Kalathilkuzhiyil Devadasan Dilin Nair, or Dilin Nair, better known by his stage name Raftaar, is an Indian rapper, lyricist, dancer, actor, TV personality and music composer associated with Hindi and Punjabi music.

He started his career as a dancer. He began his career in rap in 2008 with Lil Golu and Young Amli (now known as Ikka), recording songs and uploading them on social sites. He then started working with Yo Yo Honey Singh as a part of the Mafia Mundeer group. Raftaar later split from the group due to credit-related problems. He then formed a group 'The Titans' with Badshah and Sachit Takkar (Sachh). They produced many songs together in the Punjabi Music Industry and Bollywood. He was supported by Ankit Khanna, who introduced him to the Punjabi music band RDB, who then signed him onto their label, Three Records. Soon after the split between the RDB members, Raftaar joined Manjeet Ral (now known as Manj Musik). He started his solo career in 2016 after getting signed to Zee Music Company.

Early and personal life

Raftaar was born on 16 November 1988 to a Delhi-based Malayali couple in Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram), Kerala. Raftaar married Kamal 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 COVID-pandemic and were finalised on 6 October 2022.

Career

Raftaar became known after releasing his song "Swag Mera Desi" in 2013 with Manj Musik. The line "Ab yeh karke dikhao" (transl. Now try to do this) from the song was a diss to Yo Yo Honey Singh. "Ab yeh karke dikhao" had already been used in Yo Yo Honey Singh's 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.

In 2017, Raftaar debuted in the Bengali music industry through the film One which featured singer Vishal Dadlani and Raftaar. He also produced and rapped a song for the Chaamp soundtrack. Raftaar has collaborated with Varun Dhawan for the second edition of Breezer Vivid Shuffle.

Awards

• 2022 Nominee - Listeners' Choice Award Album of the Year - Love Aaj Kal
• 2022 Nominee - Critics' Award Album of the Year - Love Aaj Kal
• 2017  Nominee - Critics' Award Album of the Year - Dangal
• 2017 - Winner Listeners' Choice Award Album of the Year - Dangal

Interesting Facts 

• Raftaar gained popularity for the song Swag Mera Desi in 2013. In the song, there is a line ‘Ab yeh karke dikhao’ which was a diss to Honey Singh. This led to problems between both of them.
• In 2017, Raftaar debuted in the Bengali music industry. He sang the title track for the Bengali film ‘One’ with singer Vishal Dadlani. He also produced and rapped the song ‘Dekho Dekho Chaamp‘ for the Bengali film Chaamp (2017).
• He is also the co-founder of the music label Kalamkaar.
• In 2018, he collaborated with Varun Dhawan for the second edition of Breezer Vivid Shuffle.
• During the initial days of his career, he joined the Mafia Mundeer group and started working with Honey Singh.

Controversy

• Raftaar had a fight with Honey Singh over the songs in the movie “Fugly”, as he said that he wrote and composed the songs Dhup Chik and Banjarey.
• Once Raftaar said in an interview that does rappers are making money so in reply to him, Emiway made a diss track with a music video called “Samajh Mein Aaya kya”
• Later Raa diss again with the diss song “Sheikh Chilli” but the diss game did not stop here Emiway Bantai came with “Giraftaar” diss song.