as Thakshak, Doli Saja Ke Rakhna and Dil Hi Dil Mein. He has also written the lyrics for Rahman's non-film album Maa Tujhe Salaam as well as Ratnam's Yuva.
Mehboob has collaborated with Ismail Darbar on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 1999 film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and on Shakti - The Power in 2002. He has also written the lyrics for Kamaal Khan's Hindi pop album "Kal Raat" (2003) and KK's albums - Pal and Humsafar.
Filmography
Selected Songs
One 2 Ka Four
Bombay
Yash (1996 film)
Daud
Dil Hi Dil Mein
Doli Saja Ke Rakhna
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
Rangeela
Thakshak
Vande Mataram
Yuva