Jun 01, 2026 11:00am IST
Playback Singer Shabbir Kumar Turns Lyricist For Son, Composer Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh And Granddaughter Shifa Ruby’s New Single ‘Raat’ (EXCLUSIVE)
After years of being known as a notable Bollywood playback singer through the 1980s and early ’90s, Shabbir Kumar (formerly known as Shabbir Shaikh), continued his career as a stage performer domestically and internationally. He now adds the credit of a lyricist to his name with “Raat,” a song composed by his son Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh and rendered by his granddaughter, Shifa Ruby (who is his daughter Rubina’s daughter).
Kumar debuted with Usha Khanna’s “Tajurba,” but it would be singing all the songs for Manmohan Desai’s “Coolie” starring Amitabh Bachchan that would cement his place in Hindi film music history. He later sang in films like “Woh 7 Din” (1983), “Betaab,” (1983), “Aaj Ka Arjun” (1990) and “Ghayal” (1990) among others.
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While Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh has been an assistant and programmer to A.R. Rahman for several years across recordings and concerts and has composed singles, he is also known for scoring the 2016 Indo-Iranian production “Salaam Mumbai,” starring Dia Mirza and Iranian actor Mohammad Reza Golzar.
Ruby has already made a limited but distinct mark as a singer, via singles like “Hold My Hand” and through “Ek Chehra,” which he sang for the Hindi version of Kamal Haasan-starrer “Thug Life” with music by A.R. Rahman.
A delighted Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh tells Variety India says, “It’s three generations of our family united through music, memories and love!” He adds, “The tune and the ‘mukhda’ (opening lines) of my song came to me all of 30 years back. My father had heard it then and liked it. It had a classical, thumri-like feel. And when Shifa happened to hear it recently, she loved it and asked me if she could sing it. I said, ‘Why not, beta?’ But the song had no ‘antara’!”
Shabbir Kumar then stepped in to write the lyrics of the ‘antara’ (second section of a composition) for the song, which is a prayer to God. The singer tells Variety India, “This song inspired me to write the ‘antara’ and Dilshaad tuned it.” While he admits to listening to all his son’s tunes, he explains why he completed the song only now. “Like always, everything happens at the right time and this song’s correct ‘waqt’ (time) has come now!” he offers.
Shaikh further explains that the “emotional” song is about unshakeable faith in the adage that “even the longest night will eventually give way to dawn.” He shares, “I have given my tune a contemporary feel and treatment and programmed it accordingly. My assistant, Maxwell Fernandes, further enhanced the programming and did the mixing and mastering.”
The composer has also recorded two songs for a movie, “Mera Ghar,” penned by his cousin Danyal Shaikh, an aeronautical engineer by profession. The film is directed by Nripen J. G. Mohla stars Ashutosh Rana, Arbaaz Khan and Vidya S Malavade.
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