Kotwal met Ram Gopal Varma through music composer Ismail Darbar. He debuted in Bollywood with Varma’s 1992 film “Drohi” where the music was composed by R. D. Burman. He went on to work with A. R. Rahman on Varma’s 1995 hit “Rangeela”. Mehboob has worked with Rahman on movies like “Doli Saja Ke Rakhna” (1998), “Thakshak” (1999), “Dil Hi Dil Mein” (1999) and “Yuva” (2004). Rahman, who was impressed with his talent, introduced him to Mani Ratnam, who signed him on for the lyrics of “Bombay” (1995). In 1999 when Ismail Darbar worked on Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam”, Mehboob penned beautiful lines for it.

Some hit songs by him include “Tu Hi Re” (“Bombay”, 1995), “Tanha Tanha” (“Rangeela”, 1995) “Chand Chupa” (“Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam”, 1999) and “Khuda Hafiz” (“Yuva”, 2004).

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